Boston Globe

For some 40 years Cornelius Vermeule was the Curator of Classical Art of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In addition to being a distinguised scholar he was a renowned wit and merry prankster.

Ned Rorem celebrates his 85th birthday this week. His opera "Our Town"is based on the Thornton Wilder play. It will make its New England premiere on November 14-16 in Peterborough, NH and February 12-16 of 2009 at Tufts University. This chamber opera, according to Musical America, has "emerged as one of those rare new operas that seem destined to survive." Writer Lawrence Johnson catches up with Ned.

Despite the challenges of rainy weather,gas at $4 a gallon, and a bad economy it was a superb season of theatre in the Berkshires. Nicholas Martin was the MVP for putting the venerable Williamstown Theatre Festival back on its feet.

This past weekend James Levine, artistic director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was given rave reviews for opening the Tanglewood season with a two day concert peformance of the massive and magnificent Berlioz Opera "Les Troyens." It was learned today that Levine will undergo surgery this week. His remaining Tanglewood duties are cancelled but he hopes to be back to cover the opening of the BSO.

A number of leases have expired for galleries on Newbury Street and the South End. This has led to more than the usual turmoil and change in the always difficult Boston art market. While regional dealers struggle there are reports on a boom in the $25 billion international art market.

Memorial Day commemorates our fallen military. But, on this day we also think of our own lost friends and family. Remembrance and respect transcend our own personal lives. We also tend to memorialize great events and great tragedies. Grand artistic visions are rare in monuments and memorials. However, a case can be made for the New England Holocaust Memorial.

Theater, music and dance performances are sprouting up everywhere. Here's a head's up on the most promising. After a hard winter, it's nice to see the Berkshires bloom with life again.

The Chairman of Sotheby's U.K. has written a lively overview of collectors in a broad range of interests. One chapter profiles Emil Buhrle, the deceased Swiss collector, whose museum was recently robbed of four works worth $163m.

Since 1998 Richard Criddle has been the Director of Fabrication and Art Installation for the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. His own fantasy, figurative assemblages are currently on view in the museum's Kidspace.

Gillian Jones is the chief photographer for the daily North Adams Transcript. Her photographs are presently on display at Papyri Books on Eagle Street in North Adams through the end of February.

Philippe de Montebello, the retiring director of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art charmed and captivated a capacity audience at the Clark Art Museum.

While not a "best" and "worst" list in the usual sense we offer an overview of events and what proved to be moving and insightful while covering the arts in 2007.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has announced its 2008 Tanglewood program with James Taylor celebrating the Fourth of July weekend and an even greater emphasis on opera but no great changes or surprises.

Veterans Day starts a veteran to thinking about things that he hasn't for decades.The Viet Nam War Memorial is a metaphor for a tumultuous time and generation. What does the metaphor actually mean?

MIT has a billion dollar plus master plan. Individual buildings were to be designed by architectural stars. One of the hottest stars, Frank Gehry, was commissioned to design the Stata Center, a combination of labs, classrooms and offices that had his "look" of jutting angles, Disney colors and unconventional materials. The problem is that the building is falling apart, causing dangerous problems in the winter and does not exactly build a positive interactive academic community on its interior. So, MIT is suing.

Originally scheduled to open last December Federal Judge Michael A. Posner ruled yesterday that Mass MoCA may indeed open the unfinished exhibition of Christoph Buchel in its largest gallery. Did the museum simply prevail in a no win situation? The jury is still out.

The volunteers, the deficits, the sniping from the sidelines: You have to expect it when you are biggest target. The BSO's Berkshire summer of 2007 lends itself to parody, speculation and reminiscences.

Edwin Dickinson (1891-1978)who was one of the founders of the Provincetown Art Association and Museum is being celebrated with a major exhibition in its newly renovated and expanded space.

With the court date in Springfield of Mass MoCA vs the artist Christoph Buchel reported as just a couple of weeks away we took a tour of the installation which remains under wraps, sortah.

In this one man play by Tom Cone, directed by Roger Reese, something went terribly wrong for the actor, B.D. Wong, on the opening night of "Herringbone" which launched the summer season of the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Contributor Mark Favermann turned the tables and took Charles Giuliano to his favorite pub for a face to face over a brew and burger. The discussion focused on a retrospective and retirement as well as relocation to the Berkshires. Their lives in the arts have overlapped since the 1970s.

With as many as four panels held simultaneously and numerous related events it is possible only to provide glimpses of and speculations about the impact of the seminal weekend long conference. The depth and range of information and resources is overwhelming.

Local artist and MCLA professor, Gregory Scheckler, offers a conceptual preview of the Christoph Buchel installation at Mass MoCA which is stalled through controversy and may never be seen by the general public.

For many years Carl Siembab brought a serious focus on photography to his Boston gallery on Newbury Street. He paid the price for being ahead of his time when the business failed. But the legacy of his effort was enormous as conveyed here by his friend and exhibiting artist and historian Carl Chiarenza.

More response to the collection of essays "Critical Mess: Art critics and the state of their practice." And a reply to a Peter Plagens piece on critical writing in the February, 2007 issue of Art in America.