Sample hundreds of wines paired with gourmet food at Tanglewood's 10th Wine & Food Classic on August 13th-16th.

At the crossroads of East and West on The Baltic Sea, Latvia offers a vast cultural heritage. Riga, the largest of the Baltic capitals, has a charming Old Town with medieval and baroque architecture and is also considered the capital of Europe's Art Nouveau style with over 800 buildings. Ligatne and Cesis are both small towns within Gauja National Park with historic and natural treasures of their own.

When is sound music? When is noise music? These are questions asked by Yarn/Wire, a quartet of two pianists and two percussionists. We are reminded first and foremost that the piano is a percussion instrument. The excitement begins with this idea and floats out...forever.

On August 20, 2012 Wynton Marsalis shared an appearance at Tanglewood with bass player Christian McBride. Last night he returned to Ozawa Hall with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. This superb group of New York based musicians presented a program of traditional big band music from the 1930s and 1940s in the first half and works by members of the orchestra, including Marsalis, in the second.

Amazingly you can take a gondola trip through the glorious Venetian an upscale resort hotel in Vegas. There is no need for an expensive trip to Italy when you can toss in gambling for a casino weekend here in the USA.

On Monday nights a group of artists meet for dinner and gossip at Sushi House. Great food and margaritas served by Joy with just that. In the busy summer season there's a lot to talk about. Eric Rudd had hosted his annual Beach Party on Eagle Street. Fun stuff, news of exhibitions, projects and book launches. Then it got real dark.

Brilliant Adventures, the grim and grimly funny new Steep Theatre production, was written by Alistair McDowall and directed by Robin Witt. It was first performed in Manchester in 2011 and won the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting.

The terrific husband and wife team of Kate Baldwin and Graham Rowat star in a revival of the 1950s musical Bells are Ringing. It brings star power to the Colonial in Pittsfield to July 26.

Roger Rees, who has died following a medical procedure in May, had a long association with the Williamstown Theatre Festival. The renowned Tony winning actor/ director first came to Williamstown as an actor. From 2004 to 2007 he was the artistic director of WTF. He returned last summer for a revival of the Kander and Ebb musical The Visit which is currently on Broadway starring Chita Rivera.

Nederlands Dans Theater was founded in 1959 and with some 600 works in its portfolio has been one of the most influential global companies. In 1978 a younger second company was formed and this is its first week in Becket since 2007.

Ice skating on the eve of turning 76 has its treacheries. But also the joy of teaching to the toddlers potential future Bruins.

A harbor city on the Baltic Sea, Klaipeda is the gateway to the Curonian Spit, a picturesque strip of sand between the sea and the Curonian lagoon, lined with fishing villages and resorts. The beaches attract amber hunters; the hills beckon with folk sculptures. The strip is also home to a variety of birds such as the grey heron and cormorants.

The newly opened (February 2015) Cici and Hyatt Brown Museum of Art in Daytona Beach features a collection of 2,600 Florida themed oil and watercolor paintings, some dating back to the early 1800s, which recount the state’s cultural, geographic and natural history.

Heavyweight bass-baritone Bryn Terfel wows the audience at Ozawa Hall

The only difference between the Boston Irish Flynn and Kennedy clans is that the Kennedys made more money selling bootleg booze. Three of four Flynn children graduated from college. Two went on to careers in medicine and one in law. Uncle Arthur sat on the Federal bench. The Kennedys , of course, knew some success in politics.

9/11 is a tempting topic for playwrights and novelists who want to dig deeper into its impact. Lloyd Pace bores into the hearts and spirits of two survivors who are in the grips of the Big Events long after the rubble is cleared and New York starts to recover. In nooks and crannies of the darting words that erupt, we feel some of the intense, lasting impact. Brilliantly directed by Katrin Hilbe and staged with unusual simplicity and power.

Having gained its independence from the Soviet Union in 1993, Lithuania has bravely reclaimed its culture and recreated itself into a modern republic in a short time. In the capital city of Vilnius, the Old Town radiates with history while modern-day shops, cafes and restaurants animate the cobblestone lanes and courtyards. Trakai, the country's medieval capital, has a 15th-century castle, which sits on an island, reflecting like a jewel in the waters of Galve Lake.

In 1658 on 32 acres of land James Babson built a stone building now the oldest in Rockport. It is all that survives of the once extensive Beaver Dam Farm which my ancestors, the Nugents, leased from 1875 to 1927. Patrick died at 50 in 1900 and Mary raised their family of 13 and managed the farm until her death in 1927. Their son George moved up the street and became the owner of the largest expanse of land on Cape Ann including initially all of Good Harbor Beach.

Artistic Director Matthias von Hartz offered a 'Gesamtkunstwerk,' combining performance and visual arts aspects during the ten day long festival. Included were the 24 hour long lasting 'Mount Olympus' by Belgian director/choreographer Jan Fabre with Troubleyn Company. Then, Tim Etchells and Forced Entertainment offered 'Complete Works: Table Top Shakespeare' - all 36 Shakespeare plays, reduced to each 45 minute plots, over nine days. A stunning success! As intended, performers and audiences were challenged to their limits.

Amazing wines from the coast of Chile, where the vineyards are only four miles from the ocean.

In this staging of Ira Levin's enduring 1978 comic-mystery the men do not kiss. That cause a sensation decades ago on Broadway. The lip smacker is now banned by Levin's estate. But in a play that is chock full of clues you would have to be utterly clueless not to conclude that the washed up playwright Sidney (Gregg Edelman) isn't shagging his former student Clifford (Tom Pecinka). For a fun evening with no heavy lifting get thee to Stockbridge.

Determined to add new audiences to Tanglewood, the BSO has created an All Star lineup of Musical Acts for the Historic 2015 Season.

For the past 17 years audiences at Jacob's Pillow have been greeted by executive and artistic director Ella Baff. During summers in the Berkshires Pillow is the epicenter of the dance world. She will continue through the end of the summer festival then leave to take a position at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York City. We will miss her upbeat invitation "Let's Dance!"

Here, curiously, Edward Rubin conflates his passion for Gertrude Stein and Ludwig Wittgenstein! Go figure. The Off Off production that prompts him to quote generously from Stein has, alas, closed at the time of posting this review. If you are intrigued by "A rose is a rose is a rose" then this is a name that surely will smell as sweet.

Steve Scott's new Goodman Theatre production is funny and charming and much of its wit rests on the many theatrical references and stage in-jokes (fond references to Chekhov and Greek tragedies, and to theater masters such as Stanislavski and Meisner). In addition, monologues by three of its characters are compelling and humorous set pieces.