Larence Brownlee tours with Rising, a program of songs based on poems of the Harlem Renaissance and music by composers of color. He is at Carnegie Hall on March 23rd.

Like Sutton Hoo, King Tut’s Tomb, and Scythian Gold, the most exhilarating archeological finds are often the discoveries of beautifully crafted metal objects. A gorgeous shiny object suggests riches of untold value, something precious with which to feather our nests. Viewing the Fuller Craft Museum’s compelling show Creative Alloys is a bit like peeking at an elegantly revealed excavation filled with treasures.

In its essence, the opera is an intimate triangle of love, predation, betrayal, and murder. Yet the intimacy of “Tosca” plays against a grand canvas of three unrelated settings, which LVO executes deftly.

Long Beach Opera presented an intriguing new music and dance performance, The Horse. Created and performed by Chris Emile, Cody Perkins wrote the music and vocals are by Alexis Vaughn. When you arrive, you are impelled to look around Rancho Los Cerritos.  The area is wooded, a lone rabbit makes its way to a tree, looks around and across the road. It bounds off into the woods.

Friends have asked for reports about our Antarctic cruise. I have broken it into categories for picking and choosing. It was a 9-day journey on Atlas Ocean Voyages, a new luxury brand, on the World Navigator. We had previously decided to give the Antarctic a miss because of the potential misery of four days on the Drake Passage. Then we learned of "Fly the Drake" (i.e., launching the cruise from South Georgia Island rather than Argentina or Chile) and became interested.

Greta Oglesby gloriously reprises the role of Fannie Lou Hamer that she performed at Oregon Shakes’ vast outdoor Elizabethan Theatre.  She brings a speaking voice brimming with passion and conviction, as well as a strong and melodious singing voice.  She stalks the stage with a slight hobble as a wounded warrior who is too busy planning the next demonstration to let her nagging injuries slow her down.

Welcome spring with a double header exhibition by Stephanie Boyd and Jane Hudson at Spring Street Market and Cafe in Williamstown. It will be on view from April 1 through June 17.

August Strindberg's "Totentanz" had its opening in Berlin at Bertolt Brecht's famed theater, the Berliner Ensemble. Written in 1900 it is one of those plays that lets one shudder about the senselessness and cruel relationship some couples endure and call it a marriage.

There are three examples of a new look to Boston’s skyline: Boston University’s Center for Computing and Data Sciences or “Jenga Building” near Kenmore Square; Harvard’s John A. Paulson Science and Applied Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS) Building in Allston; and the One Congress Street Building at the Bulfinch Triangle next to Government Center.

Let’s admit that the play has some resemblances to Death of a Salesman. Irving is a traveling salesman gone weeks at time, just as Willie Loman was.  He is also a flawed man. His relationship with his son is contentious.  Like Linda in the Miller play, his wife is loyal to him but aware of the realities he can’t quite admit and tries to keep the peace between him and Larry.

Broadway Licensing is pleased to announce its acquisition of the highly-anticipated play, “John Proctor Is the Villain” by playwright Kimberly Belflower for live stage performance rights. In conjunction, The Huntington, Boston’s leading professional theatre, is thrilled to publicize that it will include the thought-provoking, funny new play in its 23/24 season.  

British media star Jeremy Carson is best known for hit shows like Top Gear and Grand Tour. He is also a best selling author. He has sunk a ton of loot and life savings into a thousand acre Diddly Squat Farm in Britain's bucolic Cotswold. His pratfalls, bone headed decisions, and mishegoss are the plot line for the hit series Carson's Farm now in its second season on Amazon Prime.

The Vienna Philharmonic arrived at Carnegie Hall, a highly anticipated occasion that enticed the cast of Lohengrin at the Metropolitan Opera to come over for a busman’s holiday. Richard Strauss, who was featured in the first program, loved Lohengrin.  His last tone poem, The Alpine Symphony was performed in a program with Arnold Schoenberg's Vertlarke Nacht.

“Bill Finn and James Lapine’s A New Brain has long been deserving of rediscovery, so it is a wonderful opportunity for our theatres to join forces for the first time to present it for our audiences this summer,” commented BSC Artistic Director Alan Paul and WTF Interim Artistic Director Jenny Gersten, in a joint statement.

In 2022 the Guggenheim acquired over 60 works by more than 40 artists, of whom 75% are new to its collection. The works span from the 1960s to the present day and augment the museum’s holdings of some of the world’s most influential artists.

After more than a year of bargaining, the Whitney Museum Union of Local 2110 UAW have reached a tentative agreement with the Museum on a first union contract. Union members are in the process of voting on the contract.

Following the work over a number of decades, Louis Risoli has been among Boston’s foremost artists. He is long overdue for a museum restrospective. His work is on view in March at Boston's Gallery Naga which has represented him for many years.

The hit Broadway jukebox musical “Million Dollar Quartet” Book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux. Original concept and direction by Floyd Mutrux; inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins launches the official Berkshire Theatre Group season on June 29. It's the main event of the season at the Colonial Theatre. While the Main Stage continues renovation the rest of the season is programmed for the Unicorn in Stockbridge.

A five-part Visionary Architecture on Film series debuts at the Clark Art Institute on select Thursdays this spring. Presented in connection with the Clark’s exhibition Portals: The Visionary Architecture of Paul Goesch, this film series explores themes related to Goesch’s life and work in early twentieth-century Germany.

Too bad and not long enough! The 73rd Berlinale is now film history. After the limited screenings during the Covid years, the festival became an obvious success.

Kissing the Floor,  a radical and strangely beautiful retelling of Antigone by Sophocles, is playing on Theatre Row in New York through March 12th. It is beautifully acted. The language, even as it describes ugly scenes, is lilting and lovely. Playwright Ellen McLaughlin often delves into Greek subjects.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music is mounting Lorraine Hansberry’s second play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s window at the Harvey Theater.  Anne Kauffman, who directed the work at the Goodman Theater in Chicago in 2016, directs Oscar Isaac and Rachel Brosnahan.

In 2015 I wrote a book of poetry, Shards of a Life, which was launched with a reading and dialogue with director, Susan Wissler, at Edith Wharton's The Mount. It was an auspicious beginning. Each winter other books of poetry and oral history followed. There was a disruption in 2021 entailing recovery from spinal surgery. The eighth book, Annisquam: Pip and Me Coming of Age, is on track for a Spring/ Summer release.

What a thrill it is to bring NEA Jazz Master Delfeayo Marsalis to the Berkshires, as guest soloist with the UMass Jazz Ensemble 1. A scion of New Orleans’ fabled music family, Delfeayo Marsalis’ appearance in the March 11 concert (Shakespeare & Co., Lenox) marks the first time that he has appeared with the UMass big band.

Spanning Bowie's career, the archive features handwritten lyrics, letters, sheet music, original costumes, fashion, photography, film, music videos, set designs, Bowie's own instruments, album artwork, and awards. It also includes more intimate writings, thought processes, and unrealised projects, the majority of which have never been seen in public before.