Tanglewood

Violinist Gerald Elias departed the Boston Symphony Orchestra some years ago for greater opportunities in Salt Lake City. He returns each summer to get his "orchestral fix" performing with Tanglewood. Several years ago he conflated music and writing with a series of successful mystery novels. We met briefly during WordFest a weekend long writer's conference at The Mount.

With its French and Russian traditions, the BSO seemed the ideal orchestra to present these two rarities. But the Stravinsky had never been done before, and the Ravel only 3 times. Both works are oddities within the composers’ oeuvre, but that makes them even more of a delight to encounter.

Many recall the fine cuisine of Chef Gerhard Schmid from his Gateways Inn in Lenox in the late ‘70s and ‘80s, and the Devonfield Inn, formerly known as Haus Andreas in Lee, from 1980-1994. He is now presiding over the kitchen of Haflinger Haus an elegant mansion in Adams, Mass. Some 40 members of the Berkshire International Club gathered there to enjoy his special Octoberfest menu.

The BSO's performance of George Gershwin's classic American "folk opera" was sumptuously played and well sung, but it tried to make Gershwin a late Romantic like Strauss or Puccini. The production is musically rich, bringing out the complexities of the score with a clarity that only underscores how great the work is. It is the first time the orchestra has performed “Porgy,” which opened in Boston in 1935 as a try-out for its New York premiere, in Symphony Hall.

On a glorious fall weekend WordFest was held at Edith Wharton's estate The Mount. There was an intense program of back to back panel discussions, interviews and poetry readings. It seemed like many in the audience were New Yorker readers while the speakers were top loaded with contributors. Surely it was a well read and well-heeled assembly in the posh Berkshires.

After opening night the Shakespeare & Company production of Terry Teachout's new play Satchmo at the Waldorf was "frozen." Teachout attended a number of performances and took notes for revisions working with director, Gordon Edelstein, and the actor, John Douglas Thompson, for the next production which opens at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven in October. For this installment Teachout discusses the primary sources researched for the harsh language of Louis Armstrong and his gangster manager Joe Glaser.

A lady a few rows in front of us was waving her cane, literally, in time to the music of Michael Feinstein's American Songbook. Later she joined him on stage for a duet of "New York New York." Incredibly, Liza Minnelli made a surprise appearance during the last day of the Tanglewood season. Tony winners Betty Buckley and Christine Ebersole also helped to bring the curtain down on another Tanglewood season.

Close Encounters With Music introduces grand prize winners of the Tchaikovsky International Violin Competition and Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in their Berkshire debuts; presents one of the preeminent Baroque ensembles, Tragicomedia, to usher in the holiday season; and adds another notch on its belt of successful commissioning projects with a new work by American composer Robert Beaser, who has written for Glimmerglass and New York City Opera.

After 40 years of collaborations pianist Chick Corea and vibraphone player Gary Burton are about to release their sixth CD. Hot House is an album of the standards they loved and grew up on. For a nearly sold out gig in Ozawa Hall, with nearly as many outside on the lawn, they played a set of duets followed by one with the Harlem String Quartet.

An ingenious thriller, the ultimate murder mystery, The 39 Steps has it all. Shakespeare & Company opens the 2012-2013 Fall & Winter season with this hilarious adaptation of John Buchan’s novel, which also draws inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film. Featuring a seasoned ensemble including Elizabeth Aspenlieder (Bad Dates), Jason Asprey (Parasite Drag), David Joseph (The Tempest), and Josh Aaron McCabe (Hound of the Baskervilles), The 39 Steps offers an intriguing, sidesplitting evening or afternoon at the theatre. The 39 Steps runs from September 22 through November 4 in S&Co.’s Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre.

Both nine time Grammy winner, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis leading his Quintet, and renowned bass player Christian McBride with a trio, commented warmly on the honor of returning to Tanglewood. But, for both, not in many years. The evening that ended at 11 PM closed in a jam session with all of the musicians trading riffs.

Last night in Ozawa Hall the French Ebene Quartet offered a divided program that included two works by Mozart and Tchakovsky followed by a jazz set. It is a part of he overhaul of jazz programming at Tanglewood. On Monday, August 20 Wynton Marsalis and Christian McBride are featured. With Chick Corea and Gary Burton slated for Sunday, August 26.

Last night at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown the legendary singer/ songwriter, Art Garfunkel launched an 18 city tour that will end on December 1. It supports the issue of a double CD which is a retrospective of his career but includes new material. While he spoke to the audience of "giving my heart to you" he struggled to push a voice that he virtually lost just two years ago. An appreciative audience supported his courage and poetic humanity.

Just before Chris Botti came on stage for a two hour performace at Ozawa Hall there was a brief but ferocious downpour that had hundreds of fans on the lawn scurrying of shelter. The downpour soaked some fans but failed to dampen spirits of a stunning, eclectic and thoroughly entertaining evening with one of our greatest living artists.

Amazingly, it has been fifty years since the last visit of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet to Jacob's Pillow. The classical ballet company demonstrated its diversity during a two hour program in three segments- In Tandem, Moonlight Sonata, and Carmina Burana. For most audience members it was a highlight of Pillow's 80th season.

Donizetti was a master of opera buffa - comic opera - and "Don Pasquale" is one of his enduring hits. By focusing on singers and their interactions, Boston Midsummer Opera gets it right.

On Wednesday the German born violin virtuoso, Anne-Sophie Mutter, performed in Ozawa Hall accompanied by pianist Lambert Orkis. On Friday she led a baroque orchestra in an all Mozart program. Tonight, she will be a guest among many participating in the Gala 75th Anniversary concert. She has also met with students in the Tanglewood summer program. It was her first Berkshire visit since 1992.

In one of the best ever Pops programs Keith Lockhart paid tribute to New York composers. Including the Washington D. C. born jazz great Duke Ellington's A Tone Parallel to Harlem. For the second half of the concert he was joined by Broadway legend Bernadette Peters. She performed a number of songs by Stephen Sondheim including two from Follies which she performed this season on Broadway. Awesome.

It was steamy in the Shed last night for the sweltering launch of the gala, 2012, 75th season of Tanglewood. With Christoph von Dohnányi, a Conducting Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center in 1952, the orchestra replicated the very first BSO concert that took place on August 5, 1937. A capacity audience enjoyed the all-Beethoven program, opening with the Leonore Overture No. 3, followed by Symphony No. 6, Pastoral, and Symphony No. 5.

Last night James Taylor performed the first of three annual sold out shows at Tanglewood. With a twenty minute intermission the program started just after seven and ended just before ten. During all that time guest artist Taylor Swift graced us with two duets and a solo of her teen anthem, a thrill to thousands of girls in the audience “Love Story.” More tonight.

As part of the celebrations for its 35th Season, Shakespeare & Company is pleased to introduce a series of presentations and events tailored to its summer performance season. Engaging discussions, riveting talks, and insightful Q&A’s will all be featured in the Company’s packed calendar of special events. For more information on all of Shakespeare & Company’s special 35th Season offerings, including Founders’ Talks, Author! Author!, Tuesday Talks, Wednesday Q&A’s, Behind the Scenes Tours, and other special events.

On Thursday, June 28 the Williamstown Theatre Festival launches its season with the opening night of two shows. Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" directed by David Hyde Pierce with Tyne Daly is on the Main Stage. The more intimate Nikos Stage will feature the world premiere of The Deep Blue directed by Bob Balaban with Becky Ann Baker and a return to Williamstown after a long absence of a perennial favorite, Blythe Danner. Yesterday WTF artistic director Jenny Gersten hosted a meet an greet with the directors and their stars.

The color and force of two monuments of twentieth century choral music were performed with drama and grand production by the New York Philharmonic, Orfeon Pamplones and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.

Train is back on track for Friday, August 31. Followed by Pops, on Saturday, and then a hard rock tandem of Evanescence and Chevelle rounding out a solid Labor Day Weekend in the Shed. This is a dramatic change of policy for Tanglewood making for a weekend with broad audience appeal second only to the Fourth of July. This last blast of summer will surely draw large audiences to Lenox. Then its back to work and school.

The musical centerpiece of the evening will be the Tanglewood 75th Celebration Concert featuring performances by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Pops, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, as well as the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, led by conductors John Williams, Keith Lockhart, and Andris Nelsons. These legendary Tanglewood ensembles will be joined on stage by several of today’s leading artists, including violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, pianists Emanuel Ax and Peter Serkin, and vocalist James Taylor.