Through September 18 the Clark Art Institute is presenting the blockbuster exhibition Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern. More documentary than retrospective it tells the tale of Rodin in America and his great collectors. All but one of the 50 sculptures and 25 drawings are loans from American museums and private collections. This is the must see exhibition of summer in the Berkshires.

For her last production, founding artistic director, Julianne Boyd again directed her favorite musical A Little Night Music by Stephen Sondheim for Barrington Stage Company. Yet again the theatrical magic evoked smiles on a summer's night.

On Sunday, September 4 at 4 pm, the renowned Knights Orchestra returns to the Clark to celebrate the current Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern exhibition. This free outdoor concert takes place on the Fernández Terrace near the Clark’s Reflecting Pool.

Mary Ann Unger died at the age of 53 in 1998 after 14 years of battling cancer. As a member of the Guerrilla Girls, formed in 1985, she fought for equity for women in the art world. While she received grants and commissions, the exhibition organized by Horace Ballard for the Williams College Museum of Art, makes a compelling case for reconsideration of her work.

Unionized employees of MASS MoCA voted by a 96% vote to engage in a one-day work stoppage on August 19, 2022. Employees will be picketing the Museum all day and asking visitors to express support for a fair contract for staff.

On opening day, August 12, we went on one of our Berkshire country drives to South County to celebrate Beth Galston and her installation, 'Ice Forest.'

In the whirlwind of announcements about the re-opening of David Geffen Hall, anti stain concert hall, Wu Tsai, we actually heard only one sound from the Hall, a single blast from a trumpeter in a hard hat. The Oklahoma State Univeristy orchestra will take up its residency and open the fall season on September 23rd. This may be the sound check.

Overall, the performances are good. Juliette Redden as Anne has a strong voice and a winning personality. What is best is this Anne is a great role model – she’s creative, strong-minded, determined, optimistic and cheerful. If she has any doubts, they are well hidden. Though we do know she is seeking a family and acceptance.

"M. Butterfly" is composed in the modern operatic style without the lush melodies and memorable arias of old.  Yet, it is fitting.  Western mode dominates Ruo's score, but Asian motifs are also introduced.  Conventional western instruments comprise the orchestra, but when needed, Ruo extracts Asian ornamentation through use of 5-tone scales.

On July 27, 2022, a bill creating a Slavery Remembrance Day, introduceed by Congressman Al Green of Houston, Texas, passed in Congress.  August 20th was the date in 1619 White Lion ship with 20 “and odd” Angolans, kidnapped by the Portuguese, arrived in the British colony Point Comfort in Virginia.

We waited for two and a half hours but Godot never showed up. Barrington Stage has gamely taken on an avant-garde masterpiece with mixed success.

Broadway saw this musical revitalized in an edgy form in 2019.  That production, directed by Daniel Fish, won a Tony for “Best Revival of a Musical” and is currently touring. The production is noted for other departures from the past.  In keeping with the edginess of the new look, Act 2 opens like an acid rock concert.  With a thick manufactured fog covering the stage, an instrumental medley blasts with deafening, dissonant distortion leading into the famous dream sequence dance.

In the historic apple orchard there will be a free artist's talk and reception on Friday, September 2nd from 5:00 to 7:00pm at Chesterwood,  4 Williamsville Road, Stockbridge, MA.

The play by Amy Herzog focuses on the relationship between a nonagenarian grandmother and her adult grandson. Neither fits the stereotypical mold. Then director David Kennedy selected Mia Dillon to play the grandmother and Clay Singer, the grandson. Almost perfect.

What makes “Xanadu” fun is its light-heartedness and tongue-in-cheek humor based on ridiculously unrealistic happenings.  It’s camp.  It’s kitschy.  It’ll make you smile a lot and laugh out loud

 Ed Stitt lives close to Larz Anderson Park, a landscaped and wooded 64-acre parkland in Brookline and it has lately become his personal playground.  Stitt’s new painting exhibition trumpets the exquisite sweeping slopes, expansive lawns, and magnificent trees that comprise the park.  As if this weren’t enough, it also offers expansive views of downtown Boston.

The historical drama, "Bent" has stirred controversy for suggesting that Jewish people received less harsh treatment than homosexuals at the Dachau concentration camp. A solid co-production between Empire Stage and ArtBuzz Theatrics is playing in South Florida.

Mark Anthony Turnage was very young when composer Hans Werner Henze asked him to create an opera for the first Munich Biennale Summer Festival. Turnage, already attracting attention for his musical language which draws on Miles Davis, Janácek and Stravinsky, had caught Henze’s ear.  Henze’s own work ranges in reference from serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as traditional schools of German composition. 

Sunday, September 11, the Clark Art Institute continues its Locals at the Lunder Center series with a free concert by two-guitar duo Elkhorn, followed by local musical group Sound For. Presented in partnership with Belltower Records (North Adams, Massachusetts), the performance kicks off an upcoming series of live music events that feature new experimentations in sound, in conjunction with the changing of the seasons. The concert takes place at 4:15 pm on the Lunder Center’s Moltz Terrace. In the event of inclement weather, the event moves to the Clark’s auditorium.

The ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance unveiled its live, in-person performances celebrating diverse and challenging theatre, music, and dance programming for the Williams College community and beyond.

Perhaps more than any other, “Marriage” is considered to be the finest comic opera ever written, if not the finest opera altogether. 

Close encounters with music is an innovative and captivating presenter of music. Sublime chamber music concerts are enhanced by entertaining, erudite, and lively commentary by artistic director Yehuda Hanani. Programs include international soloists, and intriguing themes.

The director, Luk Perceval, turned L. Feuchtwanger's book EXIL into a 3 1/2 hour long journey for audiences and ensemble.

Jeanne Renaud the Montreal artist, dancer and choreographer has passed away at 94. She created choreography for the film Brèves histoires de pierres muettes (2018) and le Projet Feldman/Renaud à la Salle Bourgie in 2021, with the dancers Louise Bédard and Marc Boivin.

The opera is set in the 1930s, offering shades of the Hollywood glamor and fascist depravity of that time.  This conceit does allow for the visual appeal of period newsreels projections and a more varied look in Constance Hoffman’s appealing and fashionable costumery, but the conceptual rationale for the time shift is unclear.