Boston Globe

The Boston Book Festival, in partnership with WBUR 90.9 FM, announces the complete schedule and locations for the widely anticipated annual event, taking place Oct. 27, 2012 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. in locations in and around Copley Square

After opening night the Shakespeare & Company production of Terry Teachout's new play Satchmo at the Waldorf was "frozen." Teachout attended a number of performances and took notes for revisions working with director, Gordon Edelstein, and the actor, John Douglas Thompson, for the next production which opens at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven in October. For this installment Teachout discusses the primary sources researched for the harsh language of Louis Armstrong and his gangster manager Joe Glaser.

The production of Terry Teachout's new play"Satchmo at the Waldorf" starring John Douglas Thompson was "frozen" after opening night at Shakespeare & Company. He defended against critical remarks about the strong language of rhe play and the development of a third character Miles Davis in addition to Louis Armstrong and his manager Joe Glaser. The changes will be a part of the Long Wharf Theatre production in October which will be reviewed by the national media.

The Joffrey Ballet, one of America’s pioneering ballet companies of the 20th century, makes a rare East Coast appearance to conclude the Jacob’s Pillow 80th Anniversary Season August 22–26. The Joffrey Ballet returns for the first time since its high-profile appearances at the Pillow in the 1950s and 60s, presenting an impressive program that features Taiwanese-American choreographer Edwaard Liang’s Age of Innocence, Russian choreographer Yuri Possokhov’s Bells, and the world premiere of Son of Chamber Symphony by Stanton Welch, Artistic Director of Houston Ballet.

Andris Nelson, who some think is on the short list for the music director position as the Boston Symphony, has extended his contract with the Birmingham Symphony.

The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute presents rare Chinese burial objects in an exclusive exhibition that considers both the discovery and the impact of modern Chinese archaeology, Unearthed: Recent Archaeological Discoveries from Northern China through October 21, 2012. The exhibition features objects recently excavated from sites in the Shanxi and Gansu provinces and never before seen outside of China, including a full-size stone sarcophagus discovered intact in 2004.

Through September 3 this is the first major museum level exhibition of Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein since his death in 1997. The Art Institute of Chicago is showing 130 paintings and 30 additional works including drawings and sculptures. From Chicago the exhibition travels to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Tate Modern and, finally, the Centre Pompidou in Paris in fall 2013.

In one of the best ever Pops programs Keith Lockhart paid tribute to New York composers. Including the Washington D. C. born jazz great Duke Ellington's A Tone Parallel to Harlem. For the second half of the concert he was joined by Broadway legend Bernadette Peters. She performed a number of songs by Stephen Sondheim including two from Follies which she performed this season on Broadway. Awesome.

This week's news that WGBH is downgrading its local jazz programming by more than 50% has ignited a firestorm in the tightly-knit community of jazz announcers. Veteran announcers Eric Jackson and Steve Schwartz, with combined service of more than 55 years in jazz radio, were informed that Eric's long-running weekday show (Mon-Thurs, 8pm-midnight) would be moved to the weekend, and Steve's Friday evening program will be terminated.

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival kicks off June 16 with the 80th Anniversary Gala, followed by “a veritable dance explosion” (Claudia La Rocco of The New York Times) of more than 300 free and ticketed performances, talks, exhibits, classes, and events spanning three months.

The 80th Anniversary Season includes an impressive blend of world premieres, U.S. premieres, live music, company debuts, legendary dance companies, emerging choreographers, and more than 300 ticketed and free events, talks, performances, classes, exhibits, and tours hosted at the Pillow’s 163-acre National Historic Landmark site.

The Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA) presents performing arts programming at its Boston Harbor location for Summer 2012. Programming includes perennial summer favorites Talking Taste, Harborwalk Sounds, and DJs on the Harbor, plus dance performances and the return of Experiment, bringing 50 writers, dancers, actors, and performers to the museum for an immersive theatrical experience.

In addition to exhibitions the Berkshire museum features an aquarium and the renowned Little Cinema. Here is a break down of exhibitions and events through mid July.

The Late Former Georgia Governor Lester Maddox once said. "The problem with the Georgia Prison System was the quality of the prisoners." This is like the current Republican Primary season. On March 5, there was a forum at the Boston Athenaeum to discuss The Real Romney, a 400 page tome about the former governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The political drama was in the retelling of the facts and focus.

The evening begins at 7 p.m. with a reception in the Beard House’s charming Greenhouse Gallery as guests enjoy an assortment of hors d’oeuvres. A seated tasting menu begins around 8 p.m. The James Beard House is located at 167 West 12th Street. The price is $130 per person for James Beard Foundation members and $170 per person for the general public.

It is that time of year when we look back at the highlights and insights of the past season. Take a deep breath and anticipate what lays ahead for 2012. There is much to remember as well as look forward to.

When Boston art dealer. Joan Stoneman, married Roger Sonnabend she had an enormous influence on his family owned chain of Sonesta Hotels. Under her charge the international hotel chain pioneered the policy of purchasing and commissioning major collections of contemporary art. She is remembered as a formidable presence during the transition of the contemporary art scene in Boston during the late 1960s and 1970s.

January 2012 will kick off the momentous 80th Anniversary of Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, a National Historic Landmark, National Medal of Arts honoree, and America’s longest-running international dance festival. Founded in 1933 by modern dance pioneer Ted Shawn as a retreat for his company of Men Dancers, Jacob’s Pillow has been a mecca of dance for eight decades.

Tens of thousand of images shot on the street throughout the world by an artist who well may come to be called great have emerged through the accidental discovery and then dogged determination of John Maloof. Howard Greenberg is beginning to curate the images.

The concept of Mass MoCA was initiated more than twenty years ago by Tom Krens then the director of the Williams College Museum of Art. When he departed for the Guggenheim Joe Thompson took over. The museum opened some eleven years ago with Laura Heon as chief curator and her associate Nato Thompson. Both have since parted. The team of curators Susan Cross and Denise Markonish accentuate Chapter Two of the museum's evolving history. When Markonish was hired the museum was in the midst of an ugly conflict over a later abandoned project by Christoph Buchel in the vast Building Five.

The Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design announced a significant donation from Bank of America. Pleiades (1982), an important wall-relief sculpture by American artist Lynda Benglis, was recently added to the Museum's collection.

For the second season this summer there will be head to head musicals in Pittsfield. Berkshire Theatre Group has announced that A Chorus Line will be presented at the Colonial Theatre. While a few blocks away Barrington Stage will feature Fiddler on the Roof. Both theatre companies have yet to announce their complete summer season of plays and performances.

In 2001 David A. Ross, after a four year "honeymoon" was fired as the director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Prior to that he served as director of Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art. Since departing as a museum director Ross has been a chameleon after decades in the art world with more than nine lives. Today he performs as lead singer with the band Red. His day gig is running a graduate program for the School of Visual Arts in New York.

On the occasion of the opening of the Linde Family Wing of Contemporary Art we reflect on a troubling history. There has been a struggle going back to the 1930s and the founding of the Institute of Contemporary Art. There has been an awkward relationship between the ICA, MFA and other museums in the area. It is now time for art workers to unite and throw off their chains.

Many scoffed that the MFA didn't have any contemporary art. The new installation of the collection proves that the old dame has more than Morris Louis. Bostonians are among the best-educated and most sophisticated people in America and they don’t need to be treated as if they are grade school children when it comes to contemporary art.