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  • Meet Phil Kline at Mass MOCA

    Bang on a Can Composer

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 23rd, 2022

    Phil Kline is at MASS MoCA next weekend. He says: I'm a bit of an outsider, not part of the "classical" world, or even the more sanctioned wings of the avant-garde. A composer without portfolio. Go hear his work in North Adams, Massachusetts!

  • Conductor Dies During Performance in Munich

    Stefan Soltesz Exits to the Music of Richard Strauss

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 25th, 2022

    It has been a very warm week in Munich, yet a lovely one. Occasionally walking along Maximilian Street in the center of town, a breeze catches up and cools. The Munich State Opera, unquestionably the lead opera company in the world, is holding its annual July Festival, a chance to catch up with interesting productions from the last decade.Concerts too attract.  Munich Regular Jonas Kaufman will return for his first post Covid appearance.

  • Baskets and Bowls ~ A Collection

    Also at BAM Museum, North Adams, MA

    By: Astrid Hiemer - Jul 25th, 2022

    This article extends a photo/word installation at the Berkshire Art Museum, North Adams, MA. The installation can be seen at BAM until October 2022 as part of the exhibition 'Artists of the Thursday Chinese Dinner Group,' where 27 are participating. The museum's primary reason is to show Eric Rudd's oeuvre of sculptures created during 50 years. Both, the permanent and temporary shows are well worth a visit!

  • Hymn By Lolita Chakrabarti

    Directed by Regge Life for Shakespere & Company

    By: Charles Giuliano - Jul 25th, 2022

    Based in London Lolita Chakrabarti is an actress and playwright. An earlier play, Red Velvet, was previously produced by Shakespeare & Company. She returns with a tightly crafted two-hander, Hymn. precisely directed by the masterful Regge Light.

  • La Boheme at the Munich State Theater

    Otto Schenk's Set a Star

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 26th, 2022

    Puccini’s music is beautiful and his notes sit particularly well in the human voice. Music written for the voice, as Puccini did, attracts audiences, especially when it is delivered by a stellar cast. Along with a rich musical mix, deep characterization draws us in.  In the current revival of Otto Schenk production at the Munich State Opera, character is on full display amidst bantering bohemians and the flirtatious Musetta.

  • The Inimitable Marlis Petersen in Munich

    A Journey into Night and Our Psyches

    By: Susan Hall - Jul 27th, 2022

    The Munich State Opera presents both opera and concerts during their annual July Festival. One star, Marlis Petersen, entranced at the Prinzregent Theater.

  • Ariane & Bluebeard Composed by Paul Dukas

    Produced by West Edge Opera

    By: Victor Cordell - Jul 27th, 2022

    Frenchman Paul Dukas’ 1907 opera “Ariane & Bluebeard” possesses compelling music and a libretto rich with symbolism and open to varied interpretation.  Although advocates for the opera included many prominent composers of the day, its success was limited from the outset, and it has failed to find a place in the repertory.  Plausible explanations exist. West Edge Oper, however, presents a scintillating interpretation of the highly worthy opera.

  • Hank Williams: Lost Highway

    Actors' Playhouse Miracle Theatre

    By: Aaron Krause - Jul 29th, 2022

    The bio-musical "Hank Williams: Lost Cowboy" is receiving a commendable production by Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. The production runs through July 31. The show tells the story of Williams's life in flashback.

  • Coraline An Opera Composed by Mark-Anthony Turnage

    Produced by West Edge Opera

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 01st, 2022

    Based on the award-winning 2002 novella by Neil Gaiman, composer Mark-Anthony Turnage and librettist Rory Mullarky have crafted an opera that mirrors the creepiness of the novella and the animated film of the same name.  West Edge Opera offers superb voices and orchestra, fine staging, and clever, fanciful costumes in a scintillating production of this enticing work.

  • Rubenology: The Making of An American Legend

    World Premiere by GableStage and Abre Camino Collective

    By: Aaron Krause - Aug 01st, 2022

    Rubenology: The Making of An American Legend focuses on 84-year-old actor Ruben Rabasa. The one-act play recently experienced its world premiere as a co-production between South Florida-based GableStage and Abre Camino Collective. Playwright Vanessa Garcia and Rabasa co-wrote the piece.

  • Alan Paul to Lead Barrington Stage Company

    Succeeds Founder Julianne Boyd

    By: BSC - Aug 03rd, 2022

    “It is my great honor to be the next Artistic Director of Barrington Stage Company. I am deeply inspired by the incredible staff and artists who have made BSC such a vibrant hub for both classics and new work,” said Alan Paul. “I am excited to build on BSC’s legacy as an incubator for new plays and musicals from a broad variety of voices. Musicals are my first love, and I plan to make the advancement of musical theater a cornerstone of my vision. The Berkshires are a magical place for theater, and I look forward to becoming an active member of the community.

  • David Geffen Hall Prepares to Open

    Alibaba Money Gets Naming Rights

    By: Susan Hall - Aug 06th, 2022

    Lincoln Center offers venues for the performing arts and concert programs. Is there an audience for what is offered? John Goberman, who founded Live from Lincoln Center, remarked when he left the staff a decade ago, that from his point of view–where the rubber hits the road, there was no audience any longer for classical music. He went on to produce live orchestral accompaniments to films. 

  • Into the Woods on Broadway

    Extended to October 16

    By: Karen Isaacs - Aug 07th, 2022

    By the end of the show, when we hear “No One Is Alone” and then the reprise of “Children Will Listen,” I challenge anyone to not be moved. The day I saw it, the audience was primed to adore it, with wild applause throughout the show. In many ways, this production deserved it.

  • Educating Asher

    World Premiere Production by Empire Stage

    By: Aaron Krause - Aug 09th, 2022

    Empire Stage in Ft. Lauderdale is giving the new comedy-drama "Educating Asher" a solid world premiere production. The play is about, among other things, coming to terms with loss.

  • Louise Bourgeois at the Gropius Bau

    Berlin Displays The Woven Child

    By: Susan Hall - Aug 08th, 2022

    The late work of Louise Bourgeois is on view at the Gropius Bau in Berlin. The overwhelming space, high ceilings, light curators will let it in, never makes Bourgeois seem small. Perhaps a point. 

  • The Anarchy Quartet by Stuart Bousel

    The Exit Theatre

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 10th, 2022

    Mid-Twelfth Century England was a period of turmoil.  The triggering event leading to the instability was the infamous White Ship Disaster of 1120, in which a large number of nobles perished when the boat, carrying 300 passengers, sank after hitting a reef in the English Channel.  Included in that number was Adelin, the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England.  Thus, when the king died in 1135, the battle for his throne, the so-called Anarchy, began.

  • Guys & Dolls

    Sharon Playhouse Returns to Live Theatre

    By: Karen Isaacs - Aug 11th, 2022

    Guys & Dolls is one of the classics (and I’d say masterpieces) of the Broadway musical. Words and lyrics by Frank Loesser and roster of songs that have become standards. But it isn’t an easy show to put on. I’ve seen at least one poor production on Broadway. That this rather small theater in a relatively remote area has produced such a fine show it is a reason for applause

  • Dracula at the Colonial in Pittsfield

    You're So Vein

    By: Charles Giuliano - Aug 14th, 2022

    We happened to be in Dublin for Halloween. In the library of Trinity College there was a special exhibition in honor of Bram Stoker the author of Dracula. The story of the vampire is so familiar that there are no surprises in the hilarious and outrageous production by Berkshire Theatre Group at its Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. It was a great evening of summer fun.

  • Phantom by F.W. Murnau at Elbphilharmonie

    Wolfgang Mitterer Offers Original Score

    By: Susan Hall - Aug 15th, 2022

    Phantom by F. W Murnau was presented at the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, Germany. This version of the film was accompanied by an original score by Wolfgang Mitterer. 

  • Secondo by Jacques Lamarre

    Theatre Works World Premiere

    By: Karen Isaacs - Aug 17th, 2022

    Secondo is a sequel to playwright Jacques Lamarre’s adaptation of the book I Loved, I Laughed, I Made Spaghetti by Giulia Melucci. In the original book, Melucci told of her many romantic adventures with disastrously wrong men for whom she often cooked Italian food or for herself after a breakup.

  • One in Two

    An Island City Stage production

    By: Aaron Krause - Aug 17th, 2022

    "One in Two" is an absurdist comedy-drama about an HIV-positive person. A touching and funny production runs through Sept. 4 at Island City Stage in Wilton Manors, near Ft. Lauderdale.

  • Georges Bizet’s Carmen

    Santa Fe Opera

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 19th, 2022

    As the title character, Isabel Leonard's voice is well suited - a warm, throaty, and resonant melodiousness. She excels in all of Carmen's famous arias like the Habañera “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” (Love is a rebellious bird) and the equally memorable Seguidilla “Près des ramparts de Sévilla” (Near the walls of Seville). 

  • Tristan and Isolde by Richard Wagner

    Santa Fe Opera

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 22nd, 2022

    The invariable element of this opera is its formidable music.  Premiered in 1865, Wagner's heroic love story presented difficulty in orchestration and near insurmountable vocal challenges.  The composer led the musical world to the brink of atonalism with uncommon chord structures and harmonies never heard before, that were largely unappreciated at the time.

  • Manfred Honeck Conducts at Elbphilharmonie

    Pittsburgh Symphony Shimmers

    By: Susan Hall - Aug 26th, 2022

    Manfred Honeck and the Pittsburgh Symphony have developed a specialty: revealing the texture of sound. In a concert at  Elbphilharmonie, an event in the orchestra’s 75th year of touring, they displayed daring and diverse sounds not often heard. The Maestro and the musicians find buried clues to the balanced mix of rhythms, dynamics in detailed performance directions.

  • Chopin in Paris by Hershey Felder

    TheatreWorks Silicon Valley

    By: Victor Cordell - Aug 27th, 2022

    Hershey Felder currently plays “Chopin in Paris.”  The great 19th century Romantic composer and pianist may hold special significance to the current imitator, as the living one is also of Polish extraction, though via Canada.  The presentation holds to Felder’s usual high standards and wins praise from audiences.

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