Kicking off the series on October 21 is the lecture “Art, Money, Oil, and Guns: The Saga of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi.” The lecture traces the narrative arcs of two important elements that combined to produce the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, an extraordinary new museum Tom Krens has called “the Apotheosis.” He is the former director of the Guggenheim Foundation.

Bill Irwin, with his mastery of the physical, clownish gesture and the musical lines of language presents a moving portrait of selections from Samuel Beckett’s work at the Irish Repertory Theater through November 4. Interspersing his own commentary with performance, we are taken in and out of the playwright’s work, as Irwin explains clowning and physical theater, an important part of Beckett, and also productions past in which he has enjoyed the company of Steve Martin and the late Robin Williams whose body sailed into a Godot scene. In Beckett you laugh through pain.

A star attraction on the European circuit, Italian Carmen Giannattasio makes her San Francisco Opera debut and role debut as the title character. The soprano was offered the part earlier in her career, but she declined.

The High Line is a big idea writ large, just like operas. It forms a perfect set for Mile Long Opera. Elizabeth Diller gets a director’s credit for an opera written specially for this location by David Lang. Anne Carson is librettist and Claudia Rankine, essayist. Mile Long Opera is subtitled, a biography of 7 pm, a time of transition from work to home.

Kathy Scambiatterra directs this complex political/musical story, based on the Czech music fans and political dissidents in the years between the Prague Spring in 1968 and the Velvet Revolution of 1989.

Puglia is referred to as the 'boot or heel' of Italy. It is located easternmost on the bottom of Italy and has 325 miles of coastline, whch helps enhance the grapes from the province. The wines are interesting and kin to American Zinfandel, a varietal dominant in the northwest.

Audiences will eat up South Florida fun and funny production of Little Shop of Horrors. Over-the-top humor, mixed with some subtlety, add up to a biting Lightning Bolt Productions' mounting. The director serves double duty as the nerdy Seymour.

While he may be best known for directing award-winning films like “Apocalypse Now” and the “Godfather” series, Francis Ford Coppola (www.FrancisCoppolaWinery.com) was a winemaker before he was a filmmaker.

Wilde’s highly-charged, sexual novella, and the Hollywood production code-driven 1945 movie, intrigued A Noise Within theatre director Michael Michetti, into tackling a stage adaptation in 2006 at Pasadena’s Boston Court Theatre. Mr. Michetti’s 2018 production now on stage at the A Noise Within Theatre, in East Pasadena, closely adheres to Wilde’s original story and most of his dialogue.

Final Follies, an evening of one act plays by A.J.Gurney is playing at The Cherry Lane Theater home of Primary Stages, Gurney's primary producers over the past decade. The first play, titled Final Follies was delivered to Gurney's agent a week before he died last year. It is a juicy send off for a haute Wasp author, who sees acting in porn movies as a job solution for waning WASPs looking for a way to earn a living.

My Parsifal Conductor, Allan Leicht's hilarious and touching comedy on the late domestic life of Richard Wagner, which extends into immortality, is playing at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater through November 3. At the center of the curtainless stage is a big double bed over which a heavenly canopy hangs. We are somewhere between heaven and earth where Cosima Liszt Bulow Wagner is taking her last gasps. She is ninety and married Richard Wagner 60 years ago, after the birth of their three children, Isolde, Eva and Siegfried. Wagner died after 13 years of marriage.

Place by Ted Hearne has its world premier as part of BAM’s New Wave Festival. Like Giuseppe Verdi whose music became the anthem of Italian unification, Hearne is a voice for the big issues before our country. His new oratorio addresses ‘gentrification.’ It is deeply personal and deeply moving.

The Angel's Share at Green-Wood cemetery concluded is season with a double bill of horror operas. In Tell-Tale Heart, Jennifer Johnson Cano charted her devolution into violence and self-incrimination with gusto, her final outcry answered only by that thumping two-note figure from Gregg Kallor's keyboard. Was she mad? Had she committed murder? Was there ever an old man to be killed in the first place? All these questions swirled and squirmed in one's mind, and the only answer follows.

This launches a new feature for Berkshire Fine Arts. Pippy Giuliano, sister of BFA's Charles, shares deeps roots and family heritage in Cape Ann. She lives in Annisquam not far from the ancestral home, Beaver Dam Farm, in Rockport. Now retired, she is active in the community and a docent for the Cape Ann Museum. We suggested that she contribute a Letter from Cape Ann with tips on events and gatherings.

Solid Sound, Wilco's Music and Arts Festival, returns to MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts June 28-30, 2019. Three-day tickets go on sale this Thursday at 11:00AM ET through solidsoundfestival.com, massmoca.org and the MASS MoCA Box Office (413.662.2111). For a limited time, tickets will be offered at a reduced early-bird rate of $149 (regular price $179). Children’s three-day tickets (ages 6-10) will be available for $55 and children under 6 are free. Thursday also marks the opening of campsite reservations for the official festival campground Solid Ground. Campsite reservations can be made only by calling the MASS MoCA Box Office.

NY Phil morning matinees open with conductor David Robertson in a performance of another major work by contemporary composer Louis Andriessen, the Dutch composer whose receipt of the 2016 Kravis Prize for new music has led to an in-depth Philharmonic exploration of his catalogue. Andriessen, in a program note, commented that " I have made no attempt to relate to what is known as "music from the Far East" or, even worse, 'world music.'"

The Aspect Foundation presented the Zemlinsky Quartet in New York. They performed works by their namesake, Dvo?ák, and Leos Janá?ek , in particular works inspired by their muses, women who left their love unrequited. The music's sadness and disappointment yielded was lovely. The group expressed comraderie and collaboration for a uniquely satisfying effect.

Gloria, A Life, by Emily Mann is playing at the Daryl Roth Theater in Manhattan. The theater is configured as a circle of bleachers. Gloria Steinem, whose role as journalist and activist in the women’s movement is the subject of this event, has come to believe that people, women and men, sitting in circles and talking, is the answer to humanly rich and fulfilling lives.

Is it worth it to create the greatest instrument in the history of Western music, even if it costs you everything? That is the question asked by the 1998 François Girard film The Red Violin, which tracks the creation, birth and long life of its titular object from a workshop in Cremona in the 16th century to an auction house in modern day Montreal.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC) announced today three productions for its upcoming 25th season – Into the Woods, the musical classic by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine; the world premiere new musical Fall Springs, by Niko Tsakalakos and Peter Sinn Nachtrieb; and Gertrude and Claudius, a new play by Mark St. Germain.

Susan Erony’s new mixed-media paintings explore primal and intellectual responses to visual beauty as they bear witness to the dignity and the achievements of the oppressed, the dispossessed, and all of us who face sorrow or pain in the course of life. The exhibition is on view at Trident Gallery, in Gloucester, Mass.

Rossini’s classic story of the oppressed woman who upends the patriarchal dowry system to pursue true love, is wonderfully invigorated by BLO’s selection and cast of critically acclaimed singers. This production launches the fall season of Boston Lyric Opera with stunning panache.

Primitivo di Puglia is a deep red wine from the heel or better known as the boot of Italy. The area is hot and dry, but fortunately has 325 miles of coastline. The varietal, Primitivo, grows on rather flat land that slopes into the sea. The result is a thick skinned grape that is full of fruit and high alcohol. It is known as Zinfandel in America. The root and distance cousin of Primitivo came from Croatia.

The script for Remy Bumppo Theatre’s production of Frankenstein was adapted by English playwright Nick Dear from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. Ian Frank directs a warm and heart-wrenching production, staged on Joe Schermoly’s handsome minimalist set.

Coral Gables' GableStage is the first regional theater to mount Joshua Harmon's explosive 'Admissions.' A palpable urgency, tension hovers over the stage in this triumphant production. 'Admissions' is a highly complex, yet taut satire covering topics such as affirmative action.