ArtWeek Berkshires will occur at multiple venues from October 14 to 23. In North Adams the Eclipse Mill will again host open studios.

Many adjectives have been thrown at or glued to the conductor Rafael Payare, who came to Carnegie Hall with the San Diego Symphony he conducts.  We haven't heard him live. He has a life-and-death urgency to his music-making. Carlos Simon and Shostakovich seemed so present, so thrilling and so important.  

The Defiant Requiem Foundation, has a signature concert performance of the Verdi Requiem, as it was performed in the Terezin concentration camp over and over again. The original chorus changed constantly as members were transferred to Auschwitz.

Wim Wenders new film, "The Tokyo Toilet," had its New York premiere at the New York Film Festival in Lincoln Center in New York. A Tokyo toilet cleaner, Hirayama, is played brilliantly and subtly by Yakusho Koji. Hirayama steps out of his small Tokyo home and looks up at the sky.  Another perfect day begins. Now. Not Next. These phrases pepper the film often. 

The 12 looks at the immediate days following the crucifixion of Jesus through the eyes of his Apostles. Scared, uncertain, questioning. How do they stay safe? What should they do? What do they really believe?

In collaboration with curator/designer Martina Salisbury, The Friends of Beattie-Powers Place presents Moments in Time :: Pictures 1965-2023. The intimate salon installation offers a rare opportunity to view a selection of over 60 of Gerard Malanga’s photographs, including portraits of some of the most illustrious artists, musicians, literary figures, and cultural icons of the last six decades.  ?

In a new, non-equity national tour of Annie, the titular character shines bright. Cast is comprised of performers at the top of their game. The Ft. Lauderdale run continues through Oct. 22, before the show heads to Orlando.

This exhibition will be a celebration of Del Deo’s life and artistic career, featuring portraits, studio work, and the Italian landscapes celebrating his heritage, Provincetown landscapes, and reaffirm his status as a significant contributor to the legacy of the Provincetown Art Colony and to American art history.

"Sordid Lives," Del Shores' comedy drama from three decades ago, is running through Oct. 22 in Ft. Lauderdale's intimate Empire Stage. The piece is funny, timely, and entertaining. Cast members find the humanity beneath the characters' eccentricities.

"Eugene Onegin in his Own Words" was created by noted Russian director Dmitry Krymov and presented at LaMama in New York. Dmitry Anatolyevich Krymov (born 1954, Moscow, Russia) is a Russian artist, scenographer, teacher and theater director, five times Laureate of the Golden Mask award. He left Russia for USA the day after invasion into Ukraine started. Seven of his plays were quickly banned in his country. In 2022 he started Krymov Lab NYC, his new theatrical endeavor.

The Vermont Symphony Orchestra is returning to Bellows Falls on Sunday, November 5, with a special matinee at the Bellows Falls Opera House. The performance is part of the VSO’s 2023 “Made in Vermont Series;” shows highlighting guest artists from the Green Mountain State’s vibrant indie, folk, and rock scene. 

Composer/librettist Carlisle Floyd drew on Nobel Laureate John Steinbeck for one of his most successful operas, “Of Mice and Men.”  It hews closely to the simple plotline of the novella, which is one of America’s distinguished, if controversial literary works, locally banned on various grounds, including sex, violence, racism, and euthanasia.

Ivoryton Playhouse’s production of The Color Purple running through Sunday, Oct. 15, deserves big audiences. It is an ambitious show that is very well performed. Unfortunately, some may believe it is too dark.

Santa Fe based Exodus Ensemble has introduced theater that has become about as immersive as possible, short of the patrons spontaneously driving the narrative.  Performed by a troupe of talented and committed actors, this new form of entertainment already has a track record of delighting those who value youth, spontaneity, innovation, audience participation, and rule breaking.  Those preferring more established modes may be split on whether this kind of entertainment works for them.

Alvin Ouellet, an Adams-based artist, will present an Artist Talk on Sunday, October 15th from 4:45 pm to 5:15 pm at Images Cinema, 50 Spring Street, Williamstown, MA. His exhibition in the cinema lobby is on view through October 31.

Set in Lagos in the ‘90s, the story centers on a young woman who hopes to break into show business by responding to an open audition for the lead in a movie. Many universal issues arise, but with the addition of West African context and characters.

Riccardo Muti’s long and winding road in this country has led him from Philadelphia to Chicago.  He is always rooted in Carnegie Hall whose acoustics benefit the micro-miniaturizing attention to a music’s score. Even Philip Glass, whose repeated phrases sometimes merge one to the other, seemed as clear as the strings that dominate in Glass’s composition dedicated to the Maestro.

The play, English, by Iranian-American playwright Sanaz Toossi, was selected by freshman artistic director, Alan Paul, well before it won the Pulitzer Prize in May. Because of the original actress was unavailable she has stepped in to portray Elham. Thereby, the Barrington Stage production, directed by Knud Adams, is a double triumph. The play is complex, topical and timely while her acting proves to be utterly charming.

The Hungarian National Ballet’s production of Don Quixote at The Budapest Opera House was a joyful presentation. The energy and mirth emanating from the stage was infectious and intoxicating: I was practically jumping out of my seat with excitement by the end of the Act III pas de deux as Kitri, danced by Tatyjana Melnyik, balanced on pointe for what seemed an eternity.

LakehouseRanchDotPng mounted a riveting production of the daring show, XOXOLOLA. The small company in Miami focuses on experimental and absurdist works. LakehouseRanchDotPng just won a Silver Palm Award, recognizing theatrical excellence in South Florida.

Photographer J. Alexander Baker is featured at the Eclipse Mill Gallery in North Adams with the exhibition The Big Picture Show. Recently he purchased a large format printer. This project explores the issue of scale and how bigger is better.

What a silent film can teach us – about history and the relationship between the visual and the auditory. The City Without Jews is a famous 1924 silent film directed by H. K. Breslauer who would go on to become a Nazi, probably out of convenience. In this film, he actually seems to like Jews, to find them charming, bright and funny. Presented at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York.

In 1983 Claude Gosselin founded le Centre international d’art contemporain de Montréal. With great invention and wizzardry he curated lively and insightful versions of international sourced biennials. We covered a number of them for American arts publications. This article allows readers to brush up on their French.

During the 1920s, when Niels Bohr earned a Nobel Prize in physics, he collaborated as father and son with Werner Heisenberg. In 1926, with an appointment as chair to the University of Leipzig, he became Germany's youngest full professor. In 1941, with great effort, he returned to visit Bohr in Copenhagen. What transpired between them is unknown but is the content of the remarkable play Copenhagen now on stage at Berkshire Theatre Group in Stockbridge.

Opera Philadelphia knows how to produce opera. They recognize its multiple forms and multiple historic periods. No company in this country has spearheaded the development of new opera with such an effective program. Yet Philadelphia also continues to produce the tried and true with great style.