This launches a new feature for Berkshire Fine Arts. Pippy Giuliano, sister of BFA's Charles, shares deeps roots and family heritage in Cape Ann. She lives in Annisquam not far from the ancestral home, Beaver Dam Farm, in Rockport. Now retired, she is active in the community and a docent for the Cape Ann Museum. We suggested that she contribute a Letter from Cape Ann with tips on events and gatherings.

Solid Sound, Wilco's Music and Arts Festival, returns to MASS MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts June 28-30, 2019. Three-day tickets go on sale this Thursday at 11:00AM ET through solidsoundfestival.com, massmoca.org and the MASS MoCA Box Office (413.662.2111). For a limited time, tickets will be offered at a reduced early-bird rate of $149 (regular price $179). Children’s three-day tickets (ages 6-10) will be available for $55 and children under 6 are free. Thursday also marks the opening of campsite reservations for the official festival campground Solid Ground. Campsite reservations can be made only by calling the MASS MoCA Box Office.

NY Phil morning matinees open with conductor David Robertson in a performance of another major work by contemporary composer Louis Andriessen, the Dutch composer whose receipt of the 2016 Kravis Prize for new music has led to an in-depth Philharmonic exploration of his catalogue. Andriessen, in a program note, commented that " I have made no attempt to relate to what is known as "music from the Far East" or, even worse, 'world music.'"

The Aspect Foundation presented the Zemlinsky Quartet in New York. They performed works by their namesake, Dvo?ák, and Leos Janá?ek , in particular works inspired by their muses, women who left their love unrequited. The music's sadness and disappointment yielded was lovely. The group expressed comraderie and collaboration for a uniquely satisfying effect.

Gloria, A Life, by Emily Mann is playing at the Daryl Roth Theater in Manhattan. The theater is configured as a circle of bleachers. Gloria Steinem, whose role as journalist and activist in the women’s movement is the subject of this event, has come to believe that people, women and men, sitting in circles and talking, is the answer to humanly rich and fulfilling lives.

Is it worth it to create the greatest instrument in the history of Western music, even if it costs you everything? That is the question asked by the 1998 François Girard film The Red Violin, which tracks the creation, birth and long life of its titular object from a workshop in Cremona in the 16th century to an auction house in modern day Montreal.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC) announced today three productions for its upcoming 25th season – Into the Woods, the musical classic by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine; the world premiere new musical Fall Springs, by Niko Tsakalakos and Peter Sinn Nachtrieb; and Gertrude and Claudius, a new play by Mark St. Germain.

Susan Erony’s new mixed-media paintings explore primal and intellectual responses to visual beauty as they bear witness to the dignity and the achievements of the oppressed, the dispossessed, and all of us who face sorrow or pain in the course of life. The exhibition is on view at Trident Gallery, in Gloucester, Mass.

Rossini’s classic story of the oppressed woman who upends the patriarchal dowry system to pursue true love, is wonderfully invigorated by BLO’s selection and cast of critically acclaimed singers. This production launches the fall season of Boston Lyric Opera with stunning panache.

Primitivo di Puglia is a deep red wine from the heel or better known as the boot of Italy. The area is hot and dry, but fortunately has 325 miles of coastline. The varietal, Primitivo, grows on rather flat land that slopes into the sea. The result is a thick skinned grape that is full of fruit and high alcohol. It is known as Zinfandel in America. The root and distance cousin of Primitivo came from Croatia.

The script for Remy Bumppo Theatre’s production of Frankenstein was adapted by English playwright Nick Dear from Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel. Ian Frank directs a warm and heart-wrenching production, staged on Joe Schermoly’s handsome minimalist set.

Coral Gables' GableStage is the first regional theater to mount Joshua Harmon's explosive 'Admissions.' A palpable urgency, tension hovers over the stage in this triumphant production. 'Admissions' is a highly complex, yet taut satire covering topics such as affirmative action.

You may not recognize the title or know much about the show; it arrived quietly on Broadway in April 2006 and immediately captured multiple Tony award nominations. It won for best book and best score but was beat out for Outstanding Musical by Jersey Boys.

Despite the limits of 90 minutes, two characters, and mostly one room, Dancing Lessons covers a lot of ground. It’s about relationships and truth. A script full of laughs and things to think about; great direction by Joy Carlin and fine creative elements by her team; plus two terrific performances yield an entertaining evening.

Bernhardt/Hamlet is a new play by Theresa Rebeck that tries to capture both Bernhardt and comment on our modern era. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.

In celebration of his 80th birthday, Works & Process at the Guggenheim presented Charles Wuorinen's two String Trios, composed fifty years apart. In conversation before and between the superb performances of the Goeyvaerts String Trio, whose take on his work was praised by the composer, Wuorinen commented on his state of mind and ear at the time of the first composition. The Second String Trio is a world premiere commissioned by Works & Process.

Prior to this week, the Russian conductor Tughan Sokhiev was an unknown quantity at the New York Philharmonic. Currently music director of the Bolshoi Theater and the Orchestre Nationale du Capitole de Toulouse, he made his debut on the podium at David Geffen Hall, armed with a triptych of works from his native land by Borodin, Prokofiev and Tchaikovsky.

The Basso family from Avellino in Campania is motivated by the area of the world that they live in. The terroir and history of Campania, with its seaside of the Amalfi Coast, its pizza from Naples and the buffalo milk that is responsible for mozzarella di bufala has historical significance. Villa Raiano believes in the past and is now growing in the future with young family members taking over the daily grind at the vineyard.

If you’re a Kurt Vonnegut reader, Happy Birthday, Wanda June will sound familiar. If you’re in New York, or can get there by November 29, you have the chance to see this wacky dark satire of American culture and America’s propensity for war and death, filtered through Vonnegut’s mad genius lens

During a session of the NY Conference of American Theatre Critics Association we met with creators of the soon to be smash hit musical King Kong. The star of the show stands 20' high, weighs 2000 pounds, and roars with a rage that is absolutely terrifying. He is one very pissed off great ape.

The Next Wave Festival at the Brooklyn Academy of Music is presenting Philip Glass' Satyagraha at the Harvey Theater in Brooklyn. Not every opera can be mounted by a circus troop, but the forms are complimentary. When they meld, as they do here, it is a thrilling evening of theater. Folkoperan / Cirkus Cirkör from Sweden brings a matching visual rhythm and pace to the classical forms of Glass and extend our sense of this meditation on pacifism

The Hungarian National Opera's arrival in New York for a two week stay has been among the more interesting events of this fall season. Unfamiliar operas, unique productions and some vocal discoveries have been made at Lincoln Center. On Monday night, the Opera's orchestra, under the leadership of music director Balász Kocsár came to Carnegie Hall for a marathon concert: its one chance to display a wide variety of orchestral wares.

During the exposition of this retelling of the classic 1933 film there is an enervating response to a generic musical. It conveys the familiar tale of a pretty farm girl falling on hard luck trying to make it big in show business. Lured into a film shoot on remote and unihabited Skull Island things change big time. From the first thrilling appearance of Kong there is little doubt that he is the new King of Broadway.

Odyssey Opera mounted a terrific production of Charles' Gounod's A Doctor in Spite of Himself at the Huntington Theater in Boston. Gil Rose, the inspired founder of this company, points out that critics often blame institutions for riding the coattails of a big birthday of an musical original. If this is so, why is Gounod's 200th not being celebrated. It turns out that it is, in Boston.

Wednesday night's concert at the New York Philharmonic felt more like Mostly Mozart. It wasn't just the program: a brief but satisfying blend of Beethoven and Schubert. It was the presence of frequent MM guest Iván Fischer, who, for a number of seasons has enlivened that summer festival by bringing his orchestra charges: the Budapest Festival Orchestra (an ensemble he founded and still currently leads) to play symphonies and operas at Lincoln Center. Here, Fischer found himself at the helm of the New York Philharmonic, but wasted no time in ensuring that this was a very different kind of concert.