Throughout his career, Carl Chiarenza (American, b. 1935) has demonstrated that photographs can provide much more than just documentary evidence. Rather than create straightforward records of the cast-off materials that appear before his camera, Chiarenza photographically transforms them into new and provocative images.

Wave Theory Records has released the original soundtrack from legendary filmmaker Robert Altman’s 1977 cult avant-garde film 3 Women, starring Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek. The strikingly dissonant score was written by American composer Gerald Busby,

The jazz pianist, Chick Corea, has died at 79 not long after the diagnosis of a rare cancer. His impact and influence was enormous with a career that included almost 90 albums for which he was awarded 23 Grammys as well as three Latin Grammys. He grew up in Chelsea a blue collar Boston neighborhood. We last heard him in the Berkshires at Tanglewood in 2016.

Theater royalty recognizing theater, television and movie royalty was the fantastic vibe when the New Federal Theatre recently celebrated its Golden 50th Anniversary and successfully operating from 1970 to 2020 and of course, it will keep on keepin’ on! It was a celebration fit for a king and it was for a king, Mr. Woodie King Jr., founder of New Federal Theatre and a man I love to call Mr. Theatre.

As the Julian and Eunice Cohen President and CEO of the BSO, Gail Samuel will lead the Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, and Tanglewood, and will oversee a robust, rapidly evolving slate of initiatives intended to expand the reach and relevance of orchestral music in the Boston area and beyond.

Bang on a Can announces a dynamic slate of new virtual programming taking place from March through May 2021, all streaming at live.bangonacan.org. All shows are free to watch, but viewers are encouraged to consider purchasing a ticket to help support the performers and commissioned composers.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra is taking a big step toward its future with the appointment of Gail Samuel to succeed Mark Volpe this June, just in time for Tanglewood. 

New Federal Theatre is presenting three classic plays during Black History Month. The troupe has mastered the streaming form, using individual, adjoining screens for the actors and cleverly breaking the 4th wall of streaming, the line that divides one screen from another. Malcolm X and Rev. Martin Luther King can even arm wrestle in this form.

In Compensation, the characters experience a profound yearning for family and connection. The world premiere production by Island City Stage, near Ft. Lauderdale, is streaming online through Feb. 28. Compensation is a lean, focused, heartfelt, and sometimes funny piece.

Last weekend, SF Opera offered four screenings in the drive-in movie format at Fort Mason.  The filming was the company’s 2009 fine production of Puccini’s brilliant “Tosca.”  A review of the film of a 12-year-old stage production that has completed its drive-in run may seem fatuous. However, it could be of interest to those who might consider viewing a future streaming of the production or buying an electronic copy.

This March, journalist Julie Scelfo will be hosting conversations about extraordinary women from the nineteenth century who have helped shape the American story with their achievements. The events will occur free on Zoom.

Patricia “Pat” White is a mainstay of the New Federal Theatre (NFT). For twenty-five years she has handled all the details of running the producing company. This allows founder Woodie King Jr. to read scripts until 2 o’clock in the morning.

MASS MoCA presents Close to You, a group exhibition that gathers the work of artists who probe the capacity of the visual arts to conjure feelings of closeness — both to others and to ourselves. On view from Saturday, April 3, through January 2022, in the Michael & Agnese Meehan Gallery, the exhibition features the work of Laura Aguilar, Chloë Bass, Maren Hassinger, Eamon Ore-Giron, Clifford Prince King, and Kang Seung Lee.

The winners of the Virtual Berlinale, 2021, have received their Golden and Silver Bears and will return to Berlin in June for the award ceremonies and, so the world hopes, for a public viewing of their films.

This year, the presentation of the Kleban Prize for Musical Theatre will be digital. The event honoring promising lyricists and librettists will stream at 7 p.m. EST Monday, March 15. Melissa Li, Benjamin Scheuer, and Kit Yan are this year's winners. The award's namesake, Edward Kleban, is the late Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning lyricist of A Chorus Line.

Groupmuse, the community-building startup that aims to adapt the concert experience, announced their plan to become a musician-owned cooperative. They have assembled a Founding Council made up of ten diverse young musician activists. ranging from international prize-winners, to artists who have played over 150 concerts through Groupmuse, to social justice activists fighting to bring about a more equitable and inclusive concert music ecosystem.

Jacob's Pillow launches its 90th season with continuity as well as renovation and a Dance We Must fundraising campaign. It seeks to raise $2 million toward a goal of $22 million.

Sir Simon Rattle has taken out German citizenship to be closer to his children. It is also said he is exiting Britain and the cultural consequences of Brexit. Rattle will succeed Mariss Jansons as the chief conductor of the Symphonieorchester des Bayerische Rundfunks. Recently he conducted the orchestra in a world premiere of Ondrej Adámek's "Where Are You?"

Blue Heron Gallery Online, a virtual art gallery, will be presenting the art of North Adams artist Chalice Mitchell beginning at noon on Saturday, March 1, 2021.  The show, appearing on www.blueherongallery.online, will feature her paintings, and present the artist in photographs and her Artist Statement.

New Federal Theatre has always promoted the inclusion of women artists as part of its mission. It is no surprise that they are offering works by and with women for Women’s History Month. They appeal to everyone. Petronia Paley and Margaret Odette are featured in the two-hander, Hospice by Pearl Cleage. Billed as a reading, the performances are full characterizations by actors.

American art scholar Patricia Hills has researched and published the work of genre painter Eastman Johnson (1824-1906). She is seeking funds to launch a Catalogue Raisonné website working with the National Academy of Design.

New Normal Rep.'s inaugural production is the dramedy Jericho, by the company's artistic director, Jack Canfora. The new online theater company's debut production features strong acting, quality direction. Jericho is streaming through April 4 at NewNormalRep.org. The play is touching and funny, but not particularly original.

Robert Morgan was born and raised in Pittsfield but became a citizen of the world. Now retired from a career in international finance he has returned to his roots. That means full time in the studio creating enormous representational/ surreal works on paper. Widely exhibited the new work will be seen at Blue Heron Gallery Online, a virtual art gallery. Well known in the Berkshires the virtual exhibition exposes the work to a readily accessible internet audience.

Marking the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s triumphant return to its summer home, BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons—who leads eight orchestra programs this summer—opens the BSO’s Tanglewood season on Saturday, July 10, with an all-Beethoven program, featuring one of the festival’s most preeminent guest artists, Emanuel Ax, performing the Piano Concerto No. 5, Emperor, on a program with one of Beethoven’s most iconic works, Symphony No. 5.

Juilliard announces the launch of Juilliard LIVE, a new streaming initiative offering performances from across its three divisions—music, dance, and drama—online to a global audience. The broad initiative, part of the school’s long-term strategic plan, was accelerated over the past year when indoor performances were halted due to the pandemic. With a mix of livestreamed and on-demand content, Juilliard LIVE expands student performance opportunities both now and in the future, and it will increase accessibility to the performing arts for audiences around the world.