Washington Post

We have noted in the past that Domingo is a wonderful singer who deserves to sing forever. But, as a conductor, the great Metropolitan Orchestra and the Met's singers deserve better. Now he fights back.

Boston Calendar of Events. Welcoming a new feature of Berkshire Fine Arts. Clip and save.

Lar Lubovich Dance Compay, which was founded in 1968, appears at Jacob's Pillow from July 20 to 24. The Pillow program includes North Star, a revival from 1978 set to music by Philip Glass, a duet from Meadow (1999), The Legend of Ten (2010), and Coltrane’s Favorite Things (2010), danced to John Coltrane’s version of the classic song “My Favorite Things” from the musical The Sound of Music.

Now in its sixth year under founder Kelley Vickery, screened at multiple venues the Berkshire International Film Festival, which opened on Thursday June 2 and ran in Great Barrington and Pittsfield closed on Sunday, June 5. Cinematic treats and surprises were in store for the enthusiastic crowds who attended. A film festival may be the second best thing to do in the dark. BIFF seems to get better each year.

There will be something old and something new, times two, in the 2011/ 2012 season of the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. Artistic Director Diane Paulus remarked: "Our 2011/12 Season features projects that combine music and storytelling to explore our collective heritage and unique histories. The year will include musical theater inspired by Americana, jazz, folk, and indie-rock, as well as plays with humor and grand expressions of humanity. This will be a season of extraordinary tales, glorious music, creative invention, and community created through shared experience."

"Madame White Snake’" by Zhou Long, premiered on Feb. 26, 2010, by the Boston Opera at the Cutler Majestic Theatre won for music. Sebastian Smee of the Boston Globe won for criticism.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC) and Knesset Israel (KI) continue the “Live from NY’s 92nd Street Y” Simulcasts at Barrington Stage with seven programs for winter/spring 2011. The popular satellite broadcast series brings lectures, interviews and readings from nationally and internationally recognized political figures, entertainers, newsmakers and authors to communities across the U.S. and Canada.

The American Repertory Theatre opens the musical The Blue Flower by Jim and Ruth Bauer at the Loeb Drama Center in Harvard Square, Cambriidge. Under the direction of Will Pomerantz it brings to life the German artists of the end of World War I that emerged from devastation and chaos to form the movements of Expressionism and Dada that morphed into Surrealism. The production opens on December 1 with previews and runs through January 8.

Producers Tony Ponturo and Fran Kirmser announced that LOMBARDI, a new American play from Academy Award-winning playwright Eric Simonson, directed by Tony Award nominee Thomas Kail, will preview at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass. July 22-28, before moving to the Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway this fall (previews begin September 23, opening night is October 21). Starring Dan Lauria and Judith Light, LOMBARDI is based on the best-selling biography When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss.

Saratoga Performing Arts Center will present the 33rd annual Freihofer's Saratoga Jazz Festival on June 26 and 27. Highlights include Gladys Knight, jazz singer Al Jarreau & the George Duke Trio, blues icon Taj Mahal, guitarist Al Di Meola and pianists Ramsey Lewis and Ahmad Jamal. There will be more than 20 performances over the weekend.

The low key, scaled back, modest and manageable Whitney Biennial 2010 curated by Francesco Bonami and Gary Carrion-Murayari has been dubbed the Obama Biennial. He is even on the cover. The Whitney has used this occasion to reflect on its history and critical reception since the series started in 1932. It begs questions about its mandate, the status of American art, and its relationship to a former partner, the Museum of Modern Art.

composers, cutting edge dance or perhaps an absorbing evening of great theatre? Take time to indulge your senses and treat yourself to some of the Berkshire's legendary performing arts attractions. They all have great deals for residents and visitors alike. Use our handy Picks and Previews guide to help decide.

The company Groupe Emile Dubois from Grenoble,France was founded by Jean-Claude Gallota and Mathilde Altaraz in 1979. They appeared at Jacob's Pillow with a new work "Des Gens qui dansent" during a rare American tour. It makes us rethink our notions of contemporary dance.

A capacity audience attended "Mujeres" with Belen Maya and Rocio Molina, which launched the 77th season of the summer long Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. There is a great tradition of Flamenco at the pillow starting with the first season in 1942 which featured the legendary La Argentina.

Tony and Emmy Award-winner Mandy Patinkin has an extensive list of theatre credits that include Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theater. He won a Tony Award for his 1980 Broadway debut as Che in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita and was again nominated in 1984 for his starring role in the Pulitzer Prize winning musical Sunday in the Park With George. He returned to Broadway in the Tony Award-winning musical The Secret Garden (1991). He will perform in Pittsfield for a one nighter at the Colonial Theatre on June 13.

The world renowned Jacob's Pillow Dance announced a full schedule of performances by 50 companies on three stages. The 77th season in the Berkshires features world/ U.S. premieres and special events including the 90th birthday celebration of choreographer Merce Cunningham.

The enormous and ambitious retrospective "Fritz Scholder: Indian/ not Indian" is being presented in two parts simultaneously by the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian on the Mall in Washington, D.C. and at The George Gustav Heye Center in lower Manhattan. Fritz Scholder (1937-2005) exploited Native imagery but largely deined his heritage as one quarter Indian (Luiseno, a California mission tribe). The NMAI has taken on a complex and controversial project.

During the recent Pulse New York art fair Mary Coble presented a live, two day event, in which onlookers viewed the inkless tattooing of hate words on her body.

Veterans Day starts a veteran to thinking about things that he hasn't for decades.The Viet Nam War Memorial is a metaphor for a tumultuous time and generation. What does the metaphor actually mean?

Overcome by ennui at the prospect of coming up with that annual best and worst list.