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  • Violinist Joshua Bell

    A Master Musician Mesmerises Tanglewood

    By: Philip S. Kampe - Aug 15th, 2017

    Youthful, still, at 49, Joshua Bell proved his place in the history of great performances at Tanglewood, when playing Mendelssohn's, 'Violin Concerto in E minor, Opus 64.

  • True West Explodes in Ft. Lauderdale

    Late Sam Shepherd's Play in Florida

    By: Aaron Krause - Aug 14th, 2017

    New City Players presents a blazing production of True West. The Sam Shepherd play sizzles in sunny, suffocating South Florida Expect plenty of fireworks in powerfully acted production.

  • International Contemporary Ensemble at Mostly Mozart

    How Forests Think

    By: Susan Hall - Aug 14th, 2017

    International Contemporary Ensemble is the go-to group for the performance of contemporary music.They presentedd three important contemporary composers as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival.

  • Actually at Williamstown Theatre Festival

    Maat the Ancient Egyptian Feather of Truth

    By: Charles Giuliano - Aug 14th, 2017

    At the end of a night of binge drinking the Princetown freshmen Tom (Joshua Boone) and Amber (Alexandre Socha) hook up. In the clear night of morning was she raped?. They were so drunk that neither can recall details. It is up to a review panel of faculty to hear both sides and decide on appropriate action. It is a poignant and timely issue as lives are in the balance on college campuses all over America.

  • Laurie Norton Moffatt on the Role of Trustees

    Rockwell Museum Director Argues for Respect

    By: Laurie Norton Moffatt - Aug 14th, 2017

    In a key op-ed piece for the Berkshire Eagle, Laurie Norton Moffatt the director of the Norman Rockwell Museum, called on the Berkshire Museum to "pause" its plans to sell 40 works including two by Rockwell. Largely based on her position the story broke in the national media. In the process the rhetoric escalated. In this opinion piece she asks for a wider understanding of the commmitment and responsibilites of serving on boards of non profits. With so many cultural institutions looking for funding from the same small pool of donors there are parfticular and extreme pressures for boards in the Berkshires. She calls for a focus on issues and not individuals.

  • Wines From Argentina Under $9.99

    Ruca Malen Introduces The Aime Collection

    By: Philip S. Kampe - Aug 14th, 2017

    Ruca Malen has spent several years developing an appealing wine that is affordable. Developed for younger wine drinkers, the approachable wines are for wine drinkers of all ages.

  • Iceland: Part One

    Westman Islands

    By: Zeren Earls - Aug 13th, 2017

    Heimaey is the only inhabited one of the fifteen volcanic Westman Islands on the southeast coast of Iceland. Rising from the cold sea, the island has a rugged appearance which belies its natural beauty and friendly people. Visiting Heimaey is a moving experience to learn about volcanic devastation and people's resilience to rebuild and to preserve the island's nature-made beauty.

  • David A Ross Opposes Berkshire Museum Sale

    Renowned Former Whitney Museum Director Posts Statement

    By: Charles Giuliano - Aug 13th, 2017

    The renowned former Whitney Museum director, David A. Ross, in an exclusive statement posted to Berkshire Fine Arts strongly opposes plans initiated by the Berkshire Museum. “This is a sad affair. Perhaps the board, if unwilling to raise funds in the way all museums have to, should resign (along with its feckless director). My feeling is it should merge administratively with another educational non-profit in the region, and then begin the process of stabilization. It would be preferable to see the museum close for a few years of re-organization, than to forever destroy the core of its irreplaceable art collection.”

  • Pickets Protest Berkshire Museum Meltdown

    Orderly Demonstration in Front of Museum

    By: Charles Giuliano - Aug 13th, 2017

    From 9 AM to noon there was an ordely and peaceful demonstration in front of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield. Pickets came and went with between 40 and 80 individuals linuing the sidewalk at any given time. Most passing cars honked their support. There was a media presence. While museum director, Van Shields, remained hunkered down in the bunker, board president Elizabeth "Buzz" Hayes McGraw delivered her boilplate message to a TV crew from Albany.

  • Ian Bostridge Reimagines Winterreise

    Mostly Mozart Offers Hans Zender's Interpretation

    By: Susan Hall - Aug 12th, 2017

    Netia Jones has combined tenor Ian Bostridge's thirty year passion and a brilliant "compositional interpretation" of the piano music for orchestra into a hydra-headed tour de force with video, sets and the suggestion of cabaret. Bostridge has the perfect voice for the wanderer, a stranger at the start and at the end. The staging works well.

  • Lawrence Brownlee at the Park Avenue Armory

    Myra Huang and Jason Moran, Piano Partners

    By: Susan Hall - Aug 12th, 2017

    Lawrence Brownlee, tenor, showed us his stuff, ranging from the baroque to Lead Belly.. We changed rooms at the Park Avenue Armory, moving from the regal Officers Room to the Veterans Room as we moved forward in musical time. At the Armory, music is presented for pleasure, for illumination and surprise.

  • Festival of Contemporary Music Opens

    Tanglewood's Annual Offering

    By: Susan Hall - Aug 12th, 2017

    The Festival of Contemporary Music is a highlight of the Tanglewood season. Curators assemble concerts from commissioned works and also from composers whose works form the canon of the contemporary music scene. Opening night suggested how rich this repertoire has become.

  • Centerbeam at ZKM/Karlsruhe, Germany

    Exhibition and Symposium until October 1st

    By: Astrid Hiemer - Aug 11th, 2017

    The exhibition to celebrate 'Centerbeam’s' 40 th anniversary has been open since mid May in Karlsruhe. On September 2nd ZKM will host ten representatives of the original participants on location or via skype. The symposium should deliver lively discussions of the past and perhaps a way forward to recreate 'Centerbeam,' a third time, in the near future.

  • The Curious Dog in Los Angeles

    All the Bells and Whistles for Ahmanson Theastre Production

    By: Jack Lyons - Aug 11th, 2017

    To help the audience experience what takes place inside the head of Christopher, director Elliott employs the full technical arsenal of the Ahmanson that is available to her. The set design by Bunny Christie, is a huge three sided space staging area with colored LED lights both on the walls and the floor that are cued by Christopher’s dialogue and stage movement. It’s all very technical and very eye-popping. In a transfer from Lodon “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” won a Tony Award in 2015.

  • Hamlet Opera in Oakland

    West Edge Opera at the Pacific Pipe Warehouse

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 11th, 2017

    Much of the criticism of this work is noteworthy but inappropriate. Complainers argue that the opera misses much of the play, which must be expected unless you want a five-hour opera. This is the same argument people use when they’ve read a long book and then see the movie.

  • Naumkeag 'Free Fun Friday' Is Today

    Bring The Family To Stockbridge

    By: Philip S. Kampe - Aug 11th, 2017

    On Friday, August 11th, the Trustees of Reservations and Naumkeag, located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts host a free day of fun and education for the entire family.

  • Protesting Berkshire Museum's Unethical Sale

    Pickets Planned for Saturday Morning August 12

    By: Charles Giuliano - Aug 10th, 2017

    The artists and their supporters in the Berkshires will take to the streets on Saturday, August 12, from 9 AM to noon. There will be picket lines in front ot the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield. They will provide a visible presence of those protesting the pending sale of 40 choice works and plans to gut and "reboot" the historic museum and collections.

  • The Chastity Tree by West Edge Opera

    Pacific Pipe Warehouse In Oakland

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 09th, 2017

    The music of The Chastity Tree is very much of its time and place. From the classic era, it still embraces baroque traces in tinkling harpsichord and clipped recitatives. The Bay Area is blessed with and attracts an abundance of great young opera singers, and West Edge always casts well from this enviable pool.

  • Shakespeare in Love

    Oregon Shakespeare Festival Premieres Play from Movie

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 09th, 2017

    Shakespeare-centric theater companies like Oregon Shakes must provide a balance of Elizabethan era works with other offerings to attract sufficient audiences. Sometimes, a hybrid, and especially a sophisticated comedy that is about Shakespeare or one of his plays can be well received. So it is with Shakespeare in Love, the U.S. premiere of the stage version of the highly successful film.

  • Blues Is a Woman

    Custom Made in San Freancico

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 09th, 2017

    After development at music venues, the musical revue "Blues is a Woman" has begun a theatrical run at Custom Made Theater in San Francisco. In a memorable production, six women wail and moan and plead in a rewarding evening of blues standards and original music by lead singer Pamela Rose in a format that is as informative as it is entertaining.

  • Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis Mostly Mozart

    Reconciliation, Restitution and Reformation

    By: Susan Hall - Aug 08th, 2017

    This concert at Mostly Mozart was billed as a musical offering from Brahms, Bach and Mendelssohn. It seemed a stretch to hear these works without the centerpiece composer featured, except as an artist who liked to spell Bach's name in notes. The spirit was Mozartian, full of joy and inviting melodies, Featuring Joshua Bell and Steven Isserlis as soloists, who brought Schumann to the table in the slow movement of his violin concerto, it was a rich evening of music. A delightful offering.

  • Remembering Barbara Cook

    Iconic Broadway and Cabaret Singer at 89

    By: Charles Giuliano - Aug 08th, 2017

    Broadway and cabaret artist Barbara Cook was 80 wehen we first saw her perform at Ozawa Hall and several times after that. In Indiana we enjoyed a concert wth Michael Feistein and an interview for critics that followed. We have compiled a collage from those reviews.

  • Hair in Chicago

    Revisiting the Age of Aquarius

    By: Nancy Bishop - Aug 08th, 2017

    A half century later in the spirit of the Summer of Love there is a revival of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical. Two and a half generations of later it still casts magical spells. Nancy Bishop takes on a trip down memory lane.

  • Emergence of St. Francis Gallery in Lee

    Art With A Cause

    By: Philip S. Kampe - Aug 08th, 2017

    St. Francis Gallery, once a church, hosts a gallery opening and artists reception this weekend in Lee, Massachusetts from 3-6pm on Saturday, August 12th

  • A Dog Day Afternoon at Tanglewood

    Yo-Yo Ma's Missing Dog Appeal Steals The Show

    By: Philip S. Kampe - Aug 08th, 2017

    Imagine nearly 14,000 attendees of the long awaited, Yo-Yo Ma concert of Schumann's 'Cello Concerto in A minor, Opus 129, in awe after the concert artist shuns the audience's applause, with an appeal for a concerted effort to help find Maestro David Zinman's lost puppy.

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