New York Times

The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized worldwide as living legends of gospel music. Celebrated by The Grammy Awards and The National Endowment for the Arts with Lifetime Achievement Awards, inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, honored by performing for three presidents in the White House, and are winners of five Grammy Awards.

Aaron Neville's recent release, My True Story, is a collection of classic doo-wop numbers. To create the album, Neville teamed up with Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and the legendary Blue Note label producer, Don Was. Showcasing the old-school rhythm and blues that were the key influences throughout his career, Neville covers The Drifters, The Clovers, and Little Anthony and the Imperials. "Opportunities like this don't come 'round very often," says Richards. "I grew up with these songs, like Aaron did. It's such a pleasure to play with a voice like that."

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Tom Reiss, Shakespeare & Company, SculptureNow, BIFF and Lift E'vry Voice have something in common: they are all part of The Mount's 2013 summer season.

Featured artists in this year's Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, June 28 to July 7, includes Aretha Franklin, Wayne Shorter, Chucho Valdés, George Benson, Oliver Jones; the absolutely essential Wynton Marsalis, Joshua Redman, John Abercrombie, Ravi Coltrane, Bill Frisell Holly Cole and Boz Scaggs as well as many more.

Nominations in 26 competitive categories for the American Theatre Wing’s 67th Annual Antoinette Perry “Tony” Awards® were announced today by Tony winning-actress Sutton Foster and star of both stage and screen Jesse Tyler Ferguson, at the Tony Award Nominations Announcement sponsored by IBM.

One of the most prestigious and coveted honors in the entertainment industry, the Regional Theatre Tony Award is presented each year to honor a nonprofit professional regional theatre company in the United States that has displayed a continuous level of artistic achievement contributing to the growth of theatre nationally. It is awarded by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing based upon a recommendation by the American Theatre Critics Association. This year it was awarded to Boston's Huntington Theatre Company.

Berkshire Bach Society brings NYC\'s preeminent vocal ensemble TENET to Great Barrington for its premiere Berkshire performance. “Bach and his Predecessors” offers a glimpse of the musically rich world from which Bach emerges. Several notebooks that Bach compiled in his youth attest to the hunger that he showed for learning from earlier composers.

Legendary comedian, Joan Rivers, will perform her world renowned stand up at The Colonial Theatre on May 10 at 8pm with opener Brad Zimmerman. Audience members are invited to walk the red carpet before the show and stay after to see Tom Judson sing and play the piano in The Garage.

With a new program of innovative and edgy repertoire, Rebeca Tomás will bring her A Palo Seco Flamenco Company back to Theatre 80 Saint Marks May 17 to 19 in a new production, "Cinco Por Cinco." Tomás, a fierce and feminine NY-based Flamenco artist, will direct her company of five dancers, two singers and three musicians.

Michelle Dorrance, Artistic Director of Dorrance Dance, is lauded as "one of the most imaginative tap choreographers working today” (The New Yorker). A 2012 Princess Grace Award Winner, 2012 Field Dance Fund Recipient, and 2011 Bessie Award Winner, Dorrance is among the world’s most sought after tap performers, teachers, and choreographers today.

Last night we watched Masterpiece Theatre and Tivoed the relaunch of Mad Men. Starting at 10 we were able to fast forward through two hours worth of ads. While it was fun to cut to the chase what we saw was mostly a muddle. A double time season opener is designed to set up plot points but there was little of the magic that got us hooked on the award winning series.

Featuring an eclectic mix of Broadway standards and cabaret songs, Tony and Golden Globe-winning actress Linda Lavin’s new cabaret will show you why Stephen Holden of The New York Times calls her “…a human tornado who lets nothing stand in her way…She has a jazz side, can swing and scat and even growl like Louis Armstrong, and displays a special fondness for Brazilian bossa nova.” T

When Michael Feinstein appeared at Tanglewood last summer Liza Minnelli hopped the train with him at the last minute and popped on stage to thrill the audience in The Shed with "New York New York." While Faith Prince and Megan Hilty are confirmed as guests this summer we asked him if there is a chance that Barbara Cook may also board his Lenox bound Chattanooga Choo Choo. Barbara, who loves Tanglewood, just smiled.

We return from an intensive visit of the American Theatre Critics Association in Indianapolis with more questions than answers. Mostly about the state of the arts in America's heartland. A busman's holiday evokes taking the pulse.

Peter Gelb, recently elevated to artistic director of the Metropolitan Opera, has orchestrated an 9000-word piece in the magazine section of the New York Times defending against wide spread criticism of his regime. With no formal education or qualifications to make aesthetic decisions Gelb told the Times that music is in his genes.

American folk singer Joan Baez, and folk rock duo the Indigo Girls, have been added to the 2013 Tanglewood line-up, with a special concert in the Shed on Sunday, June 23, 2013, at 2:30 p.m. Joan Baez and the Indigo Girls last performed at Tanglewood on August 30, 1990. Also performing this year will be Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five and Guster with support from Boothby Graffoe as part of their 30 city “Last Summer on Earth Tour” on Tuesday, July 23, 2013, at 7 p.m.

L’Abbraccio, (The Hug) the name of the exhibition, refers to a cabinet designed by Gaetano Pesce in 2009 of two people locked in an embrace. In addition to its “namesake” cabinet, the exhibition will feature some of Pesce’s rarely seen drawings, maquettes, lighting and furniture from the 1970s. On view at Fred Torres Collaborations from March 21-May 25, 2013.

Following the successful celebration of the festival’s 35th anniversary in 2012, this year’s festival headliners include Tony Bennett, Buddy Guy, David Sanborn & Bob James, McCoy Tyner Quartet featuring special guest John Scofield, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Kevin Eubanks, Gregory Porter, and Rudresh Mahanthappa among others.

The Philadelphia Orchestra, one of the preeminent orchestras in the world, will return to its summer stage at Saratoga Performing Arts Center from August 7 – 24, to present an extraordinary season of classical and contemporary programs. Highlights of the season

New York City Ballet brings to its summer stage at SPAC, a world-class program of astonishing breadth and brilliance. From iconic Balanchine gems like Serenade and Stravinsky Violin Concerto, to favorite works by Jerome Robbins including West Side Story Suite and Dances at a Gathering, to exciting new ballets by Peter Martins, Christopher Wheeldon and Justin Peck, the interplay of tradition and innovation in this season is exceptiona

The Escher String Quartet – hailed by the Washington Post “as one of the top young quartets” in the world today will open the 2013 Season of the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival on Sunday, August 4 in the Spa Little Theatre.

Following a two year tour of Women of Will the founding artistic director of Shakespeare & Company, Tina Packer, returns with The Beauty Queen of Leenane co starring Elizabeth Aspenlieder. Last summer Olympia Dukakis and John Douglas Thompson had hit shows with The Tempest and Satchmo at the Waldorf. This summer they will perform together in the 20th century classic Mother Courage.

Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington announces spring 2013. Highlights include a talk by author and illustrator Brian Selznick followed by a screening of Hugo, Masters of the Fiddle with Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, humorist David Sedaris , singer/mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile and jazz pianist Brad Mehldau , Cirque Shanghai: Bai Xi, Paul Taylor Dance Company , "Live in HD" broadcasts by the Metropolitan Opera, London's National Theatre, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me!, as well as classic movies.

For Homatorium I, Chamberlain creates an environment in the inner gallery resembling the feeling of Frank Lloyd Wright's Zimmerman House; marking a shift for Chamberlain, as she focuses for the first time on a singular site.

The American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theater School Institute for Advanced Theater Training continues its 2012-13 Season with Will Eno’s The Flu Season, directed by A.R.T. Institute director Marcus Stern. The production runs February 22, 23, 27, 28, March 1 and 2 at 7:30pm at the Zero Church Street Performance Space, Harvard Square, Cambridge. Admission in free.