Front Page
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Library of Congress and Portland Ovation
What Berkshire Grande Dame Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Hath Wrought
By: - May 29th, 2020Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, a grande dame of Berkshire music, financed the building of a concert hall for the Library of Congress. A concert planned at Coolidge Hall this spring was presented live streamed instead. The Library of Congress joined with co-presenter, Portland Ovation, and the International Contemporary Ensemble to present a program that worked amazingly well in Zoom.
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Art for TB-Aids Then. Covid-19 Now
Linda Troeller Creates Inspired Pandemic Art Again
By: - May 29th, 2020Linda Troeller exhibited in 2018 at the Griffin Museum in Winchester. Her earlier work focused on TB and AIDS. The Berkshires were a haven for TB patients when the disease was out of control. North Adams had a sanitarium. Gaylordsville was home of a sanitarium recognized nation-wide. Eugene O'Neill spent time there. Now Troeller looks at a new pandemic.
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Poloroid Photographer Elsa Dorfman at 83
Known for Studio Portraits Including Allen Ginsberg
By: - May 31st, 2020At 83 the reowned portrait photographer, Elsa Dorfman, passed away at home in the People's Republic of Cambridge. As a young women she worked for Grove Press in New York. There she met many writers including Allen Ginsberg who became a lifelong subject and friend. I included her in exhibitions and wrote about her for Art News.
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Monumental Conceptual Artist Christo at 84
It’s a Wrap
By: - Jun 01st, 2020They were known by first names, Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Until her death in 2009, and now his, they astonished the world with virtually imnpossible, monumental, site specific works. The official and bureaucratic opposition to their projects was formidable. Routinely it took years and decades to raise money and overcome obstacles. That all became part of the work. Solving that resistance made the end result all the more astonishing. Their amazing projects will be remembered by the millions who experienced them.
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Drama Desk Awards Postponed in NY
Breaking News Events Cited as Reason.
By: - May 31st, 2020The Drama Desk organization and Spectrum News NY1 have postpone the Drama Desk Awards. "Breaking news events," purportedly in connection with protests, caused the postponment. A re-scheduled date will be announced. The Drama Desk Awards honor outstanding theater work in New York.
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David Felton Wrote for Rolling Stone
Covered Manson and Fort Hill Lyman Cults
By: - Jun 04th, 2020When David Felton came to cover the Lyman Family, he knocked on my door in the Harvard Square Murder Building. He introduced himself as sent by my friend Bill “Dr. Gonzo” Cardoso. In his Rolling Stone piece, I was caricatured as a political thug, Harry Bikes. He covered Lyman and Charlie Manson both of whom he interviewed.
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Translating Movies into Opera
Why Operatic Movies Fail on Stage
By: - Jun 07th, 2020It is tempting for current composers of new opera to use films as a jumping off place. In two recent efforts, the creative artists miss the strength of the film's story arc and flatten their effort to create opera. Marnie at the Metropolitan Opera (and English National Opera) and Breaking the Waves (Opera Philadelphia) both overlook the strengths which provide drama in the films on which they are based.
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Hairspray is a Show for Our Times
Musical Rejuvenates and Inspires
By: - Jun 09th, 2020It's hard to deny Hairspray's timeliness during these days of discord. Protagonist Tracy Turnblad can serve as a role model for us all. Hairspray Live! recently streamed on Andrew Lloyd Webber's YouTube channel, The Shows Must Go On!"
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Water and Stillness
Go With the Flow
By: - Jun 11th, 2020Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves. It is not for the sake of those we forgive; it is for our own sake. We take our anger and disappointment out of our backpack and toss it away. We stop carrying it with us, get unstuck from the past, and bring ourselves into the present.
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Spa Journeys for Astral Travelers
What A Trip
By: - Jun 10th, 2020Canyon Ranch may be just down the road for Berkshireites, but in the time of Covid, it's as inaccessible as the moon. Jessica Robinson suggests how to satisfy a spa yearning safely.
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Theodore E. Stebbins of the MFA
Former Curator of American Painting
By: - Jun 12th, 2020MFA director Jan Fontein appointed Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. as John Moors Cabot Curator of American Art. For three years he was also head of the departments of American and European painting as well as the department of 20th century art. He acquired 600 works for the museum including 100 from the Lane Collection of American modernism. In terms of acquisitions and exhibitions few curators compare to his impact on the museum. \
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Joseph Nechvatal’s Art Springs From Algorithms
Viral Venture Online at White Page Gallery
By: - Jun 15th, 2020Long before we had heard of, or even imagined, viruses like Covid-19, Post-Minimal painter, multi-media artist and art theoretician Joseph Nechvatal was generating them. Not the contagious types, but computer-robotic assisted ones.
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Virtual Works & Process from the Guggenheim
Social Distancing Dance and Music
By: - Jun 14th, 2020Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions financially supports artists and nurtures their creative process during these challenging times. Works & Process at the Guggenheim is granting over $150,000 for artists to create new works while observing social distancing. New works will be posted on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube (@worksandprocess) every Sunday and Monday at 7:30pm.
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Alan Shestack Two
In 1992 the MFA Had an Annual Deficit of $3 Million
By: - Jun 15th, 2020When I interviewed Alan Shestack in 1992 he had been MFA director for five years. It was a time of economic downturn and the museum faced an annual deficit of $3 million. We discussed ways in which the museum might meet this challenge including a relationship with a museum in Nagoya, Japan which it helped to launch and program. He spoke adamantly that selling works to cover costs violated the mission and covenant of museums and their donors.
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Maria Scarpini, Artist and Set Designer
Color is Her Tool
By: - Jun 19th, 2020Maria Scarpini is multi-faceted to put it mildly. She is a trained restorer of old master paintings, monuments and frescos. She is also a self-taught painter who has been in group and solo exhibitions from Brooklyn, New York to the American University in Paris. Now she turns to the settings of opera.
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Theodore E. Stebbins MFA Two
Pollock's Troubled Queen Among Many Acquisitions
By: - Jun 20th, 2020When John Walsh left for the Getty Museum, and with a hiatus in the contemporary department, Theodore E. Stebbins, chaired three departments. He seized the opportunity to acquire American and European modern and contemporary art. There were huge gaps to fill when works that now command millions were relatively affordable.
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The American Robot: A Cultural History
Book by Dustin A. Abnet
By: - Jun 24th, 2020Robots are with us, in fact, for the future and in decades of industry and popular culture. Dustin A. Abnet, assistant professor of American studies at Cal State Fullerton, takes us on a serious tour of robots in American industry and culture in his new book, The American Robot: A Cultural History.
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Chesterwood to Open Soon
Berkshire Home of Daniel Chester French
By: - Jun 25th, 2020Chesterwood, a site of the National Trust for Historic Preservation since 1969, was the former summer home, studio and gardens of Daniel Chester French (1850-1931), one of America’s foremost 20th century public sculptors. Although French is best known for his statues of the Minute Man in Concord, Massachusetts and the seated figure of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., he also had a passion and talent for garden and landscape design.
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ATCA Statement of Action
Critics Support Anti-Racist Organization
By: - Jun 27th, 2020While Broadway and American Theatre are closed from now until whenever It is a time of reflection, accountability and change. The American Theatre Critics Association acknowledges but does not codone and pledges to end instance of racism by some of our members. Moving forward ATCA will strive to be an anti-racist organization that embraces diversity and inclusion.
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Broadway to Remain Dark
Perhaps Reopens in January
By: - Jun 29th, 2020Broadway League announces further suspension of performances—all the way through Sunday, January 3, 2021. The same is true for Off-Broadwayj shows.
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Watch 'Hamilton' from Home
Musical Streams on Disney Plus
By: - Jun 29th, 2020Starting Friday, you can watch Hamilton's original Broadway cast on Disney Plus. The musical's debut on Disney Plus comes right in time for the Fourth of July. You'll need to subscribe to Disney Plus in order to watch the production. This is not a film adaptation of the musical. A film crew captured a live performance of the original Broadway production.
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Lawrence Brownlee from Home on Being Black
A Formidable Tenor Speaks Openly About race
By: - Jun 29th, 2020Lawrence Brownlee sang a two-part concert at the Park Avenue Armory in 2017. In the Officer's Room he performed the bel canto arias we have come to associate with him. He is entirely comfortable. And he is sure that Bellini would welcome him, black or not, in any role. He moved to the Veteran's Room for the second part of the program. There he performed pop songs, gospel and folk. He was less comfortable in the more relaxed atmosphere. Now with downtime he discusses race.
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Shakespeare & Company
Reduces Staff and Seeks Support
By: - Jul 02nd, 2020In response to the financial impact caused by COVID-19, Shakespeare & Company is cutting expenses and launching the Springboard fundraising campaign to help cover the loss of earned income from ticket sales this summer. The Company’s administrative offices will be on limited hours and limited operations July 6 through October 4.
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Tanglewood Opening Day 2020
A No Frills Experience
By: - Jul 06th, 2020Opening day at Tanglewood, at 10 AM in July 5, was not what one expected.
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Northeastern University Restricts Access to AAMARP
African American Master Artists in Residency Program Founded in 1978
By: - Jul 06th, 2020During the pandemic Northeastern University has restricted access to artists in its historic African American Master Artists in Residency Program. It was founded in 1978 by Dana C. Chandler, Jr. Speaking out against the university for its actions against AAMRP is Dana Chandler III the son of the founder,
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