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  • La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi

    West Bay Opera

    By: Victor Cordell - Oct 26th, 2022

    As usual, General Director and Conductor José-Luis Moskovich marshals a fine orchestra and production.  Of course, the party scenes in particular require special attention, and director Igor Vieira ensures their grandeur.

  • James Carson at The Crypt

    What to Expect from the Unexpected

    By: Susan Hall - Oct 28th, 2022

    The impresario Andrew Ousley is deeply in touch with audience needs in the 21st century. In selecting dramatic and unusual settings for concerts which range from the most formal performances of classical music’s iconic and ineffably beautiful Goldberg Variations to a completely improvised concert, he helps a new audience open their ears and hearts, and more traditional concert goers to hear works anew. 

  • An Evening of Jazz and Healing

    Justin Freed Presents at Coolidge Corner Theater

    By: Justin Freed - Nov 02nd, 2022

    In response to these difficult times, artist Justin Freed, former owner and programmer of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, has created An Evening of Jazz and Healing with live music, photography, drawings, projection and film.

  • We, the Innumerable at National Sawdust

    Niloufar Nourbakhsh Captures Iranian Protests

    By: Susan Hall - Nov 03rd, 2022

    We The Innumerable is an opera created by the Iranian/American composer Niloufar Nourbakhash with libretto by Lisa Flanagan. Sara Jobin, who is committed to works which bring about peace and global understanding, conducted. National Sawdust staged. The opera tells the story of a woman who protects the truth at all costs It is set during protests in Iran after a contested election in 2009. It echoes today’s protests.

  • Berkshires Jazz Sprawl

    Downtown Pittsfield and Lenox

    By: Jazz - Nov 06th, 2022

    The downtowns of Pittsfield and Lenox, Massachusetts will be sprawling with live music on the weekend of Nov. 18-20, with the first Berkshires Jazz Fall Sprawl. Artists range from small, local groups to the 17-piece Amherst Jazz Orchestra, and spotlight 16-year-old prodigy Brandon Goldberg, who is making his Berkshires debut that weekend.

  • Yet Another Guys and Dolls

    ACT-CT in Ridgefield

    By: Karen Isaacs - Nov 07th, 2022

    Within three months Connecticut theatergoers have seen two excellent productions. In the summer it was produced at Sharon Playhouse. Now ACT-CT in Ridgefield has opened its season with another fine production which runs through Sunday, Nov. 20. Each is well cast, well sung and well directed.

  • Shelia Jordan Concert and Master Class

    The Mad Monkfish in Cambridge

    By: Monk - Nov 09th, 2022

    One of the most distinctive and creative of all jazz singers, NEA Jazz Master and self-described “Jazz Child” Sheila Jordan is one of those rare vocalists whose voice can be regarded among the great instruments of the music.

  • Berlin Philharmonic Entertains at Carnegie Hall

    Kirill Petrenko Helps Make Mahler Fun

    By: Susan Hall - Nov 11th, 2022

    The Berlin Philharmonic, inarguably the greatest symphony orchestra in the world, came to New York to show us how much fun music can be.  Their showpiece example, the famously tormented Gustav Mahler. 

  • John Corigliano Premiere at Jordan Hall

    Anthony Roth Costanzo Stars

    By: Susan Hall - Nov 15th, 2022

    The Lord of Cries is a mélange of two classic literary works written two millennia apart: the Greek tragedy The Bacchae by Euripides, and the Gothic novel Dracula by Bram Stoker. Set in Victorian London at the fearsome time of Jack the Ripper, the opera begins with its title character – Dionysus, the god of fury – returning to earth. Anthony Roth Costanzo featured.

  • Berkshire Jazz With Eddie Allen

    Home for the Holidays

    By: Ed Bride - Nov 17th, 2022

    Eddie Allen has worked with such jazz greats as Art Blakey, Billy Harper, Randy Weston, Dizzy Gillespie, and Benny Carter. He has recorded and performed with, as well as composed for: Louis Hayes, Lester Bowie, Jack McDuff, Etta Jones & Houston Person, and Mongo Santamaria.

  • Kevin Puts' New Opera Opens

    Starry Trio of Renee Fleming, Joyce Di Donato and Kelli O'Hara

    By: Susan Hall - Nov 23rd, 2022

    OUT magazine suggested an opera based on the film The Hours back in 2014.  At the time, Fabian Brathwaite wrote: (wishful thinking) Based on Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, the 2002 Stephen Daldry film is basically two hours of “EMOTION!” Tears, breakdowns, more tears and a prosthetic nose — ingredients for operatic gold. And look no further for casting. Just give Meryl three weeks and a pack of lozenges. Renee Fleming now takes on Meryl Streep's role.

  • Michael Cunningham's The Hours for Opera

    The Author Loves Philip Glass and Awaits Kevin Puts

    By: Susan Hall - Nov 22nd, 2022

    Before he writes in the morning, Michael Cunningham as always listened to PHilip Glass's music. Serendiptiy brought Glass's score to the Stephen Daldry film based on Cunningham's book, The Hours. He discusses the works with Berkshire Fine Arts.

  • Boston Modern Orchestra Project's John Corigliano Opera

    Mark Adamo, Librettist. Brilliant work at Jordan Hall

    By: Susan Hall - Nov 26th, 2022

    Leave it to Gil Rose, Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Odyssey Opera to present one of the most important operas of the last decade. At Jordan Hall in Boston, Rose and his company gave a superb concert production of  John Corigliano’s “Lord of the Cries.”  Commissioned by Santa Fe Opera, this was its east coast debut. Corigliano’s first opera, The Ghost of Versailles met with consistently rave reviews and was not performed often after its premiere. Corigliono swore off the form.  He wanted to write music that was heard.

  • Orpheus and Eurydice

    At San Francisco Opera

    By: Victor Cordell - Nov 28th, 2022

    Christoph Willibald Gluck’s contributions to opera extend beyond the merits of his individual operas. Like Richard Wagner a century later, Gluck conceived an intellectual framework that changed the opera landscape.

  • Phil Kline's Unsilent Night at MASS MOCA

    Cult Christmas Classic

    By: Susan Hall - Nov 30th, 2022

    Phil Kline's Unsilent Night has been presented in 150+ cities across five continents since its debut 30 years ago on the streets of Greenwich Village. Free as always.

  • Wuthering Heights

    An irreverent Contemporary Musical Adaptation

    By: Victor Cordell - Dec 02nd, 2022

    This rendering must be measured by a very different yardstick than traditional versions. By a calculation based on contemporary sensibilities, Adaptor/Director Emma Rice’s innovation succeeds in providing a multifaceted entertainment executed with top rate professionalism.

  • Little Shop of Horrors

    TheatreWorks' Bubbly Chinatown Adaptation

    By: Victor Cordell - Dec 06th, 2022

    Okay – let’s cut straight to the chase.  The unique chronical of “Little Shop of Horrors” is laugh-out-loud funny; the music is foot-stomping energetic; the production is superb; and the performances are great.  Did I miss anything?  If you see this TheatreWorks production and disagree, check with your physician to make sure you have the pulse rate of a sentient being.

  • Art Bath in New York

    Daring New Creations at the Blue Building

    By: Susan Hall - Dec 07th, 2022

    On a drawing board of mixed media, live at the Blue Building on 44th Street, Art Bath gives New York talent a chance to experiment.  Six times a year, twice in the spring and twice in the fall, Art Bath presents programs in which artists mix and match new and daring forms. These are enchanted evenings. 

  • Metropolitan Opera Website Down

    Never Underestimate Putin and Netrebko

    By: Susan Hall - Dec 09th, 2022

    The Metropolitan Opera website is down for the third day in a row. Griner freed. Met Opera now captive?

  • Hand Shadow Puppetry by Steven Wendt

    HERE Presents Phil Soltanoff, Director

    By: Susan Hall - Dec 12th, 2022

    This and That delights.  The production also raises questions: Can a serious effort be delivered with casual aplomb?  Great beauty?  Mystery?  From a messy theater?  In the hands of Philip Soltanoff  and Steven Wendt, the answer is a resounding Yes.

  • Beetlejuice

    SF Broadway's Gleefully Ghoulish Ghost Story

    By: Victor Cordell - Dec 17th, 2022

    Ghosts.  Dancing skeletons.  A giant toothy snake from Hell, like Saturday Night Live’s land shark on steroids. “The Handbook for the Recently Deceased.”  When the title character mirthfully tells the audience that this is a play about death, he’s not kidding.  Fortunately, it’s all in good fun, and there is plenty of it in this delightfully camp musical adaptation of the highly successful 1988 comedy-horror film.

  • St. John the Divine Hosts AMOP

    Julia Bullock and Christopher Reif Re-Design El Nino

    By: Susan Hall - Dec 26th, 2022

     Julia Bullock and the American Modern Opera Project brought a new version of John Adams’ and Peter Sellars' El Nino to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, known for its support of the arts and blessing of all animals. This will become a traditional performance.

  • Clark Art Institute Free Concerts

    I/O Fest with Williams College Department of Music

    By: Clark - Jan 04th, 2023

    The Clark Art Institute hosts three free events as part of I/O Fest, the Williams College Department of Music’s annual immersion in the music of today. Students in the music program take audiences on a tour of new sounds and adventurous music during a concert for families on January 15.

  • Celebrating Mike Schiffer

    Jazz in the Berkshires

    By: Jazz - Jan 07th, 2023

    He’s been making jazz, and nurturing young jazz artists, for more than 50 years, and it’s about time we paid tribute to Mike Schiffer. At the age of 93, he is still playing local gigs. But this time, on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 29 (4pm), he’ll be in the audience with the rest of us lucky jazz followers.

  • Boston Symphony Orchestra

    Three Programs Conducted by Andris Nelsons

    By: BSO - Jan 09th, 2023

    Thursday, January 26, 7:30 p.m.; Friday, January 27, 1:30 p.m.; Saturday, January 28, 8 p.m. Andris Nelsons leads the world premiere of American composer/guitarist Steven Mackey's Concerto for Curved Space, a BSO co-commission (Thursday and Saturday concerts only). Mackey's style embraces influences ranging from Beethoven to modern rock.

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