Music
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Tanglewood 2011
Full Schedule June 28 to September 4
By: - Nov 30th, 2010Once again James Taylor will be featured with four concerts at Tanglewood this summer. From an all-Italian Opening Night Boston Symphony Orchestra program under the direction of James Levine on July 8, four appearances by living legend Yo-Yo Ma, a Boston Pops Cole Porter tribute led by Keith Lockhart, and the incredibly popular Film Night with John Williams, to the welcome returns of Itzhak Perlman and Christoph Eschenbach and special appearances by favorite artists Joshua Bell, Stephanie Blythe, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Christoph von Dohnányi, Kurt Masur, and Peter Serkin to the closing BSO performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony under the direction of Lorin Maazel,
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Britten Enchants at Lyric Opera of Chicago
Midsummer Night's Dream Wafts By
By: - Nov 24th, 2010Britten and Peter Pears chose Midsummer Night's Dream to reopen their Festival in Aldeburgh. It camps up Shakespeare in a delicious, other-worldly musicscape. Britten’s music is neither tonal nor atonal, but a special musicscape designed for the dream world on stage, a dream within a dream, play within play. Rory Macdonald conducts this Lyric Opera of Chicago production.
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Dala Enchants at Natick Center for the Arts
A Standing O From a Sold-out House
By: - Nov 22nd, 2010If the Everly Brothers had been sisters... If the Andrews Sisters or the McGuire sisters had been a duo... Dala fulfills the speculation and rouses a full house at the Natick Center of the Arts to their feet.
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Verdi at Chicago's Lyric Opera
Megawattage Singing in The Masked Ball
By: - Nov 19th, 2010The Lyric Opera of Chicago has a way with casting. Like theater in Chicago, the company puts up a matchless ensemble that works together to bring life to operas old and new. This production of The Masked Ball (the Lyric prefers the English translation) is a bit of an exception, even though the mega wattage cast is superb throughout and alone worth hearing. Beware retired singers directing.
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In Durance Vital - Part I
Recent Recordings From Senior Folkies
By: - Nov 17th, 2010To experience artists in top form almost a half century after they first caught your attention is a marvel indeed. I can’t imagine the extent of the dedication and commitment to a craft that is required to be able to do that. The fact that I have at one time or another had personal contact, sometimes brief, sometimes extended, occasionally contentious with most of the principals of the releases listed below only increases my wonder at their durability. I have no bones to pick here and only praise to offer.
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Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur
Jiving at Bull Run in Shirley, Ma.
By: - Nov 15th, 2010These two founding members of the Kweskin Jug Band are reunited and back on the circuit, sharing both their love for traditional American music and the joy of performing together. The badinage was engaging. Jim was the serious lecturer, Geoff the provocateur and congenial but learned clown
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Meg Hutchinson at Eagle Hill
A Berkshire Bard Stretches Out
By: - Nov 08th, 2010I’d like to sing you, a song without words A moment of pause It could all rush by in a day, years full of wanting Years full of waiting For your new life to begin Excerpt from “Something Else†by Meg Hutchinson
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Tosca at Boston Lyric Opera
Art and Politics
By: - Nov 07th, 2010Bostonians of a political mind â€" and who in Boston is not? â€" had the opportunity this fall to see two of the most forthrightly political operas in the repertoire, “Fidelio†and “Tosca,†in quick succession. In “Tosca,†which premiered in 1900, Puccini looked back at that heroic historical period from a century’s perspective.
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Intermezzo at the New York City Opera
Strauss Brilliantly Portrayed
By: - Nov 05th, 2010If only Strauss had had the confidence to fly solo more often, as both composer and librettist. He wanted to be modern and push the envelope. Strauss was often restrained by his partners. But not in Intermezzo, which his regular librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal refused to write because he found the subject matter unseemly. We are given a first rate production of the work at the City Opera until the end of November.
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Leonard Bernstein: New York City Opera
A Not So Quiet Place
By: - Nov 02nd, 2010A vibrant, new production of Leonard Bernstein's opera, A Quiet Place, has been mounted by the inventive New York City Opera. Written over decades, its subject matter, which once made people uncomfortable, now seems current, if disturbing. What goes on in people's bedrooms is often a subject in opera, but stories seldom arise from a composer's personal experience. Bernstein bravely faced his demons in this piece, and created a work of art in which the wide-ranging musical styles propel a matching staged drama. The City Opera's production is compelling.
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Filianoti, Antonenko, and Grigolo at the Metropolitan Opera
Tenor Treats and Tricks
By: - Oct 29th, 2010We have been treated to three unusually talented tenors in New York in the past weeks: Giuseppe Filianoti in Tales of Hoffmann, Aleksandrs Antonenko in Boris Gudonov, and Roberto Alagna in Cavalleria Rusticana and La Navarraise at Carnegie Hall. Billed higher than any of these, however, is the Met's new tenor phenom, Vittorio Grigolo, who has been heralded in the past in West Side Story, and marks the beginning on his own career singing with his voice-a-like, Luciano Pavarroti. Opera is made to be overdone, but in the case of Grigolo, the Met has hit a new high mark.
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The Opera Orchestra of New York Returns to Carnegie Hall
Debutant(e)s Abdrazakov, Alagna, Garanca and Guleghina
By: - Oct 27th, 2010The Opera Orchestra of New York put on two operas, Cavalleria Rustincana and La Navarraise, in a splendid double bill at Carnegie Hall. Many of the world's A list singers were represented. Roberto Alagna had ample opportunity to be a bad boy in two operas about jealousy. His solid, exciting performance bodes well for Don Carlo.
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Beethoven’s Fidelio by Opera Boston
Season Opens at Cutler Majestic Theatre
By: - Oct 23rd, 2010Recently art critic David Bonetti left St. Louis and his position as a critic at the Post Dispatch. He accepts a new challenge by offering to cover opera in Boston for Berkshire Fine Arts. We welcome David with this typically witty and insightful review of the new season for Boston Opera and its production of Beethoven's Fidelio.
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Boris Godunov: Met Live In HD
Stunning New Production
By: - Oct 20th, 2010We watched the dress rehearsal for the HD broadcast of Boris Godunov at the Metropolitan Opera House on Monday. Rene Pape is a great Boris, the tenor "the world has been waiting for" sang Dimitri, the chorus, magnificent throughout. A treat awaits theater goers. In the Berkshires the opera will be screened, on October 23, at the Mahaiwe, in Great Barrington, Beacon Cinema, in Pittsfield, and at the Clark Art Institute, in Williamstown.
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Young People's Chorus at Le Poisson Rouge
Kronos Quartet Welcomes VIsitors
By: - Oct 17th, 2010A trip to Le Poisson Rouge is sure to provide great music, new to the ear, but easy to hear and listen to. A wide range of performers and composers are presented here. One of the lynchpins of the place is the Kronos Quartet, which hardly sounds like its been around for thirty years -- except for the skill of its members. We visited recently to hear the Kronos and young visitors from one of New York's premier choruses.
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Boris Godunov October 23
Met Live in HD Continues
By: - Oct 15th, 2010The Met Live in HD series continues with Boris Godunov on Saturday, October 23 at noon. It will be shown in the Berkshires at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Beacon Cinema, in Pittsfield, and at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown. The new production opened with rave reviews on October 11.
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The Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall
James Bagwell, Stephanie Blythe, Erin Morley and Eric Owens Provide Heavy Duty Support
By: - Oct 14th, 2010Difficult Brahms' pieces, the Alto Rhapsody and the German Requiem, were beautifully performed by the Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall. A chorus formed 69 years ago by Robert Shaw, seemed as fresh as tomorrow in these performances, immeasurably enhanced by soloists Stephanie Blythe, Erin Morley and Eric Owens.
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Das Rheingold Newly-Minted at the Metropolitan Opera
Live in HD October 9th
By: - Oct 05th, 2010For all the chatter about the ersatz Circque de Soleil sets now on display in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Das Rheingold, it was more the ear than eyes that were pleased but this production The set's challenges may be overcome in the HD and may also be addressed by the Met as they tweak Wagner for the 21st century. The opera will be presented LIve in HD at a theatre near you on October 9. In the Berkshires it will be view at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Beacon Theatre in Pittsfield, and the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown.
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Tom Paxton at the Center for the Arts Natick
Still Rambles with Joy
By: - Oct 05th, 2010"Tom 's songs have a way of sneaking up on you. You find yourself humming them, whistling them, and singing a verse to a friend. Like the songs of Woody Guthrie, they're becoming part of America." ---Pete Seeger
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Christine Lavin at Natick Center for the Arts
Combining Standards and New Material
By: - Sep 20th, 2010The laughter was constant as Christine once again paraded her misadventures, inner dramas and unique perspectives in verse and song before us. Enthusiastic applause greeted her at The Natick Center for the Arts as she walked on stage. From start to finish, the audience was in synch with Christine’s numbers, mostly chestnuts with a few new topical offerings.
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The Met Opera HDs at Lincoln Center
Third Season of Live in HD
By: - Sep 20th, 2010To celebrate the new Metropolitan Opera season, the Met broadcast free for anyone who could get a seat, 10 performances from season's past. They were some enchanted evenings under the stars and in front of the opera house. The HDs have become an important part of the Met's program to generate new audience. The new season will start soon at The Clark in Williamstown., Beacon Cinema in Pittsfield, and the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington.
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Emily Dickinson in Words & Song
Cantilena Chamber Choir Oct. 10
By: - Sep 13th, 2010The Cantilena Chamber Choir will present a concert, “Emily Dickinson in Words & Song" on Sunday, Oct. 10, at 5 p.m. The performance at Trinity Church will feature music by Aaron Copland: “Emily Dickinson Songs†and Eliot Carter: “Musicians Wrestle Everywhere,†“Heart Not So Heavy. Also on the program is Samuel Barber’s "Let Down the Bars O Death," and Alice Parker’s Emily Dickinson songs and music by Libby Larsen.
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Pops Tickets on Sale
Holiday Schedule Now Available
By: - Sep 10th, 2010Tickets will go on sale for the Boston Pops Holiday Series on Monday, September 13. Continuing one of Boston’s most beloved traditions, Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops open the 2010 series on Wednesday, December 8, and the 37 concert series will run until Sunday, December 26. Holiday Pops tickets, ranging in price from $27-$125, depending on date and time, will go on sale at 8 a.m. on Monday, September 13, online at bostonpops.org.
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Basie Band Swings at Tanglewood
Eddie Daniels and Bob James in Broadway Boogie
By: - Sep 06th, 2010Day two of the annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival. A change in the weather brought out a great crowd on the lawn for the afternoon concert. It headlined the Count Basie Orchestra with Eddie Daniels and Bob James featuring their Broadway Boogie. This closes the season in Lenox.
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Kurt Elling at Tanglewood
Headlining Annual Labor Day Jazz Festival
By: - Sep 05th, 2010Grammy winner, and arguably the greatest jazz singer on the planet, Kurt Elling headlined the Saturday evening performance of the two day, Labor Day weekend Tanglewood Jazz Festival. There were sets by emerging artists, Brandon Wright and Kelley Johnson during dining sets in the Jazz Cafe. The packed Ozawa Hall enjoyed the afternoon live broadcast by John Pizzarelli and his clan.
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