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The Orchestra Now opened its belated celebration of Beethoven’s birthday. Their performance of the Fifth Symphony lay somewhere between the unearthly suggestion the composer may have intended, and a fierce protest. From the introduction of iconic Da, da, da, DUM, either a major or minor key although we’re told this is a minor piece, to the figure's infinite variety of repetition through the piece, TON reminds us of why this is the symphony of symphonies.

Manhattan Theatre Club in association with The Huntington presents the virtual premiere of The Niceties, written by Eleanor Burgess and directed by Kimberly Senior. The presentation reunites the original stars Lisa Banes and Jordan Boatman, and has been reimagined for the virtual stage since its original production in MTC’s 2018-2019 Season at The Studio at Stage II. 

Desperate times call for desperate measures. With the stage of the grand War Memorial Opera House dark for over a year, the San Francisco Opera fashioned a creative fix – not a permanent solution, but one which offers a measure of the thrilling artistry that only live opera can provide. In overcoming myriad technical, logistical, marketing, and public health issues, the company has produced a wonderfully charming “Barber of Seville” that will live in our memories. Gioachino Rossini’s 19th century imagination could probably conceive of people driving automobiles, but patrons attending one of his great comedic operas while ensconced in their vehicles would probably be beyond his wildest notions.

Palm Beach Dramaworks (PBD) is seeking donations for an almost $1 million effort to implement COVID-safety measures. The Southeast Florida nonprofit, professional theater company will fund the work almost entirely through donations. The work includes installing a new HVAC system to ensure proper filtration. The project will precede PBD's 2021-22 season, which starts on Oct. 5.

The Oscar winning actress, Olympia Dukakis, died yesterday at 89. She will be remembered in the Berkshires for two productions at Shakespeare & Company. Then in her 80s she was lured to Lenox by her former student the artistic director Tony Simotes.

Jeff Gurner plays Truman Capote in this production directed by Kevin Connor. Guner does not hide Capote’s self-destructive tendencies and he manages to keep Capote from sounding like a whiner. On some level, he makes us see and feel Capote’s pain.

MIT List Visual Arts Center has organized This Way, a series of nine artist-designed walks and experiences that offer us diverse points of entry—some intimate explorations of physical embodiment and sensory experience, others guided modifications of scale, space, and geography, or novel considerations of language, architectures, or landscapes. Borrowing its title from a 1961 series by conceptual artist Stanley Brouwn, while also drawing inspiration from Fluxus and the dérive or “drift” of the Situationists, This Way takes up themes of movement and performance, ritual and meditation, and both abstract and concrete explorations of a range of spaces we occupy.

Based on past and current research Steve Nelson posits that the designation for our species Homo sapiens be upgraded to Homo electric. While human anatomy evolves at a glacial rate the species responds to cultural and technological developments. None more-so than diverse uses of electricity. Prior to which we communicated face to face or by snail mail. It took weeks for news to travel across our nation. The telegraph changed that followed by the Atlantic Cable, wireless and telephones. During the pandemic kids are educated through remote learning and parents work from home. We have evolved through our electronic devices.

FreshGrass features bluegrass traditionalists and innovators on four stages and platforms throughout the museum’s 16-acre campus. Festival programming also includes FreshScores, a silent film with original live music; FreshGrass commissions and world premieres; instrument and industry workshops; pop-up performances and retail; and local Berkshire food and spirits vendors.   

Irish Repertory Theatre is streaming its 11th production in the time of Covid. Today we seldom see heterosexual women of three generations loving their men, despite difficulties that boyfriends and husbands bring to a relationship. This is a tender, funny revelation.

Seats and tables are now available for the Provincetown Tennessee Williams Theater Festival’s annual fundraiser, to be held outdoors under a tent at the Bas Relief Park behind Provincetown Town Hall on Saturday, June 5 at 4pm Eastern.  

Peter Brooke: Light Slides will open to the public on Friday, April 30.  Due to Covid-19 precautions, there will be no public reception for the artist.  The artist will be present on May 15 and 22 from 1-4pm to chat with visitors.  Gallery NAGA’s hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 11 to 5, with no appointment necessary. Brooke’s paintings are fabrications based solely on memories of his travels and surroundings.

Our staff pick is inspired by tagine Djaj Mqualli, from Meknes, one of Morocco's imperial cities and an incredible agricultural region producing and trading olive oil since Roman times. This dish is often featured as part of Iftar, the evening meal following 15 hours of fasting, prayer, and reflection that is eaten at sunset during Ramadan.

American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) at Harvard University announces today the ensemble of magicians to perform in the return engagement of The Conjurors’ Club created by Vinny DePonto and Geoff Kanick. Back by popular demand, the live interactive multi-magician experience runs online April 28 - May 16, 2021.  

Tippet Rise is a striking arrival on the music scene.  Just when interest in conventional venues offering conventional programs is waning, along comes a venture located amidst grazing cattle on 12,000 acres in Fishtail, Montana. The venue traveled east for its spring festival. You begin to get a sense of how they fill their mission wherever they alight. The splendid array of talent seems present wherever they are. Topping the list in New York are veterans Richard Goode and Claire Chase.

A Bronx Tale is a crowd-pleasing, familiar tale. A production of the stage musical is docked at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre. The production, which runs through May 22, features strong acting.

A Letter to Harvey Milk had a successful run at the Acorn Theatre in New York in 2018.  It is streming free with suggested donations for the Actor’s Fund and The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Now it is streaming live.

The performing arts series Works & Process announces the addition of 6pm performances at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum as a part of New York state’s “Safely Bringing Back the Arts” pilot program. Since March 19, under the guidance of the Department of Health, two concurrent series of performances produced by Works & Process are taking place in the Guggenheim’s iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed rotunda. These reduced-capacity events are among the first indoor performances the state has permitted since it closed venues due to the pandemic a year ago, reaching a milestone in the recovery of the city’s cultural sector.

We are rooted in the Byzantine chant in this evening’s concert.  Pianist Paul Barnes chants in the Greek Orthodox service. As an introduction to each based on specific chants, he sang. We first heard the tones mixed with breath and feeling of these remarkable interpretations of the psalms. Listeners are able to slip into the works with echoes of their origins fresh in the memory.

Bang on a Can announces the hourly schedule for the second OneBeat Marathon – Live Online – on Sunday, May 2, 2021 from 12pm - 4pm EDT, curated by Found Sound Nation, its social practice and global collaboration wing. Over four hours the OneBeat Marathon will share the power of music and tap into the most urgent and essential sounds of our time. From the Kyrgyz three-stringed komuz played on the high steppe, to the tranceful marimba de chonta of Colombia's pacific shore, to the Algerian Amazigh highlands and to the trippy organic beats of Bombay’s underground scene – OneBeat finds a unifying possibility of sound that ties us all together.   

The Huntington presents Black Beans Project, a world premiere digital work by Huntington artist-in-residence Melinda Lopez and award-winning performer Joel Perez, directed by Jaime Castañeda, and available for on-demand streaming from May 11 – 30, 2021.

Mezze is a destination for fine dining in Williamstown. Last week, Chef Nick broke down his first whole East Mountain Farm heritage pig since before the pandemic. This brings us hope. Hope to continue supporting our farmers, hope to continue to serve you from nose to tail, and hope that we'll continue expanding how we gather together, together. hich hails from Italy; it is a zero ABV spirit that replaces gin though possesses a similar flavor profile.

Onsite events run June 30-August 29, with online streaming through September 23. Newly imagined—with the safety of artists, staff, and audiences at the forefront of all planning—the Festival will feature commissioned works and world premieres, present new site-specific performances created especially for the Pillow’s 220-acre campus, and engage hundreds of artists who have had incredibly limited performance opportunities for the last year.

Newport Music Festival announces the complete seventeen-concert schedule for its 53rd season, from July 4-20, 2021. All concerts will be held outdoors at historic mansions and venues in Newport, Rhode Island including The Breakers, Bellevue House, Castle Hill Inn, The Chanler at Cliff Walk, King Park, the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, Norman Bird Sanctuary, and Rough Point. The full schedule is included below and available at www.newportmusic.org. Tickets will go on sale to the public on April 19.  

The world needs new heroines, and Dodson creates them for this exhibition. In her new series of wood sculptures, Dodson re-imagines Albrecht Durer’s “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” as Amazon warriors.