Music
-
The Mount's Season Highlights
Sculpture, Theatre, Film, Music, Literature
By: - Apr 30th, 2013Pulitzer 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.
-
Mahagonny at the Manhattan School of Music
Aaron Short and Rachelle Pike Whet Appetite for the Future
By: - Apr 29th, 2013An iconic broken down truck is sitting on stage, so we know three escaping criminals will soon build Mahagonny. Behind a hospital-like dividing curtain, a flophouse will later cast off silhouettes of sex acts. Mahagonny will be a new Sodom & Gomorrah, or maybe even New York in the Age of the Derivative.
-
Ear Say: John Fullbright and Ewan McLennan
Amazing Things Are Happening in Our World.
By: - Apr 28th, 2013The two artists whose recordings I comment on below are interesting in their comparisons and their contrasts. Both cds garnered considerable praise and attention in 2012. Oklahoma’s John Fullbright and his release were nominated for a Grammy, and Ewan McLennan’s was one of those selected in the UK’s best of the year lists.
-
Bach and His Predecessors: Choral Works
With TENET and Jolle Greenleaf
By: - Apr 25th, 2013Berkshire 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.
-
B.U.'s Opera Institute Does Mozart
Final Work Combines Great Music with a Weak Story
By: - Apr 23rd, 2013Always broke, Mozart accepted a commission for an opera for the coronation of Leopold II that gave him only 18 days to write it. Although Mozart couldn't write a bad note if he tried, the results are not among his most enduring.
-
Richie Havens at 72
Remembering an Iconic Flower Child
By: - Apr 23rd, 2013Over the years we heard Richie Havens perform on many occasions. Including at 2009 concert at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. He returned to the Berkshires and Mass MoCA in 2010. He is best remembered for opening the Woodstock Rock Festival in 1969 and later being included in the film and album of that event. It established a career that ended only recently because of deteriorating health. He is recalled as one of the great voices and unique stylists of his generation.
-
Michael Feinstein Great American Songbook Initiative
Archive at Center for the Performing Arts Carmel, Indiana
By: - Apr 10th, 2013As Ambassador of the Great American Songbook Michael Feinstein is a dynamo and one man band. The Third Season of his PBS series, with three episodes is currently airing. Recently, we visited the fast growing archive he established at Performing Arts Center in Carmel, Indiana where he serves as artistic director. The state of the art facility opened in 2011 and has become a destination for the appreciation of standards.
-
New England Conservatory Revives Rossini
La Gazzetta No Masterpiece But Lots of Fun
By: - Apr 10th, 2013Don Pomponio takes out a personal ad in the local rag to find a husband for his daughter Lisetta. Mistaken identities ensure confusion, which leads to hilarity. In the end two young lovers find their mates, but not before Quakers and Turks make their appearance.
-
Eve Queler's Opera Orchestra of New York
Michael Fabiano, a World Class Tenor, in I Lombardi by Verdi
By: - Apr 09th, 2013Eve Queler introduced the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall in 1972 with Verdi’s I Lombardi. Featured in the cast were Jose Carreras, Renata Scotto and Paul Plishka in a memorable performances. Queler has continued to offer wonderful productions of seldom heard operas featuring stars, up and coming stars, and newbies. Her contribution to the music world has been incalculable.
-
Extraordinary BSO Conducted by Daniele Gatti
Carnegie Welcomes a Tribute to Richard Wagner
By: - Apr 07th, 2013Daniele Gatti arrived at Carnegie Hall with the Boston Symphony Orceshtra for their annual spring visit. Gatti had recently triumphed at the Metropolitan Opera conducting Parsifal in a consummate performance. Katrina Dalayman, the Met’s Kundry, reports that the group of mega stars gathered to sing were exceptionally collaborative, guided by Gatti, emailing back and forth. This group effort showed on the stage with the BSO.
-
Michael Feinstein and Barbara Cook Meet the Press
Faith Prince and Megan Hilty To Join Feinstein at Tanglewood
By: - Apr 02nd, 2013When 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.
-
Mass MoCA's FreshGrass Festival
Performers Announced for September 20 to 23
By: - Mar 28th, 2013Del McCoury, Leftover Salmon, The Infamous Stringdusters, Sam Bush, The Lone Bellow, and Dr. Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys are part of the first wave of performers announced for the FreshGrass festival. Bill Evans, Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown, Edgar Meyer and Mike Marshall, The Wood Brothers, Dan Zanes, Elizabeth Mitchell, Lake Street Dive, The Gibson Brothers, Noam Pikelny and Friends, John Reischman and the Jaybirds, Elephant Revival, Darol Anger, and Mandolin Orange are also confirmed.
-
Anastasia Barzee Opens in NY April 18
Barzee Sings Bacharach at The Metropolitan Room
By: - Mar 27th, 2013Broadway and television actress Anastasia Barzee premieres “Barzee Sings Bacharach†in a prime-time major engagement at The Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, beginning April 18.
-
Terence Blanchard at Tanglewood June 28
Performed in 2008 Tanglewood Jazz Festival
By: - Mar 26th, 2013The Terence Blanchard Group, featuring New Orleans’ jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, joins the 2013 Tanglewood season line-up with a performance in Ozawa Hall on Friday, June 28, at 8 p.m. Mr. Blanchard first performed at Tanglewood during Jazz Fest on August 31, 2008.
-
Michael Feinstein and Barbara Cook Back Home in Indiana
Celebrating The American Songbook at Carmel’s Palladium
By: - Mar 26th, 2013During our meeting of the American Theatre Critic's Association we visited Carmel, Indiana for an evening of The Great American Songbook with its Ambassador, Michael Feinstein and guest artist, Barbara Cook. For the audience of 1,600 filling the Palladium it was a love fest.
-
A Wagner Miscellany at the BSO
Orchestra Commemorates Bicentennial
By: - Mar 25th, 2013The BSO has entrusted Italian maestro Daniele Gatti to conduct programs devoted to Wagner and Verdi during their bicentennial years. Gatti reveals himself to be a fine-tuner of a conductor, interested in the smallest elements of the work. The result can be impressive but a little cold.
-
Crescendo Concerts April 13 and 14
Interpreting Nature in China and the US
By: - Mar 23rd, 2013The first choral work commissioned for Crescendo is an original musical compostition based on the "West Lake" poem cycle by the Chinese poet and statesman Ouyang Xiu, who lived from 1007 - 1072 CE. The performances will occur at First Congregational Church, 251 Main St., Great Barrington, MA and Trinity Church - Lime Rock, 484 Lime Rock Rd., Lakeville, CT.
-
Joan Baez and Indigo Girls at Tanglewood
Shed Performance on Sunday, June 23
By: - Mar 18th, 2013American 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.
-
EarSay-Emma Jane & Christopher Crosby Morris
Another Best of 2012 and an Echoing Refrain from Decades Past.
By: - Mar 17th, 2013In this posting the pairing may seem unlikely at first. One artist is male, a senior citizen, an experienced artist with a well developed aesthetic while the other is female with the 21st century making up the majority of her life, little experience in comparison yet an aesthetic that while still evolving is already firmly anchored in the soul of a visionary artist.
-
Modern Lovers vs Aerosmith
Roadrunner or Dream On for Massachusetts State Song
By: - Mar 16th, 2013A well-meaning state representative introduced a bill that would have made Modern Lovers’ “Roadrunner†the official state rock song of Massachusetts. Now, a pair of Boston-area representatives have introduced a rival bill to make Aerosmith’s “Dream On†the official Commonwealth rocker. Here's a bit of vintage show and tell about the bands.
-
Joe Rosen Showcases Piano Prodigy
Maxim Lando Plays Like a Developed Musician
By: - Mar 14th, 2013Another fantastic afternoon concert at generous Joseph Rosen’s, just around the corner from Carnegie. Rosen, in addition to innovative programming which often introduces deserving but not well-known composers, also showcases up and coming talent.
-
April Is Jazz Appreciation Month
Berkshires Jazz, Inc. Announces Special Events
By: - Mar 12th, 2013Berkshires Jazz, Inc. announces several new events that celebrate April as Jazz Appreciation Month, a long-standing initiative of the Smithsonian Institution. The spring programming spans the timeframe from late March to early May, and includes CD release concerts featuring the Claire Daly Quartet and the Jeff Holmes Quartet.
-
Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival
Program for June 29 and 30
By: - Mar 12th, 2013Following 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.
-
Norma Arrives at the Washington National Opera
Angela Meade and Dolora Zajick Mesmerize
By: - Mar 11th, 2013Norma is the long distance run for great bel canto sopranos and mezzos too. By that high standard, Angela Meade and Dolora Zajick hit their marks as the Washington National Opera mounted a new production of the Bellini opera.
-
Wilco By Request June 22
Will Perform Songs That Stump the Band
By: - Mar 08th, 2013On Friday, June 21 at the Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA, Wilco will perform a unique concert comprised exclusively of fan-requested songs, including covers. The band will take song submissions in advance and promises to learn fifty of those songs for the festival.
<< Previous Next >>