Music
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Fresh Grass Returns September 19th to 21st
Bluegrass Festival at Mass MoCa
By: - Sep 07th, 2014See Bela Fleck and Emmylou Harris at the Fresh Grass Festival on September 19-21st at Mass MoCA. The line-up for the festival features The Duhks on opening night at 10:30pm. Gates open at 5:30pm with Michael Daves & Tony Trischka opening the show at 7pm, followed by Aoife O’Donovan at 8pm. Featured guests, the Carolina Chocolate Drops follow at 9:05pm, followed by The Duhks, a Canadian band whose music ranges from their northern roots to southern gospel and cajun zydeco.
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Josh Groban At Tanglewood
Falling in Love Again
By: - Sep 01st, 2014Humor, wit, charm and good looks equal Josh Groban. Like local favorite, Arlo Guthrie, Groban is a master storyteller.
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Tony Bennett Returns to Tanglewood
American Jazz Master Flat Out at 88
By: - Sep 01st, 2014The Tanglewood season closed with a near to capacity audience for national treasure Tony Bennett. Closing in on 90 yet again he uniquely rattled the renowned rusty pipes. He proved why Frank Sintra hailed him as the greatest jazz singer of his generation. Keeping forever young he is about to release an album of duets with Lady Gaga.
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Premiere of Works by Stephen Dankner
Clark Features Berkshire Composer October 12
By: - Sep 01st, 2014During a recent meeting in Williamstown the Berkshire Composer and Berkshire Fine Arts contributor, Stephen Denkner, discussed several world premieres over the next couple of months. His Quartets Nos. 14, 16 and 17 will be performed by the Dover String Quartet at the Clark Art Institute on October 12 at 3 PM.
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TRAIN Keeps Chugging at Tanglewood
Wallflowers Shared the Stage
By: - Aug 30th, 2014TRAIN brought down the house at Tanglewood. In a return to the Berkshires classic TRAIN songs were mixed with songs from the upcoming new album, titled ‘Bulletproof Picasso.’ Yet again the middle aged rockers thrilled an audience of teenieboppers.
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Javier Perianes Debuts at Ravinia
An Enchanter Beguiles at the Keyboard
By: - Aug 23rd, 2014Javier Perianes has been nurtured by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and Charles Dutoit. Already he has appeared at Carnegie Hall and in San Francisco. He performs Grieg with the Atlanta Symphony in November and is scheduled for both the Boston and Chicago Symphonies in 2015-16. At Ravinia you could hear why much is expected of this charming, impish and technically fabulous artist.
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Mozart and Puccini Come to Life at HHOT
Grand Opera in Cambridge, New York
By: - Aug 17th, 2014Le Nozze di Figaro and Gianni Schicchi play through August 24.“Gianni Schicchi†is a little known gem that you absolutely must go to see. As to "Nozze di Figaro", it is a long evening, but well worth it.
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James Conlon Conducts Marriage of Figaro at Ravinia
John Relyea and Lisette Oropesa Sublime with the Chicago Symphony
By: - Aug 16th, 2014The Chicago Symphony was red hot when it embarked on the overture to Figaro. They relished the challenge and it paid off for listeners. One of the reasons that you can’t put a B cast to perform familiar music is that the audience knows the music so well. The performance has to be perfect. With Assistant concert master Stephanie Jeong leading, this Mozart was sublime.
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Beach Boys Surf Tanglewood
Fun Fun Fun on Monday, August 18th
By: - Aug 15th, 2014The Beach Boys will take over Tanglewood on Monday, August 18th. There will be a dance area on the lawn outside of the shed, volleyball nets near the rear of the lawn, beach balls will be dispersed for play throughout the concert and sand and beach motif will dress up Tanglewood.
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James Conlon's Don Giovanni with Chicago Symphony
Singing Along with David Bizic, Tamara Wilson, and Saimir Pirgu
By: - Aug 15th, 2014At first you wonder what the terms of Ravinia’s contracts are. Performance after performance in the opera concerts and semi stagings we get luxury casting, first rate, world class singers across the board. This is the magic of a conductor and music director who singers love. And why not? Up close in an 850 seat theatre, you could see Conlon sing the entire opera, helping the singers as a live prompter and nearby encourager. Too bad the Metropolitan Opera did not catch him when they could. It is hard to imagine the mess the Met is in now if he had been at the helm.
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18th Jazz Festival 2014, Garana, Romania
Part Three: Director Marius Giura
By: - Aug 11th, 2014Jazz lover and writer Ioana Taut has attended the Garana Jazz Festival for many years. This year she interviewed musicians Joey DeFrancesco, USA, and Kimmo Pohjonen, Finland - an indication, how international the festival has become. Founder and director of Garana Jazz, Marius Giura speaks about the festival's development over many years and the gargantuan task to make it happen in Romania!
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Edinburgh International Festival
August 8 to 31 with 50 Concerts
By: - Aug 07th, 2014Scotland is boldly centre stage with The James Plays, an epic trilogy of history plays for Scotland from writer Rona Munro, which marks the first co-production between the National Theatre of Great Britain, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Edinburgh International Festival. This rich and turbulent period of history is played by a superb cast which includes Blythe Duff, Sofie Gråbøl, Gordon Kennedy, Mark Rowley and the three kings James McArdle, Andrew Rothney and Jamie Sives.
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Tanglewood on Parade, August 5th
Join in the Festivities.
By: - Aug 04th, 2014Fireworks, a day of entertainment with magicians, music and tours awaits guests on August 4th, 2014, Tanglewood on Parade day.
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Two Operas for Cambridge, NY August 13 to 24
Gianni Schicchi and Marriage of Figaro at Hubbard Hall
By: - Aug 04th, 2014Hubbard Hall Opera Theater presents Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro with orchestra August 13 through 24. “We are so excited to be able to offer this kind of cultural opportunity to the people who live in this area,†says artistic director, Alix Jones. “The talent is really something you would come across in a metropolitan city, and you get it here, at a most unassuming location, at a fraction of the price!â€
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James Conlon Conducts Salome at Ravinia
Patricia Racette Triumphs as the Virgin Vixen
By: - Aug 03rd, 2014James Conlon, who conducted the Chicago Symphony in the evening’s performance, persuaded the great soprano Patricia Racette to undertake this taxing and for her novel role. Conlon is seldom wrong, and certainly his conviction here was borne out in Racette’s coquettish and yet passionate performance.
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Matthias Goerne at Ravinia
The Sound Delivers the Message
By: - Aug 01st, 2014Often called the heir of Dietrich Fischer Dieskau, Goerne's baritone is perhaps even richer, more nuanced and ranging than his teacher's. Goerne not only calls you to attention, but soon he is under your skin: probing, thrilling, moving. He stepped into the Wozzeck role earlier this year at the Metropolitan Opera and will perform accompanied by William Kentridge's animation at Lincoln Center in November.
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Composer Profile: Spotlight on Johannes Brahms
Tanglewood Concert on August 8
By: - Jul 31st, 2014On Wednesday, August 6, at 8:00 p.m. in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, the visiting orchestra Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (German Chamber Symphony of Bremen), conducted by Paavo Järvi, will present an all-Brahms concert, consisting of the “Academic Festival Overtureâ€, the Piano Concerto No. 1, with Lars Vogt the soloist and the Second Symphony.
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18th Jazz Festival of Garana, Romania – July 10-13, 2014
Part Two: Interview with Kimmo Pohjonen, Finland
By: - Jul 29th, 201418 years and going strong! The outdoor Jazz Festival in Romania attracted again a large crowd of jazz enthusiasts and many bands from several countries in Europe and the USA. The small village of Garana puts on every summer a Music and Jazz Celebration. More than 5000 came to participate! Here now the second interview of a highly anticipated musician....
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18th Jazz Festival of Garana, Romania – July 10-13, 2014
Part One: Interview with Joey DeFrancesco
By: - Jul 28th, 2014Europe's largest, perhaps only outdoor Jazz Festival in Garana, Romania, drew again a large crowd and major Jazz Players from around the world. The Jazz Fest in the Carpathian Mountains began in 1997 and has been on the scene yearly; a great effort by all participants. Here the first of three interviews documenting 2014 .
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Reality Strikes
Denver Considers Demoliahing their Symphony's Concert Hall
By: - Jul 28th, 2014All around the country symphony orchestras are struggling. Denver can only half fill Boettcher Hall, the first in the round venue to be built. The city argues that an outdoor ampitheatre would cost less than renovating Boettcher and attract its growing population of Hispanics and young people. Do symphony's need a home? Would they be better off as itinerants, performing in spaces suitable to programming? Every symphony board member and executive has to ask these questions.
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The Bartered Bride Boston Midsummer Opera
Rare Performance of Czech Opera
By: - Jul 27th, 2014A smart production featuring talented young singers proves a delight for art-starved local summer audiences. Spoiler alert: the young woman who would be bartered ends up with the man she loves.
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The Joshua Bell Fan Club
Packed the House at Tanglewood
By: - Jul 24th, 2014Amazingly Joshua Bell has performed at Tanglewood for 26 consecutive seasons. The charisma for Lenox audiences compares to the annual appearances of James Taylor. There are many reasons for his immense popularity all based on the fluid music evoked from his violin. On this occasion he collaborated with new BSO music director the young and equally exciting Andris Nelsons. It made for a thrilling combination.
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Composer Profile: Spotlight on Gustav Mahler
Performed at Tanglewood on July 26
By: - Jul 19th, 2014This is not a program note, but my “take†on Mahler’s music in toto and what I feel it represents extramusically – the backstory behind the composer’s aesthetic, if you will. The Symphony No. 2 is, to my way of thinking, the most iconic of all Mahler’s works, since everything he subsequently composed stems from this landmark hybrid of symphony, solo song and choral work.
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Jason Alexander at Tanglewood Yada Yada Yada
No more George Costanza
By: - Jul 18th, 2014Jason Alexander mesmerized the packed house at Tanglewood. His performance consisted of humor, dance and song. He had the crowd on their feet, watching his every move.
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Johnny Winter at 70
White Hot Blues
By: - Jul 17th, 2014Signed to a record breaking advance of $600,000 Columbia released the debut album" Johnny Winter" in 1969. Born an albino he was hyped as the whitest blues player. He produced several Grammy winners for Muddy Waters and a few for his own blues albums but his career faltered when he refused to record guitar rock albums. He ended out of the running 63rd on Rolling Stone's list of 100 greatest guitarists.
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