Music
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Adriana Lecouvreur from Convent Garden in HD
Direct to the Berkshires on October 23
By: - Oct 12th, 2011The HD broadcast field expands to include wonderful opera productions from around the world. Adriana Lecouvreur from Convent Garden will be a treat with Angela Gherghiu, banned at the Met, and Jonas Kaufman.
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David Mallet's Inch By Inch, Row By Row
Continues To Sow at Eagle Hill Cultural Center
By: - Oct 12th, 2011In concert at Hardwick’s Eagle Hill Cultural Center, the audience welcomed him warmly and offered up two standing and extended ovations at the end.
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Gergiev Conducts The Mariinsky at Carnegie Hall
A Spellbinding Performance of Tchaikovsky
By: - Oct 11th, 2011Valery Gergiev is one of the busiest conductors in the world. Last spring, he was booked in Moscow one day and at the Met in New York the next. He didn't quite make it to the second assignment, sad for us in the US. But here he is at Carnegie, thrilling a Sunday afternoon audience.
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Tobias Picker Honored at Columbia University
The Miller Theater Presents a Compelling Composer Portrait
By: - Oct 07th, 2011Tobias Picker collaborates with performers. Ursula Oppens, who has been his muse and articulator for decades,was on stage to talk to the charming and witty composer. Sometimes called 'conservative' because his music is easy on the ear, challenging and beautiful are better adjectives for this important American composer.
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Placido Domingo on a Tear
Attacks Washington Post Critic
By: - Oct 04th, 2011We have noted in the past that Domingo is a wonderful singer who deserves to sing forever. But, as a conductor, the great Metropolitan Orchestra and the Met's singers deserve better. Now he fights back.
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Maria Muldaur At The Bull Run In Shirley
Weaving New and Old
By: - Oct 02nd, 2011Sometimes leading the beat, sometimes following, her voice gliding up and down the scales, stroking, stretching, bending and twisting the notes. For close to two hours, Maria Muldaur without a break performed blues, gospel, r&b, funk and folk.
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Alan Gilbert Triumphs with the New York Philharmonic
Stephanie Blythe Sings a Gorgeous World Premiere by John Corigliano
By: - Oct 01st, 2011A dark and elegiac tone pervaded Avery Fisher Hall last night but the sheer beauty of the music performed, and the moving music Alan Gilbert drew from the orchestra and Stephanie Blythe riveted and stunned the audience.
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Anna Bolena at the Metropolitan Opera
Live in HD on October 15
By: - Sep 28th, 2011Don't worry about the glitches and problem pitches in the Met's new production by David McVicar. HD transmission covers a multitude of sins.
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I Feel So Good
The Life and Times of Big Bill Broonzy
By: - Sep 14th, 2011Bob Riesman tracks the life of William Lee Conley Broonzy through murky early years to his death in 1958.For devotees of the Blues, the evaluations of this book voiced in the foreword by genre sage, Peter Guralnick, and echoed in an appreciation by blues performer, Peter Townshend, voice my thoughts about this biography of Big Bill Broonzy, his life and his contributions to an iconic musical form.
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Manahan Conducts Mahler at Baryshnikov Arts Center
Jennifer Johnson Cano and Paul Groves Shine
By: - Sep 10th, 2011With 9/11 looming in the background, Mahler's gorgeous tribute to the joys of life and also its perils was a perfect prelude to commemorations. Maestro Manahan conducted the Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York. It is the 100th anniversary of the premier of the song symphony.
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Gunther Schuller and Jimmy Cobb on Miles Davis
Birth of the Cool and Kind of Blue
By: - Sep 09th, 2011In 1949 Gunther Schuller played horn as a part of the Miles Davis nonet in sessions originally released as 78 rpm singles. Several years later in the early days of LPs the singles were reissued as the album Birth of the Cool. Jimmy Cobb was the drummer of the classic Davis album, a continuing best seller, Kind of Blue. During a session with critic and historian, Bob Blumenthal, during the Tanglewood Jazz Festival they recalled those now historic recordings.
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Cavalli Comes to Le Poisson Rouge
Opera Omnia Presents a Ribald Myth
By: - Sep 08th, 2011Under the same constraints that the original production had, Wesley Chinn re-iamgined this opera, the I Love Lucy of its time, with great singers and a charming staging.
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Tanglewood Jazz Festival Two
Sing the Truth, Mingus/ Schuller, Cobb
By: - Sep 07th, 2011The Sunday afternoon program featured the Jazz Masters, drummer Jimmy Cobb fronting Coast to Coast All Stars. Followed by The Mingus Orchestra conducted by Gunther Schuller. The evening program Sing the Truth featured Angelique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves, and Lizz Wright. With that the season ended for Tanglewood in the Berkshires. Such sweet music.
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Tanglewood Jazz Festival 2011 One
Cachao Tribute Judy Carmichael Blythe Danner
By: - Sep 05th, 2011The annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival was a three day slam dunk. There was a superbly balanced program that introduced emerging artists as well as performances by jazz masters. A nice addition this year featured scull sessions with jazz critic and historian Bob Blumenthal. It was everything you would hope for in a great jazz festival. This is part one of our coverage.
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Porgy Gets His Bess at ART
Gershwin's Opera Is Moving Musical Theater
By: - Sep 03rd, 2011Fears that ART's Diane Paulus would trash George Gershwin's folk-opera "Porgy and Bess" prove unfounded in vibrant production. Opera or musical theater? Who cares.
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Porgy and Bess at Tanglewood
Concert Performance of Gershwin Classic
By: - Aug 27th, 2011When the Tanglewood season was planned surely nobody anticipated the interest and controversy that would be evoked by a concert version of the opera Porgy and Bess (1935) with music by George Gershwin, libretto and lyrics by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin. In one of the most anticipated and controversial theatre events of the season American Repertory Theatre opens its Broadway bound musical version this week
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Morgan Freeman Joins John Williams for Film Night
Capacity Audience at Tanglewood
By: - Aug 21st, 2011There was a near capacity turn out of 18,000 delighted patrons for the annual Film Night conducted by John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra. His special guests included narrator, Morgan Freeman, and violinist, Gil Shamam. Tanglewood was popping.
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Stephanie Blythe at Tanglewood
Program of Americana by Met Mezzo Soprano
By: - Aug 11th, 2011In the relatively brief time since earning a BFA degree in 1993 Stephanie Blythe has emerged as a star of the Metropolitan Opera and one of the great mezzo-sopranos of her generation. Early on she was a Tanglewood Fellow for two years and has returned ever since in a mentoring role. Last night she paid tribute to that unique relationship in a program of American song.
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Train Roars Through Tanglewood
Fans Hop On for a Wild Ride
By: - Aug 09th, 2011There were flashes of Beatlemania last night as soccer moms and teenipboppers bounded on stage at the invitation of lead singer Patrick Monahan of Train. Not since Wilco have we seen such raw energy rock the Shed. It was great fun. The band informed the audience that they would like to be an annual event like James Taylor. What a great idea.
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Bang on a Can at Mass MoCA
Annual Banglewood Music Marathon
By: - Aug 03rd, 2011Although the Bang on a Can Summer Festival and Institute is often referred to as Banglewood, the similarity really does end there. If attendance is down, that’s okay cause Bang On A Can isn’t banking on an audience to succeed. It may be a festival but it’s also an Institute and that means money generated by ticket sales is pretty much beside the point. Ticket sales to Bang On A Can are like subscriptions to newspapers or magazines, they don’t pay the bills, rather they provide a more-or-less accurate measure of public reception.
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Tanglewood on Parade
Day Long Annual Family Event
By: - Aug 03rd, 2011Glorious summer weather resulted in a near capacity turnout in the Shed and on the lawn for one of the most popular programs of the season. The gates opened at 2 PM as families flocked to the Lenox estate for the annual Tanglewood on Parade. The evening program featuring four guest conductors and an accessible program culminated with blasting canons and bursting fireworks climaxing a massive rendering of Tchaikovsky's anthem The 1812 Overture. It was an occasion to rethink our damaged and endangered notions of patriotism and sacrifice.
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Steely Dan Rocks Tanglewood
No Rust on Aging Fagen and Becker
By: - Jul 27th, 2011On a mid week work night Steel Dan brought their pulsing strap on jazz rock to a near capacity audience at Tanglwood. The cerebral music and sardonic lyrics were just what the doctor ordered for cash strapped Tanglewood which is loosening up to allow the vulgarians into the tample of the hallowed grounds of the BSO in Lenox. Awesome. A good time was had by all and nothing was trashed.
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Guillaume Tell Magnificent at Caramoor
Grand opera is Truly Grand
By: - Jul 17th, 2011Guillaume Tell, which Will Crutchfield revealed a wonderful opera, is seldom performed. This production should whet appetites for a full court press soon. This grand opera is seldom performed. The singing roles make inordinate demands.
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Charles Dutoit Conducts at Tanglewood
Opening Night for 2011 Season
By: - Jul 09th, 2011A celebrity filled audience packed the Koussevitzky Shed for the opening night of the official Tanglewood season. Guest conductor Charles Dutoit presided over a program of music by Bellini, Rossini, Verdi and Respighi. On a rainy night it was a washout on the lawn. But, no worries, during a prequel, three sold out Shed concerts and one in Ozawa Hall by James Taylor, has financially front loaded the season.
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James Taylor on the Fourth of July
Capping Incredible Tanglewood Weekend
By: - Jul 05th, 2011With a blaze of fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July, yesterday James Taylor before a capacity 18,000 ended a slam dunk weekend of three concerts in the Shed at Tanglewood. He shared Friday night with John Williams and Pops. Then took a rest on Saturday yielding the stage to Garrison Keillor before a flat our appearances on Sunday and Monday. He also snuck in an "intimate" evening with Friends last Thursday at Ozawa Hall. Having all those folks at Tangelewood provided a fast launch to another fabulous Berkshire season.
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