Tanglewood

For the first time since his debut in 1992 Seiji Ozawa returned to the Metropolitan Opera to conduct "The Queen of Spades" by Tchaikovsky. The production stars Ben Heppner as Ghermann and Maria Guleghina as Lisa. Since leaving the BSO in 2002 Ozawa has been the music director of the Vienna State Opera.

It will be Jingle Bells at Symphony Hall from December 11 through 28 as Keith Lockhart conducts the Boston Pops in a marathon of 32 concerts including the premiere of a commissioned work The Polar Express. Bundle up and enjoy a great Boston tradition.

Despite a tough economy the Tanglewood Music Festival is planning a spectacular 2009 season. Although there is a dense schedule another week has been added between the official end of the BSO performnances and the annual Jazz Festival. During the interim James Taylor will be in residence from August 27-30.

In a special outreach to a younger audience the Boston Symphony Orchestra has launched a new program with special ticket prices targeted at those under 40. Our report includes a full schedule of available events.

There was a full weekend schedule of events celebrating the opening of a new building on the campus of Mass MoCA which, for the next 25 years, will house "Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective."

This is the third, self published book by artist/ entrepreneur, Eric Rudd. The superb images in this picture book were photographed by Kelly Lee who worked for ABC News and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer in D.C. before he settled in the Berkshires.

Ned Rorem celebrates his 85th birthday this week. His opera "Our Town"is based on the Thornton Wilder play. It will make its New England premiere on November 14-16 in Peterborough, NH and February 12-16 of 2009 at Tufts University. This chamber opera, according to Musical America, has "emerged as one of those rare new operas that seem destined to survive." Writer Lawrence Johnson catches up with Ned.

Memories of many wonderful nights in the Shed and under the stars on the lawn at Tanglewood. As well as superb Berkshire theatre.

Despite the challenges of rainy weather,gas at $4 a gallon, and a bad economy it was a superb season of theatre in the Berkshires. Nicholas Martin was the MVP for putting the venerable Williamstown Theatre Festival back on its feet.

There was a sense of the passing of the torch as Marian McPartland celebrated her 9oth birthday taping her NPR program with the emerging artists Nnenna Freelon and Spencer Day

The pianist Donal Fox and his quintet, featuring the young trumpet player,Christian Scott, presented a confluence of Baroque music and jazz feeling. While hailed as represeting the "future" of jazz there is in fact a long tradition of this experimentation.

As New Orleans based musician, Terence Blanchard, led his quintet and a 34 piece orchetstra through his evening long composition "A Tale of God's Will: A Requiem for Katrina" just three years after that tragedy, ironically, the city was evacuated and braced for Hurricane Gustav which again battered the Crescent City. It made the music all the more powerful and emotionally charged.

The much anticipated Tanglewood Jazz Festival, an annual Labor Day Weekend event, got off to a swinging start last night with the Edmar Castaneda Quartet, with Joe Locke, and the Brazilian pianist, Eliane Elias and her trio.

All the cats and hipsters plan to groove at Ozawa Hall for the annual, Labor Day Weekend celebration of the Tanglewod Jazz Festival. Terence Blanchard will conduct a 30 piece orchestra in his Grammy Award winning "A Tale of God's Will (A Requiem for Katrina)."

A perfect storm of cool, rainy weather, $4 a gallon gas, and a lousy economy caused the coining of a new term "Staycation" during the summer of 2008. While clearly an off year Berkshire arts and tourism held their own largely through its range of world class offerings.

While Tanglewood has been hesitant to respond to demands for more diverse programming last night there was a full house for the leading rock band Wilco. The summer home of the BSO will never be the same.

It is hard to believe that Janis Joplin performed at Tanglewood in 1969. As well as The Who and Miles Davis. There was a false start to revive rock in 2007 with a literally washed out Cars. But last night Wilco brought rock once again to Tanglewood. After three plus decades it's about time.

During the annual Tanglewood on Parade there was a lively round of musical chairs as Hans Graf, Sir Andrew Davis, Keith Lockhart, John Williams and Andre Previn took turns as conductors.

James Levine was originally scheduled to conduct "Eugene Onegin" but Sir Andrew Davis, on fairly short notice, rose to the occasion. It was a wonderful performance starring the magnificent Renee Fleming at Tatiana and a Tanglewood debut for Peter Mattei in the title role.

Berkshire residents are reveling in an amazing array of area arts offerings. Our monthly Preview serves to help guide your choices with helpful facts, insider details and handy links. The only mistake would be to procrastinate. Nothing gold can stay.

For his Tenth Annual Film Night at Tanglewood conducting the Boston Pops Orchestra John Williams offered an overview of composing for some 100 films. The second half of the program was devoted to Indiana Jones narrated by surprise guest Steven Spielberg.

The composer, Elliott Carter, who will turn 100 on December 11, was on hand for the week long Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music. Nobody appeared to enjoy the occasion more than Carter himself as he rose over and over to acknowledge applause from wildly enthusiastic audiences.

At Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, a 7.5 million fund goal was met and the Elayne Bernstein Theatre opened, Willliamstown began its Greylock Project and series of play readings, Barrington Stage is workshopping a new musical in Pittsfield, and the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge received grants for their renewal plan, and to allow extended rehearsals for their much anticipated Waiting for Godot.

From now through Labor Day there is a compelling reason to attend the Tanglewood Music Festival. On Saturday we enjoyed Mahler's Symphony Number Two in C minor, conducted by Bernard Haitink. And we returned a couple of days later for an evening of the cabaret artist Barbara Cook.

The original, 1973, Broadway production of "A Little Night Music" won Tony Awards for the music and lyrics of Stephen Sondheim and the book of Hugh Wheeler. To date, however, there has not been a Broadway revival. Keith Lockhart led the Pops through a concert version of the musical to the delight of a Tanglewood audience.