Tanglewood

With the face and figure of a fashion model in a sexy backless dress they were hanging from the rafters at Ozawa Hall for a performance by multiple Grammy winner, the 29-year-old wild child, Esperanza Spalding. She sang, played bass and led the band through her arrangements.

On the occasion of the 100th birthday of the British composer Edward Benjamin Britten (November 22, 1913 – December 4, 1976) last night Morris presented the world premiere of Curlew River. The chamber opera was inspired by a then young composer visiting Japan. It is adapted from Juro Motomasa’s medieval play Sumidagawa. For the second half of the program The Mark Morris Dance Group presented one of his most iconic works Dido and Aeneas (1989).

On a Monday night The Steve Miller Band drew an audience of hipster pensioners for a two hour rock show in the Shed at Tanglewood. Lenox was a one nighter of Miller's 35 venue Joker Tour in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the seminal rock album.

To get a handle on the disembodied moves of the Israeli company L-E-V, making its American debut at Jacob's Pillow, think of a Michael Jackson Moonwalk. They have expanded his pop innovations into a stunning new style and vocabulary of dance. Their hour long work House left us hungry for more.

Make no mistake. Eric Owens is one of music's leading ambassadors today. Despite a demanding schedule as the go-to bass for roles ranging from Alberich to Handel's Hercules, Eric Owens is everywhere. Now he steps in for Ferruccio Furlanetto to heal the wounds of Andris Nelsons absence at Tanglewood. Bravo Eric Owens.

Because of a freak accident at home yesterday the BSO announced that newly appointed conductor, Andris Nelsons, will not be able to make his only Tanglewood appearance this season. Ironically this is an all too vivid reminder of the ongoing cancellations of James Levine. Today the other shoe dropped with more cancellations and substitutions of the pending programs this weekend.

One of the most anticipated Tanglewood concerts this summer was the only scheduled appearance of the newly appointed BSO director Andris Nelsons. Accordingly his conducting Verdi Requiem on July 27 has been cancelled. He was scheduled to meet with the media on Friday. The concert will be presented with a yet to be announced guest conductor.

With a winning combination of Asian Fusion food, ambiance, and moderate prices Spice Dragon in Pittsfield is a popular destination. Over several visits, however, the food and service has been inconsistent. Busy nights stretch the limits of understaffed and inexperienced front of house and an ability to get food to tables in a timely manner. In Pittsfield, however, there isn't much competition for dining on this level.

You would never know that symphony orchestras are having a tough time if you sit in the hall or the shed of a Ravinia event. Like Tanglewood orchestras are fighting back for their place in the musical sun. And they are succeeding in their efforts to make classical music relevant for our times.

The Koussevitzky Music Shed and lawn were packed for the opening last night of the 76th season of BSO's renowned Tanglewood Music Festival. Solo violinist Joshua Bell and conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos’s performed an all Tchaikovsky program. While heart warming, under sauna like conditions, the musicians and audience were over heated and drenched by the end of a muggy, oppressive evening.

On Saturday of the recent, third Wilco Solid Sound Festival at about 7,800 Mass MoCA set a single day attendance record. While it would be possible to sell a few hundred more tickets Mass MoCA director Joe Thompson insists that for the comfort and quality of the event that's just about capacity. With the sale of some 7,200 tickets, about 10% to Berkshire county residents, the event took in but also spent a lot of money. Given ongoing infrastructure development and expenses Thompson said that the museum will be close to breaking even or making a little after the final tally. But it's a ton of work.

In 2008 Terence Blanchard was a headliner for the now cancelled annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival. His quintet performed with the 34 oiece Tanglewood Jazz Orchestra in his A Tale of God's Will for the Spike Lee HBO documentary When the Levees Broke. He returned to Tanglewood last night with his quintet in a concert of hard bop straight ahead jazz.

Anna Myer and Dancers, North American Family Institute/Youth Link, and Bennington College present a new iteration of the dance, music, and spoken word pieces “Hoop Suite” and “Hindsight Now” on Saturday, July 13 at 8 p.m. in the VAPA Theater on the Bennington College campus

Since 1988 Mazzeo's Ristorante has been a successful and popular destination. Recently the restaurant moved to a large venue with steady drive by traffic between Pittsfield and Lenox. We opted for the terrace on a sultry summer evening.

Fifty years ago I first heard Joan and Bob at the legendary Club 47 in Cambridge. Much has changed since then but a regal Baez, accompanied by The Indigo Girls demonstrated why she remains the queen of folk music. It was a stunning Tanglewood concert during a gorgeous afternoon in the Berkshires.

Opening the festival on Friday night Wilco performed a set of requests. Last night they returned to Joe Thompson Field, under a moonlit sky, to deliver a set of 28 songs. Fans came from far and wide for the third and most successful of the Solid Sound Festivals which concludes this afternoon.

Last night Wilco returned to Mass MoCA to headline the third Solid Sound Festival this weekend. Under a big bright moon on a perfect evening they performed a set of requests for some 4,000 mellow fans. We got a contact high as pungent skunk weed perfumed the Berkshire air.

In an annual trek from the Utah Symphony to Tanglewood violinist and author Gerald Elias opts for the scenic route. It is always exciting to rejoin the Boston Symphony Orchestra with its many perks of which he writes "For me, at the top of the list was Tanglewood."

Here is a complete listing of scheduled concerts for the 2013 Tanglewood season.

Each season Gerald Elias returns to the Berkshires from Utah to play violin with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He reports with dismay, however, the daunting task of cleaning up all the trash dumped on his property by passing cars. Can you believe it? This year four 33-gallon heavy-duty lawn and garden bags. It gives new dimension to the checkout question at the super market, paper or plastic?

Tanglewood is front ending the 2013 season with popular music programming. It starts with Melissa Etheridge on June 21 and a weekend that also included Warren Haynes and the Pops preforming a tribute to Jerry Garcia. Then Joan Baez paired with the Indigo Girls. Terence Blanchard returns to Lenox on June 28 in a weekend that includes the perennial Garrison Keillor and Jackson Browne. The serious music begins July 5.

The former model, photographer and breast cancer awareness activist Matuschka is the subject of a current 40 year retrospective of her work at Sohn Fine Art in Stockbridge. Much of the work was created in the Berkshires as the jazz entrepreneur and journalist Edward Bride explored in a 2006 interview. Because of the media coverage of the recent elective surgeries of Angelia Jolie this proves to be both timely and provocative coverage of a courageous and interesting artist.

After its last outing at the Met a dozen years ago, Harbison's grand opera seemed to be forgotten. Now, a trimmer, more fleet version brings the works virtues to the fore. The opera will be performed at Tanglewood on July 11.

With the numerous cancellations of former Music Director, James Levine, his inevitable retirement and a two year interregum, the past few years have been a nightmare for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Just in his mid 30s the Latvian born Andris Nelsons has been appointed as Music Director of the BSO and Tanglewood.

Julianne Boyd, the artistic director of Barrington Stage in Pittsfield called for a morning chin wag about the upcoming season. That led to a lively discussion of the current state of theatre and impact of criticism. Now in its 8th season the company has just completed raising $7 million. This is part one of an extended dialogue.