Leon Botstein calls our attention to the music and art of Mexico. Mexico is under-represented in symphony halls across the world. Botstein, who heads Bard and extraordinary music programs, is introducing extensive important Mexican compositions of the last century. While Carlos Chavez is less well known than Silvestre Revueltas, he was the center of Mexico's music life during his lifetime and is its lynchpin.

This is the fourth time that Long Wharf artistic director, Gordon Edelstein, has worked with the Eugene O'Neill classic Moon for the Misbegotten. To keep it fresh he has changed the tenant farmer Hogan family from Irish immigrants to African Americans. That allowed for casting multiply Tony and Grammy winner Audra McDonald. She appears with her real life husband Will Swenson. The resultant charisma is scorching.

Mother of the Maid, by Emmy winner Joan Anderson, features Shakespeare & Company founding artistic director Tina Packer. She and her partner, Nigel Gore, have returned to Lenox from a national tour of the critically acclaimed Women of Will. The play, directed by Matthew Penn, is having its world premiere through September 6.

In the two hander by Terrence McNally, Frankie & Johnny in the clair de lune, directed by Karen Allen, the legendary tragic lovers have been transformed into a short order cook (Darren Pettie) and waitress (Angel Desai). It's 3 AM and following what she sees as a one night stand he refuses to leave harboring delusions of love and marriage.

Roberto Lugo, at 33, has emerged on the local art scene, thanks to Leslie Ferrin and her outreach program for artists in the ceramics, pottery world. His show opens on the Mass MoCA campus at Ferrin Contemporary on August 22.

Railroad Reality Week takes place at the Nevada Northern Railway Complex, the best preserved, least altered and most complete main yard remaining from the steam railroad era.

Most famous for his Tony Award-winning comedy/farce plays “Lend Me a Tenor” and “Moon Over Buffalo”, prolific playwright Ken Ludwig, once again scores with his latest inventive and zany comedy “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery.”

Recently Jack Lyons met with filmmaker Paul Davids after a screening of his new documentary film Marilyn Monroe Declassified. It is due for theatrical release later this year.

"Martha" is famous for two numbers, one of which, "The Last Rose of Summer," is actually an Irish folk song. But most contemporary opera lovers have not heard the entire work. Midsummer Opera's production suggests although the work has its pleasures, it is not soon to become an opera house staple.

Dutch oven cooking, popular since colonial times, came to Nevada with the early Mormon settlers of the area and remains a way of life even today. Nevada state parks regularly give demonstrations of how to cook with the short-legged, cast iron vessel with the rimmed lid.

A highlight of the Berkshire season is the annual day long event Tanglewood On Parade culminating in a concert in the Shed. A perennial participant, composer/ conductor John Williams, was unable to travel from his home in LA. His music was heard including a Tanglewood debut of Andris Nelsons as a substitute conductor of the Pops. A good time was had by all.

This play based on Chekhov is a delightful two hours of smart theater that you'll enjoy even if you haven't seen The Seagull more times than you can count. The playbill provides a brief summary of the original, "in case you forgot." Director Jonathan L. Green, who also directed Sideshow's 2014 version, creates a minimalist production that uses original and contemporary pop music and breaks the fourth wall at will to talk with the audience.

The blockbuster summer exhibition, through September 13, is testing the limits of the recently renovated and expanded Clark Art Institute to handle maximum visitation even mid week. Only a few of the 50 works in the exhibition Van Gogh and Nature will be readily familiar to visitors. Many of the works on view, gathered from major collections, rarely travel to special exhibitions such as this. The curators have provided an intimate view of his daily practice and meticulous study of nature.

American realist painter Edward Hopper is known to have painted in Gloucester on five separate occasions during the summer months in the years 1912, 1923, 1924, 1926 and 1928. His earliest visit in 1912 was made in the company of fellow artist Leon Kroll. The Cape Ann Museum will present a guided walking tour of select Gloucester houses made famous by American realist painter Edward Hopper on Friday, August 7 at 10:00 a.m.

Jessica Conzo, market manager for Downtown Pittsfield's Farmers Market, hosted the second annual 'Blue Moon Roof Top' celebration on Friday night, July 31st, on top of the Greystone Building, located at 446 North Street. The event was a sell-out.

Ethel Smyth is the only female composer whose work has been produced by the Metropolitan Opera. An admirer of Wagner, Berlioz and Brahms, she in turn was admired by Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Thomas Beecham and Virginia Woolf. The Wreckers is her best known opera and Leon Botstein, ever on the alert for deserving but underexposed works, presented it in concert form in 2007. Now he gives us the full treatment at Bard.

This is the 10th WTF season for Michael Friedman, and 6th for Daniel Goldstein. They have created the world premiere of a musical Unknown Soldier which is one of the bright and promising productions this summer in Williamstown. The project was initiated through a commission from former artistic director Nicholas Martin. It has been brought to fruition by Mandy Greenfield .

The week of August 2nd to 6thh is one of the most exciting weeks at Tanglewood,located in Lenox, Massachusetts. If you are a fan of conductor Andris Nelsons and Yo-Yo Ma, this is your week of enjoyment.

The winner of the European Museum of the Year Award in 2008, the KUMU soars as the youthful face of independent Estonia. The museum's state-of-the-art galleries display selections from its 58,000-piece collection of Estonian art from the 18th century to the 1990s, including works from the Soviet era. The KUMU is a compelling destination in Tallinn, Estonia's charming capital.

Catherine Hinman, the Museum’s Director of Public Affairs and Publications, said “A highlight of a visit [to the Morse Museum] is always the Byzantine-Romanesque chapel interior Tiffany designed for exhibition at the 1893 world’s fair in Chicago, which literally brought fair-goers to their knees in 1893 and continues to mesmerize our visitors today.”

Taibi Magar, in her directorial debut at Shakespeare & Company, takes audiences on a wild ride through the city of Ephesus, where two sets of identical twins who were separated at birth, collide. What ensues is hilarious, due to the acting skills of the cast and Magar's vision of bringing a modern day spin to Shakespeare's shortest comedy. The result is 90 minutes of rollicking fun.

The renowned playwright John Guare was in Pittsfield recently for the first days of rehearsal of his play His Girl Friday. It is being directed by Julianne Boyd for Barrington Stage Company. He and others in the production met with the media for a lively give and take.

Blantyre means elgance, old world charm and to most of us, perceived, high prices. Think again. Lunch with wine and sunset views with a glass or bottle of Port and a cheese plate won't set you back as much as you would expect.

Ed Mumm the owner of Dig This said, “Originally I thought only men would be into this. As soon as we opened our doors for business, it became very obvious that I was wrong. Half of our clients are woman who apparently have also craved the opportunity to play in bulldozers and excavators. I think it is very empowering for them and is fantastic therapy to take control of a 20 ton piece of machinery and tear up some earth and what ever else is in their way.”

No food is consumed by audience members in Feast, although by the end of the production, I was thinking fondly of a plate of lamb biryani with pappadums or perhaps some chicken mole.