Music
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Idina Menzel Sizzles with Pops
Doc Severinsen and Beatles at Tanglewood
By: - Jul 03rd, 2010On Friday night of the Fourth of July weekend, with three sold out concerts by James Taylor and Carole King, Tanglewood got off to a slow start with Pops. There was a relatively sparse turnout. Too bad for those who missed the Tanglewood debut of the Tony Award winning singer Idina Menzel. She thrilled the audience with hits from Rent and Wicked. Doc Severinsen was typically attired in an outlandish outfit as he squeaked a few toots on trumpet. Keith Lockhart conducted a 125th anniversary salute to Pops.
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Tom Rush at Natick Center for the Arts
TCAN Performance Delights Audience
By: - Jul 01st, 2010Fifty years ago when he came to Cambridge to attend Harvard, the popularity of folk music was just blossoming and Tom began his involvement as host of a weekly show on the Harvard campus radio station, WHRB. It was wonderful to attend his sold out performance at the Natick Center for the Arts.
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Rosanne Cash Packs the Colonial
Featuring the List and Black Cadillac
By: - Jun 30th, 2010Country music star, Rosanne Cash, the eldest daughter of the legendary Johnny Cash, utterly captivated the audience last night at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. In every sense, emotionally and artistically, Cash demonstrated how she has distanced herself from the dominance of the Country Music World in Nashville. Her easy, charming manner, memory gaps and screw ups, only further conveyed her charm, passion, humanity and vulnerability. It was a stunning evening.
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Beeline Ramblers
Berkshire Musicians Summer Schedule
By: - Jun 27th, 2010Fran Mandeville and Lisa Burnstine Mandeville live in North Adams but they make sweet music all over the Berkshires. Here is a schedule of the Beeline Ramblers for the summer season. If you catch them at the Dreamaway Lodge in Becket be sure to enjoy dinner. Tell em we sentyah.
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The New York Philharmonic in Lindberg and Beethoven
A Triumpant Season Ends with Something New, Something Old
By: - Jun 26th, 2010Alan Gilbert, in his inaugural season with the Philharmonic has been daring and provocative is his programming. He has also conducted traditional repertory with great flare. He has made it clear that he is going to lead his audience into the 21st century and help us get there. But not without moving us. He shares Beethoven's expressed desire in the subtitle to the Missa Solemnis: This is for the heart, not the brain.
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Roomful of Teeth
Mass MoCA's Club B-10
By: - Jun 22nd, 2010Roomful of Teeth is an ambitious work-in-progress with the stated intent of bringing the full range of human vocal potential to bear upon the aesthetic experience. Friday’s performance at Mass MoCA showcased works by Caleb Burhans, Caroline Shaw, Eric Dudley, William Brittelle, Judd Greenstein, Rinde Eckert and Avery Griffin. The play of a cappella sound waves against bone, tooth, beam and brick in a high-ceilinged, sold-out room pulsed with energies that seemed unearthly but were firmly rooted in the human.
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The New York Philharmonic Blasts Off at Avery Fisher
Alan Gilbert Gives Us Horns
By: - Jun 21st, 2010While onductor Gilbert declares that his penultimate program of the season is about Vienna, it was clearly all about the trumpet, in Wagner and Mozart and an end of the 20th century concerto for the trumpet by HK Gruber, a madman who deserves his own story. But this was trumpeter Hakan Hardenberger's evening, even though the composer saddled him with three horns. Saddled is a bit unfair. The audience was intimdated but the trumpterer wasn't. He even sang into his trumpet.
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Simon and Garfunkel Cancel Tanglewood
Tour Postponed Because of Illness
By: - Jun 17th, 2010The scheduled appearance by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel at Tanglewood on July 27 has been cancelled. Art Garfunkel continues to recover from a vocal paresis. The tour was originally planned to start in April. It was then shifted to July. Now it is postponed indefinitely. Garfunkel is expected to recover but not in time for the summer concerts. With James Levine out for the season this is the second Tanglewood cancellation in less than a week. There is speculation about how these cancellations will impact tourism and the hospitality industry.
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Barbara Cook at Mahaiwe August 15
Elaine Stritch Postponed
By: - Jun 16th, 2010In a bit of musical chairs, Tony award winner Barbara Cook replaces a scheduled appearance by Elaine Stritch at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington. The much anticipated concert will occur on August 15. The Stritch appearance has been postponed because she is joining the Broadway cast of Sondheim's A Little Night Music. This season Cook appeared on Broadway in Sondheim on Sondheim.
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The Metropolitan Opera Encore HDs
Local Theaters Show Opera Performances
By: - Jun 15th, 2010If you missed some of the Met's wonderful HD broadcasts over recent seasons, this is a good time to catch up. A list of dates and times follows. We have included the Met's precis for each opera and excerpts from commentary which appeared on this site.
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James Levine Withdraws from Tanglewood
Slots Filled by Renowned Conductors
By: - Jun 14th, 2010In April James Levine, the artistic director of Boston Symphony Orchestra and Metropolitan Opera, underwent back surgery. While he planned a season for Tangelwood he has now withdrawn from the program. It is hoped that he will recover in time for the fall seasons of the BSO and Met. This is a repeat of his absence from Tanglewood following surgery after the opening concerts in 2008. Given chronic health issues there is speculation about his long term role in Boston and New York. Renowned conductors will fill the vacant slots in Lenox this season.
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TCAN - The Center for Arts in Natick
A Metro-West Treasure
By: - Jun 14th, 2010In 2003, having rescued from demolition, and renovated, a 19th century firehouse, they opened an intimate performance site with professional quality lighting and sound and seating almost 300. Within two years, the Massachusetts Historical Commission acknowledged their efforts with a Preservation Award.
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Mengelberg and Mahler by Daniel Klein
Robert Lohbauer in World Premiere at Shakespeare & Company
By: - Jun 14th, 2010Berkshire based playwright Daniel Klein has collaborated with Emile Fallaux, who directs, on the the world premiere of Mengelberg and Mahler, a one person play, at Shakespeare & Company. It stars company veteran Robert Lohbauer. While Mahler fans may find much to like about this intimate performance it left us unmoved. The script while well crafted was not adequately conveyed by the actor. On opening night, however, Lohbauer was given a standing ovation by some of the audience.
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Rosanne Cash at the Colonial June 29
Performing the List Johnny Cash Gave Her
By: - Jun 12th, 2010The genesis of Rosanne Cash’s new album The List dates back to a day in 1973 when Cash’s father, the incomparable Johnny Cash, discovered some gaps in her knowledge of American roots music. He spent the rest of the day making a list on a legal pad, and at the top he put “100 Essential Country Songs†handed it to her and said, “This is your education.†She will perform this material at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield on June 29.
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A Cole Porter Tribute
You're the Tops at the Pops
By: - Jun 11th, 2010.The music of Cole Porter bubbled like champagne at Symphony Hall. Keith Lockhart conducted in a thoroughly enjoyable evening of Pops. He was joined by Broadway stars including Kelli O’Hara, Jason Danieley and Matthew Anderson.
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Stephanie Blythe Sings at Town Hall, New York
Performs at Tanglewood on July 9
By: - Jun 10th, 2010Free concerts in New York with A list talent can be found if you look, and one of the best venues to scour is Town Hall's. Here on Sunday, for free, lucky listeners got to hear Stephanie Blythe accompanied by Warren Jones. Blythe opens Tanglewood's season in Mahler's Second Symphony on July 9th.
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Sir Andrew Davis Conducts the New York Philharmonic
Susan Graham and Kent Tritle Solo Artists
By: - Jun 07th, 2010The evening's program of French music featuring Berlioz, Chausson and Saint Saens, belied conventional wisdom that the French style is cool. The early Berlioz was whipped to a frenzy, the Chausson songs were full of passion, and Saint Saens' improvisations at the end of the Third Symphony got a wild ride with organist Kent Tritle. Are we ready for a new definition?
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New York Philharmonic at St. John the Divine
Alan Gilbert Conducts Annual Memorial Day Concert
By: - Jun 02nd, 2010Having brought Grygory Liget's Le Grand Macabre to New York for its premier just days beforehand, the Orchestra tamed down for their annual free concert at a Cathedral. The moral of the story is that this Orchestra is never tame, particularly under its conductor Alan Gilbert, who is winding up his first season. .
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New York Philharmonic with Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre
Alan Gilbert Conducts as Doug Fitch Weaves His Magic
By: - Jun 01st, 2010It was a daring gambit, one that was not at all sure to capture New York. But move by move, through education and tease in equal measure, Alan Gilbert made his vision for an extended Philharmonic audience come alive. The only production which got the wildly enthusiastic response Le Grand Macabre received was the Met's "The Nose." Contemporary sounds accentuated and expanded by artful staging techniques, in this case magician Doug Fitch let loose in Avery Fisher Hall, created a bang up, popular work of high art.
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Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas at Alice Tully Hall
Alondra de la Parra Conducts Splendidly
By: - May 26th, 2010Just five years ago, at 24, the brilliant young Mexican conductor, Alondra de la Parra formed the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas. In an encore performance at Alice Tully Hall, she conducted the music of mostly Mexican composers in honor of Mexico's bicentennial. The Orchestra now travels to their summer home in Stowe, Vermont.
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Chris Smither Donates Performance
Event June 4 at Memorial Hall in Shelburne Falls
By: - May 26th, 2010A benefit concert for the Pioneer Valley Chinese Immersion Charter School to take place at Memorial Hall, Shelburne Falls, Friday, June 4th. Benefit concert to help support the program with Chris Smither as the performer. This will be Chris’ last performance in this area this year. We reviewed his recent performance in Natick. This is an opportunity to hear a superb artist for a great cause.
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Rusted Roof at the Colonial June 9
Band Has Sold 3 Million Albums
By: - May 25th, 2010Rusted Root will be at the Colonial on June 9 for one performance at 7:30PM. Rusted Root has sold more than 3 million albums worldwide since forming in Pittsburgh in the early ’90s. The band’s worldly style quickly charmed fans of roots music and world rock. Their 1994 album When I Woke went platinum and featured the hit songs “Send Me On My Way,†“Ecstasy†and “Martyr.â€
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Chris Smither Performs at TCAN
A Packed House in Natick, Mass.
By: - May 23rd, 2010On Friday night in Natick there is no doubt where the hot ticket event is. TCAN, The Center for Arts in Natick is overflowing. Reviewers, promoters, fans all have labels for Chris. Many call him a Blues singer, some say folk singer, others, singer-songwriter
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New York Philharmonic's Le Grand Macabre
Alan Gilbert To Conduct New York Premier
By: - May 20th, 2010The New York Philharmonic presents performances of György Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre by the composer who joined forces with Richard Strauss in the score of Space Odyssey:2001. Kudos for recent productions in London, Paris, Adelaide and Rome suggest the performances will be SRO. The work combines 15th century music, breadth of line, puppetry, adventures musical and otherwise.At Avery Fisher Hall on May 27, 28 and 29.
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Met Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall
Pierre Boulez Debut at 85
By: - May 18th, 2010Red flags were raised. This was one tough program. The Metropolitan Orchestra performed at the opera house on Friday evening and twice on Saturday. Yet, on Sunday, the orchestra and its octogenarian conductor, Pierre Boulez, were fresh and sharp. They performed two difficult pieces to perfection.
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