Music
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Bang on a Can at Mass MoCA
Annual Banglewood Music Marathon
By: - Aug 03rd, 2011Although the Bang on a Can Summer Festival and Institute is often referred to as Banglewood, the similarity really does end there. If attendance is down, that’s okay cause Bang On A Can isn’t banking on an audience to succeed. It may be a festival but it’s also an Institute and that means money generated by ticket sales is pretty much beside the point. Ticket sales to Bang On A Can are like subscriptions to newspapers or magazines, they don’t pay the bills, rather they provide a more-or-less accurate measure of public reception.
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Tanglewood on Parade
Day Long Annual Family Event
By: - Aug 03rd, 2011Glorious summer weather resulted in a near capacity turnout in the Shed and on the lawn for one of the most popular programs of the season. The gates opened at 2 PM as families flocked to the Lenox estate for the annual Tanglewood on Parade. The evening program featuring four guest conductors and an accessible program culminated with blasting canons and bursting fireworks climaxing a massive rendering of Tchaikovsky's anthem The 1812 Overture. It was an occasion to rethink our damaged and endangered notions of patriotism and sacrifice.
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Steely Dan Rocks Tanglewood
No Rust on Aging Fagen and Becker
By: - Jul 27th, 2011On a mid week work night Steel Dan brought their pulsing strap on jazz rock to a near capacity audience at Tanglwood. The cerebral music and sardonic lyrics were just what the doctor ordered for cash strapped Tanglewood which is loosening up to allow the vulgarians into the tample of the hallowed grounds of the BSO in Lenox. Awesome. A good time was had by all and nothing was trashed.
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Guillaume Tell Magnificent at Caramoor
Grand opera is Truly Grand
By: - Jul 17th, 2011Guillaume Tell, which Will Crutchfield revealed a wonderful opera, is seldom performed. This production should whet appetites for a full court press soon. This grand opera is seldom performed. The singing roles make inordinate demands.
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Charles Dutoit Conducts at Tanglewood
Opening Night for 2011 Season
By: - Jul 09th, 2011A celebrity filled audience packed the Koussevitzky Shed for the opening night of the official Tanglewood season. Guest conductor Charles Dutoit presided over a program of music by Bellini, Rossini, Verdi and Respighi. On a rainy night it was a washout on the lawn. But, no worries, during a prequel, three sold out Shed concerts and one in Ozawa Hall by James Taylor, has financially front loaded the season.
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James Taylor on the Fourth of July
Capping Incredible Tanglewood Weekend
By: - Jul 05th, 2011With a blaze of fireworks to celebrate the Fourth of July, yesterday James Taylor before a capacity 18,000 ended a slam dunk weekend of three concerts in the Shed at Tanglewood. He shared Friday night with John Williams and Pops. Then took a rest on Saturday yielding the stage to Garrison Keillor before a flat our appearances on Sunday and Monday. He also snuck in an "intimate" evening with Friends last Thursday at Ozawa Hall. Having all those folks at Tangelewood provided a fast launch to another fabulous Berkshire season.
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James Taylor Marathon at Tanglewood
Knee High On the Fourth of July
By: - Jul 02nd, 2011Last night James Taylor joined the Pops conducted by John Williams in the shed at Tanglewood. It was the second of four performances, before a sold out crowd of 18,000, representing an abundance of riches from the Berkshire base troubadour regarded as a national treasure. Tonight, Saturday, he takes a breather yielding the Shed to another Tanglewood franchise, Garrison Keillor.
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Solid Sound Festival Wraps
Levon Helm Band and Autumn Defense
By: - Jun 27th, 2011When Levon Helm, fronting a twelve piece band, performed to close the three day Solid Sound Festival, the audience had thinned by at least a third from the peak of 6,300 on Saturday night for Wilco. Folks by then had departed to get home and rest before work on Monday. We also caught a set by Autumn Defense fronted by Wilco members John Stirratt and the oh so pretty and charming Pat Sansone. Solid Sound was awesome.
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Pinafore Docks at Caramoor
Will Crutchfield Conducts a Lively Production
By: - Jun 27th, 2011At Caramoor in Katonah, New York it is easy to see why Queen Victoria hated Pinafore and everyone else has always loved this operetta. Queen Victoria hated Gilbert and Sullivan. Despite their popularity, a fact that would have roused tyrants to ban these operettas, their performance thrived. Sullivan was knighted in 1883, but Gilbert, whose words were considered offensive to the Crown, would wait until 1907 for his knighthood.
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Wilco Solid Sound Festival Day Two
Here Comes the Sun, Kindah
By: - Jun 26th, 2011During the second of three days for the Wilco Solid Sound Festival at Mass MoCA inclement weather was again a factor. The sun played hide and seek with 6,000 rock fans.There was a letup that allowed taking in hour long sets by bands performing on several stages. By late afternoon showers returned. But the bad weather front retreated in time for the featured Wilco set on the muddy Joe Thompson Field. Overall it has been a fabulous festival.
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Wilco Performs at Mass MoCA
Singing in the Rain
By: - Jun 25th, 2011There was a light drizzle last night about a half hour before Wilco was scheduled to appear on stage in the vast Joe Thompson Field at the edge of the sprawling North Adams campus of Mass MoCA. By show time it was a downpour.
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The New York Philharmonic Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen
Alan Opie Shines in the Doug Fitch Production
By: - Jun 24th, 2011Reaching out to new audiences, the New York Philharmonic is leading the way with semi-staged productions of opera. Visual pleasures abound. So do growing pains.
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Niobe, Regina de Tebe by Agostino Steffani
At Great Barrington's Mahaiwe June 24 & 25
By: - Jun 24th, 2011The Boston Early Music Festival North American premiere piece de resistance is the long-forgotten 17th century opera “Niobe, Regina de Tebeâ€. It travels from Boston to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington on June 24 and 25. The rarely produced early opera is not to be missed.
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Collegiate Chorale and Kelli O'Hara Featured in Recording
Knickerbocker Holiday Revived
By: - Jun 21st, 2011We reviewed that production at Alice Tully Hall. This recording will help make your summer sizzle.
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Handel's Thrilling Opera Acis and Galatea
At the Mahaiwe Great Barrington June 26 & 27
By: - Jun 20th, 2011Lucky residents of the Berkshires “Acis and Galatea†is coming your way with two opportunities to hear it. Be prepared for the singing of a lifetime and to pound your hands together until they’re raw. The BEMF’s production of Handel “pastoral entertainment†– he didn’t call it an opera – was the best I have ever seen.
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In Durance Vital - Part III
More Riches for Vintage Listeners of Americana
By: - Jun 18th, 2011Here are four more examples of Cd's to include in your treasured collection of mostly contemporary releases by mostly surviving veterans of the long lost '60s folk scene. May they please you as much as they do me. While preparing to write about this latest batch of CD’s from musicians with artistry rooted in the ‘60s metro-Boston folk scene, I became aware of something that had previously escaped me.
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Eagle Hill Cultural Center, Gilbert Players
Bold Experiment in Music and Perception
By: - Jun 17th, 2011Can opera, once the music of the people overcome its current elitist reputation and again win the hearts of rustic audiences? Together these folk hope to find the answer is yes! Greater Worcester Opera, the new name for what was once known as Worcester Opera Works experiments this coming Thursday evening, June 23rd by taking their recent performance success of two comic classics out to the hinterlands for an encore.
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The Boston Early Music Festival's Niobe
At the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington June 24 and 25
By: - Jun 16th, 2011Sleek early music superstar Philippe Jaroussky stars in operatic rarity as King of Thebes; foxy Amantha Forsythe calls up Joan Collins as his duplicitous wife Niobe. Great singing and staging can't safe dramatically inert work. The opera will be staged at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington on June 24 and 25.
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Tanglewood Offers Special Deals
Affordable Ways to Hear Great Music
By: - Jun 07th, 2011During the 2011 season, June 25-September 4, Tanglewood is offering a number of ticket programs designed to give visitors and Berkshire residents a wide variety of options when planning their visit to the BSO’s summer home. Ticket deals and programs include free tickets to children and young adults 17 and under and discounted tickets for students 18 and over.
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Boston Early Music Festival Returns
Festival Presents 2 Baroque Operas and 15 Concerts Plus More
By: - Jun 07th, 2011Early music groups from around the globe converge on Beantown. Exciting French countertenor Philippe Jaroussky stars in opera centerpiece, "Niobe, Regina di Tebe." Festival reprises 2009 hit, Handel's "Acis and Galatea. Plus more!
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Tanglewood Announces Changes
Charles Dutoit Leads Opening Night Gala
By: - May 29th, 2011The Boston Symphony Orchestra has announced a new conductor lineup for five of the BSO’s 21 concerts to take place during the 2011 Tanglewood season. These represents concerts originally scheduled for James Levine. For reasons of health he has withdrawn from joining the orchestra this summer.
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Ron DellaChiesa Three
Lennie's and Sandy's
By: - May 29th, 2011In the conclusion of the dialogue with Ron DellaChiesa he discusses the North Shore jazz clubs Lennie's on the Turnpike, run by Lennie Sogaloff and Sandy's Jazz Revival in Beverly the club of Sandy Berman. For the past couple of years he has been working on the soon to be released book Radio My Way.
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Tom Paxton At The Colonial
Setting Fire to Our Imaginations
By: - May 25th, 2011Tom’s Colonial Theatre appearance this Saturday past was more than just a concert. It was a reunion and a celebration of the mutual respect with which Paxton and the Pittsfield fire brigade hold each other.
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Ron DellaChiesa WGBH DJ Two
Dawn Patrol in Boston's Jazz Clubs
By: - May 23rd, 2011WGBH DJ, Ron DellaChiesa spun the platters for his show Music America by day and hung out with the jazz greats at Boston's jazz clubs. Recalling the great artists who performed at Lulu White's in the South End, The Merry Go Round room in the Copley Plaza Hotel, Lennie's on the Turnpike, Sandy's Jazz Revival in Beverly and Fenton Hollander's Jazz Cruises in Boston Harbor.
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Joy Kills Sorrow Sparkles At TCAN
And Brightens Up A Dreary Friday Night
By: - May 23rd, 2011...flavored with motifs from bluegrass, country, western swing, ragtime, classical, jazz, field hollers and contemporary so-called acoustic songwriting with the end result being that they sound like Joy Kills Sorrow and no one else...
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