BerkshireLinks

Dave Read

Tanglewood week 2 schedule, July 10 – 16, 2009

Program details, main schedule, for the 2nd week of the 2009 season of the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.
Emanuel Ax performs at Tanglewood, July 2009Joshua Bell performs at Tanglewood, July 2009

Tanglewood map, tickets, and information

Friday, July 10, 6pm, Ozawa Hall (Prelude Concert)
MEMBERS OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
ALEXANDER VELINZON AND JULIANNE LEE, violins
ROBERT BARNES, viola
MIHAIL JOJATU, cello

DVORÁK – Terzetto for two violins and viola
MARTINU – String Trio (No. 1 or 2, to be announced)
BEETHOVEN – String Quartet

Friday, July 10, 7:15-7:45pm, Shed
“THIS WEEK AT TANGLEWOOD”
Martin Bookspan, host
Guests to include James Morris

Friday, July 10, 8:30pm, Shed
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
HERBERT BLOMSTEDT, conductor
EMANUEL AX, piano

NIELSEN – Helios Overture
BEETHOVEN – Piano Concerto No. 4
BRAHMS – Symphony No. 4

Saturday, July 11, 10:30am, Shed [Pre-Rehearsal Talk at 9:30/Robert Kirzinger]
OPEN REHEARSAL (Sunday program)

Saturday, July 11, 8:30pm, Shed
TANGLEWOOD MUSIC CENTER ORCHESTRA
JAMES LEVINE, conductor
JAMES MORRIS, bass-baritone (Hans Sachs)
JOHAN BOTHA, tenor (Walther von Stolzing)
HEI-KYUNG HONG, soprano (Eva)
MARIA ZIFCHAK, mezzo-soprano (Magdalene)
MATTHEW POLENZANI, tenor (David)
HANS-JOACHIM KETELSEN, baritone (Sixtus Beckmesser)
JULIEN ROBBINS, bass-baritone (Veit Pogner)
TMC VOCAL FELLOWS (Mastersingers)
Steven Ebel, tenor (Eisslinger); Matthew Anderson, tenor (Moser);
Alex Richardson, tenor (Vogelgesang); Mark Van Arsdale, tenor (Zorn);
Alex Lawrence, baritone (Kothner); Saul Nache, baritone (Nachtigal);
Michael McGee, baritone (Ortel); Evan Hughes, bass-baritone (Schwarz);
Alan Dunbar, bass-baritone (Foltz)
TANGLEWOOD FESTIVAL CHORUS, JOHN OLIVER, conductor

WAGNER Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Act III
Concert performance sung in German with English supertitles

Sunday, July 12, 2:30pm, Shed
BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
HERBERT BLOMSTEDT, conductor
JOSHUA BELL, violin

BEETHOVEN – Egmont Overture
BRUCH – Violin Concerto No. 1
DVORÁK- Symphony No. 8

Tuesday, July 14, 8pm, Ozawa Hall
LE CONCERT DES NATIONS
JORDI SAVALL, director
“Les Gouts Réunis”

LULLY – Suite from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme
BIBER- Battalia a 10
CORELLI- Concerto grosso
AVISON -Concerto No. 9 “after Scarlatti”
DE HITA- Musica sinfonica para los ministriles
BOCCHERINI- Quintet in C, La musica notturna della strade di Madrid

Wednesday, July 15, 8pm, Ozawa Hall
LE CONCERT DES NATIONS
JORDI SAVALL, director
F. MURRAY ABRAHAM, speaker
Stage Music in the Plays of William Shakespeare

JOHNSON – Jacobean Masque and Stage Music
LOCKE – Incidental music for The Tempest
PURCELL -The Fairy Queen

Jacob’s Pillow schedule July 8-12, 2009 highlights

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival schedule for July 8–12, 2009 features Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, which will perform the world premiere of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Orbo Novo at 2.

Belgian-born Cherkaoui is known for his intensely eclectic movement style and a unique repertory that deals with cultural connections and divisions. Orbo Novo (New World) draws its inspiration from neuroanatomist Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s memoir My Stroke of Insight, in which she chronicles her scientific study of her own stroke. Orbo Novo is Cherkaoui’s first work created for an American company and features an original score by Polish composer Szymon Brzóska, performed live at the Pillow by the Mosaic String Quartet.

Cherkaoui also states that Orbo Novo searches for “the perfect balance between left and right, between heaven and earth…Or to quote Jill Bolte Taylor,” he comments, “I believe, that the more time we spend choosing to run the deep inner peace circuitry of our right brain hemispheres, the more peace we will project into the world, and the more peaceful our planet will be, and I thought that was an idea worth spreading.”

On Wednesday, July 8 at 5pm, Cherkaoui, Brzóska, and Cedar Lake director Benoit-Swan Pouffer will discuss the creation of the choreography and music for Orbo Novo in a free PillowTalk titled Previewing a World Premiere.

The Mosaic String Quartet is based in New York City and performs extensively for dance, collaborating on eclectic repertoire from Bartok to late Beethoven to commissions by living composers. Recent seasons have brought the MSQ to the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Joyce SoHo, St. Mark’s in-the-Bowery, and the James Cohan Gallery. Musicians include Jane Chung and Liza Zurlinden on violin; Tawnya Popoff on viola; Greg Hesselink on cello; and guest pianist Aaron Wunsch.

Jacobs Pillow and Ticket Information

Wednesday, July 8 through Saturday, July 11, at 8pm.
Saturday, July 11 and Sunday, July 12, at 2pm

  • Tickets are $58, with discounts available for subscribers, seniors, students, and children age 16 and under. To sign up for Student Rush Ticket alerts, email info@jacobspillow.org.
  • Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered on Sommerspace at Blake’s Barn 30 minutes before every performance.
  • Thursday, July 9, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet performers and/or artistic personnel will participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk, on stage immediately following the performance.
  • Box Office hours: Monday through Saturday, 10am – 6pm, and Sunday 11am – 6pm.
  • To purchase, call the Box Office at 413.243.0745 or order online at www.jacobspillow.org.
  • Pillow Members receive exclusive benefits. To become a Member call 413.243.9919 x24.


View Larger Map

Jacob’s Pillow is located at 358 George Carter Road in Becket, MA, 01223 (10 minutes east on Route 20 from Mass Pike Exit 2). The Jacob’s Pillow campus and theaters are handicapped-accessible.

Jacob’s Pillow schedules Jules Feiffer art exhibit

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival announces the debut of a new art exhibit, created exclusively for and in collaboration with the Pillow, displaying the work of Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Jules Feiffer. Free to the public at Jacob’s Pillow June 24–August 30, A Dance to Jules Feiffer relates the art of movement and expression as seen through Feiffer’s eyes.

It brings together an expansive array of original works, interspersing cartoon strips with watercolors, and political commentary with dance imagery. Nearly all of the 46 featured works are originals; and the collection includes signed, limited-edition prints. Marking the first time Jules Feiffer’s portrayal of movement—prominent throughout his career in alternately satiric and affectionate moods—has been singled out for an in-depth survey, this exhibit confirms Feiffer’s telling remark that “gesture is what my work is about.”

A Dance to Jules Feiffer coincides with both Feiffer’s 80th birthday year and the publication of Explainers, the first volume of his collected strips. Feiffer will also appear twice at the Pillow this summer, once for a reading from his latest children’s book and again for a PillowTalk and book-signing.

On July 26th, Feiffer and his daughter Kate Feiffer will participate in Jacob’s Pillow’s annual Community Day, reading from Which Puppy?, their recently-published children’s book about the First Family’s search for a pet. Feiffer will return on August 5th to sign copies of Explainers and give a PillowTalk—one of the festival’s moderated discussions.

Golda’s Balcony at Shakespeare and Co.

June 17, 2009 performance, reviewed by Frances Benn Hall

Annette Miller as Golda Meir at Shakespeare and Co.

Seven years ago, in the limited playing area of Shakespeare and Co’s small drawing-room theatre, three talented theatre artists—playwright William Gibson, director Daniel Gidron, and actor Annette Miller, created what as reviewer I described as “miracle” in the world premier of Golda’s Balcony. (Read review of  May 8, 2002 opening performance.) Strong language for a ninety-five minute play; but two weeks later when I returned to see it again, the miracle was still there.

It is thus a joy to report that the miracle is again to be seen in its original form on the Bernstein Stage at Shakespeare and Company.

Annette Miller steps into Golda’s kutzy shoes—all the ‘realism” she needs to become the character. On stage is a desk, a lectern, a map and an easy chair area, and we are with her in Israel in 1973 on a night in which our own world, no matter who we are, could have possibly changed forever.

For Golda has two balconies, the one outside her apartment that overlooks the sea, and a second balcony, underground from which she can look down upon the one fatal rocket that she could launch, if the phone on the desk does not finally produce Henry Kissinger’s voice with the promise that America will immediately send replacements for the planes and other war gear already destroyed by Egypt and Syria. Knowing she was altering the world forever, with a bomb on which was written, “Never again.”

The time of the acting takes in the 95 minutes of Golda’s waiting. It is, between attempts to rouse Washington, filled with un-chronological memories—of her childhood as a Jewish child in Russia, of the girlhood in Milwaukee from which she launched her first trip to Israel, to her failed marriage as she tries to save children dying on Cyprus and cosset her own children as well. With setbacks and victories. With Israel’s statehood in 1948. With begging for money and help. And finally in 1973 with war planes overhead.

Miller’s acting is absolutely marvelous—vocally she can be strong, decisive, blatant, or rueful and gentle as holding an enormous (invisible) pink lampshade—so impossibly wrong for their humble home, bought and brought by the husband who means so well but cannot understand why she struggles for Israel as she is driven to do, high-lights the personal sacrifices she has been forced to make.

Other characters in her past (family and political) are evoked and slide in an out of her memories. When she pulled a bunchy white paper flower from a desk drawer, I remembered what was coming and relived with her the Cyprus child who had given it to her “because we don’t have real ones.” One of the thousands she fought to save, one of the victories. Because her life was a see-saw of misfortune and triumph. And seeing the play in 2009, the current unrest in the middle-East has special resonance.

As Golda concludes, “I don’t know the answer, but seveny five years ago my father nailed up boards across the door to keep out the pogrom, and after seventy five years, we come from that place to this place here where we can live … with all people including our neighbors, including our neighbors, including our neighbors…”

The curtain call was, appropriately, a standing ovation.

See also: 2002 interview with William Gibson.

Jacob’s Pillow schedule July 8 – 12, 2009

Gallim Dance returns to Jacob’s Pillow, where they made their local debut in 2008, to present Andrea Miller’s Blush, a dance of layered intensity that moves from delicate, probing gestures to a full-throttle revolt against the confines of its own space. Artistic Director Miller danced with Ohad Naharin’s Ensemble Batsheva before forming her own company in 2006. The company will also perform excerpts of Miller’s I Can See Myself in Your Pupil as part of the Pillow’s exclusive Season Opening Gala program on June 20.

Performance and Ticket Information –  Free Events at the Pillow July 8 – 12

Episodic in structure, Blush’s chapters are distinguished by a shifting array of movement tones and designs. Dancers shoot intricate, sequential ripples through their joints and in the next moment quake with stutters. Human connections, when found, are fleeting, tender, and complicated. The climax-at full-tilt energy -leads to a frenzied circling of the stage. Metro New York says the work “displays an almost painterly command of movement.” Andrea Miller’s choreographic attention to detail is evident in the score of the work as well as its movement. Blush is set to a wide assortment of alternately dense and spare tunes, including compositions by M.I.A., Radiohead, Joy Division, Wolf Parade, and Chopin. Roslyn Sulcas of The New York Times writes that Blush “features a highly physical movement style that buckles torsos and lashes limbs in exhilaratingly illogical fashion.”

In 2006, Miller established Gallim Dance (“waves” in Hebrew) with dancer Francesca Romo. She is the winner of the Hubbard Street 2 Choreographic Competition, a recipient of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council MCAF Grant, and a former Stella Adler Studio of Acting Artist in Residence. Her dances have been performed in the United States, Canada, and Israel; recent commissions include Zenon Dance Company in Minnesota, Repertory Dance Theater in Utah, and Arts Umbrella in Vancouver. Dance Magazine named Miller one of “25 to Watch” in January 2009, and she will serve as Resident Choreographer for North Netherlands Dance in Groningen, Holland from 2009 to 2011. As one of his first acts as Ballet Hispanico’s new Artistic Director, Eduardo Vilaro commissioned a new work from Miller.

 

Performance and Ticket Information

Wednesday, July 8 through Saturday, July 11, at 8:15pm.

Saturday, July 11, at 2:15pm

Sunday, July 12, at 5pm

· Tickets are $33, with discounts available for subscribers, seniors, students, and children age 16 and under. To sign up for Student Rush Ticket alerts, email info@jacobspillow.org.

· Free Pre-Show Talks with Jacob’s Pillow Scholars-in-Residence are offered on the Doris Duke Theatre porch 30 minutes before every performance.

· Friday, July 10, Gallim Dance performers and/or artistic personnel will participate in a moderated Post-Show Talk, on stage immediately following the performance.

· Box Office hours: Monday through Saturday, 10am – 6pm, and Sunday 11am – 6pm.

· To purchase, call the Box Office at 413.243.0745 or order online at www.jacobspillow.org.

· Pillow Members receive exclusive benefits. To become a Member call 413.243.9919 x24.

Jacob’s Pillow is located at 358 George Carter Road in Becket, MA, 01223 (10 minutes east on Route 20 from Mass Pike Exit 2). The Jacob’s Pillow campus and theaters are handicapped-accessible.

 

Free Events at the Pillow July 8 – 12

PillowTalks in Blake’s Barn: Previewing a World Premiere, Wednesday, July 8 at 5pm. Choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, composer Szymon Brzóska, and company director Benoit-Swan Pouffer converse about creating the choreography and music for Orbo Novo, a brand-new work for the dancers of the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet set to premiere at the Pillow, July 8. On Saturday, July 11 at 4pm, Robert Gottlieb, former editor of The New Yorker, will discuss his new anthology of dance literature, Reading Dance. He will also participate in a book-signing after the talk.

Inside/Out performances at 6:30pm: Wednesday, July 8, Parul Shah and Dancers look to Kathak to explore Hindu traditions through contemporary movement with grace, fluidity and speed. Thursday, July 9, the American Ballroom Theater Youth Dance Company, an offshoot of American Ballroom Theater’s Dancing Classrooms, performs a wide variety of ballroom dance. Teachers and students involved in the company were featured in Mad Hot Ballroom, the popular 2005 documentary. Friday, July 10, contemporary company Adele Myers & Dancers blends theatricality, athleticism and social commentary, drawing audiences into what The Village Voice calls “a rich little world.” An alumna of The School at Jacob’s Pillow, Adele Myers presents Is That All There Is, an autobiographical work that employs popular culture and humor to comment on modern day motherhood. Saturday, July 11, brings a performance by the students of The School at Jacob’s Pillow—Cultural Traditions: The Hip-Hop Continuum. Students end their intensive professional training at The School by presenting works by Tony “Ynot” DeNaro, Cachet Ivey and hip-hop legend Mr. Wiggles under the direction of Rennie Harris.

Ongoing Free Exhibits include: In Blake’s Barn, A Dance to Jules Feiffer, an exclusive exhibition created for and debuting at Jacob’s Pillow that focuses on the dance imagery of renowned cartoonist and Pulitzer Prize-winner Jules Feiffer, and Alvin Ailey: Anniversary Salute which celebrates the 50th anniversary season of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater with rare photographs by John Lindquist and John Van Lund. In the Ted Shawn Theatre lobby, The Art of Merce Cunningham, a tribute to Cunningham’s 90th birthday that documents his collaborations with distinctive visual artists with costumes, sketches, posters, and other artifacts from the Merce Cunningham Dance Foundation Archives. Outsiders, a selection of open-air images of dance at the Pillow including classics by John Lindquist and John Van Lund, in Bakalar Studio, and Tap!, a photography exhibit featuring acclaimed artists such as Jimmy Slyde, Gregory Hines, Savion Glover, Dianne Walker, and others, in the Doris Duke Theatre Lobby.

 

Activities at Jacob’s Pillow

The Archives at Jacob’s Pillow allows impromptu visitors to view videos, browse through books, access the Pillow’s computer catalog, or peruse permanent collections of Pillow programs and photographs. Pillow Interactive, a popular touch-screen kiosk, provides instant interlinked access to rare film clips ranging from the present day back to the 1930s.

 

Patrons are always welcome to explore the historic grounds to discover all the reasons why the Pillow was named a National Historic Landmark, with Guided Tours leaving from the Welcome Center every Friday and Saturday at 5:30pm. Self-guided tour maps are always available as well.

 

Visitors can also relax in the historic Tea Garden, where Ted Shawn’s Men Dancers welcomed the first Pillow audiences in the 1930s, as they peek into the Bakalar Studio to watch rehearsals; or stroll through several ecological zones on the Wetlands Trail, created as part of the Pillow’s responsible stewardship of its 163 acres of rural environment.

 

Dance Opportunities

Morning Jumpstart Classes offered in Pilates, Ballet, Modern, and more, Mondays through Fridays at 8am. All experience levels, 16 and older, $8 per class, Ruth St. Denis Studio. Call the Education Hotline at 413.243.9919 x17.

 

Weekly Master Classes are led by Festival artists Sundays at 10:30am to noon for intermediate and advanced dancers, $15 per class. Pre-registration is required; quiet observation is welcome at no charge. Call the Education Hotline at 413.243.9919 x17.

 

The School at Jacob’s Pillow is open to public observation Tuesdays through Saturdays, 9am–5pm, featuring world renowned faculty at no charge. Interested groups of four or more should confirm space availability by calling 413.243.9919 x17.

 

Dining – The Pillow Café offers fine dining with wine service under the tent on The Great Lawn. Wednesdays through Saturdays, dinner is served 5–7pm. Reservations are required, call 413.243.2455.

 

The Pillow Pub offers casual family fare, takeout for picnics, and full bar service. Wednesdays through Fridays 5pm–midnight, Saturdays noon–midnight, and Sundays noon–5pm.

 

The Coffee Bar and Ice Cream Bar are open pre-performance and during intermissions.

 

Sample menus for each dining venue are available at www.jacobspillow.org. Pillow Patrons are also invited to bring picnics and relax at one of many choice picnic spots on the Pillow grounds.

Clark Art schedules free family day for Dove/O’Keefe show

Arthur Dove, Sunrise, 1924. Oil on panel,
Arthur Dove, Sunrise, 1924. Oil on panel, 18 1/4 x 20 7/8 in. (46.4 x 53 cm). Milwaukee Art Museum. Gift of Mrs. Edward R. Wehr. Milwaukee Art Museum (photo by John R. Glembin); Courtesy of and copyright The Estate of Arthur Dove / Courtesy Terry Dintenfass, Inc.

American artists Georgia O’Keeffe and Arthur Dove not only shared a love for nature but influenced each other’s work. Many of O’Keeffe’s works depict the mountains and wildlife of Lake George, New York, and the flowers and southwestern landscapes of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Dove’s youth in Geneva, New York, gave him a deep appreciation for the natural surroundings. This shared passion for nature inspires a free family day on Sunday, August 2, from 11 am to 4 pm, at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. The exhibition Dove/O’Keeffe: Circles of Influence will be on view, and the day will feature art activities, live animals, entertainment for all ages, local food vendors, and more. Admission to the galleries and most activities is free on this festive day.

[widget-inside]

Scott Jervis from the Berkshire Museum will introduce families to interesting creatures native to the Southwest. Get up close and as personal as possible with lizards, snakes, and other desert inhabitants.

Dove and O’Keeffe were less concerned with making pictures that looked like “real” people or things. Instead, they tried to capture and present the essence of a thing, both seen and unseen and called these works “abstractions.” Try your hand at using natural materials to create abstract three dimensional collages like Dove’s assemblage of twigs called Rain.

Georgia O’Keeffe, Jack-in-Pulpit - No. 2, 1930. Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Bequest of Georgia O’Keeffe. Image courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Georgia O’Keeffe, Jack-in-Pulpit - No. 2, 1930. Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 in. (101.6 x 76.2 cm). National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Alfred Stieglitz Collection, Bequest of Georgia O’Keeffe. Image courtesy of the Board of Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

In Santa Fe, O’Keeffe created her most familiar work: paintings of skulls, flowers, and mesas of the southwest. Sign up for the zoom in pastel class based on O’Keeffe’s close-up paintings of flowers. Fashion O’Keeffe-inspired colorful blooms made from tissue paper, and layer sand reminiscent of O’Keeffe’s Santa Fe terrain. Roll up those sleeves and help to create a community sculpture of a giant deer “skull.”

Dove and O’Keeffe enjoyed listening to different types of music and trying to capture the different sounds in their paintings. Try it for yourself with the drawing from sound art activity.

The Native Nations Dance Theatre professional touring dance company will present traditional dancing, drumming, and mini powwow performances throughout the afternoon.

The beautiful, free-flowing Roving Ribbon Dancers, from Berkshire Dance Theatre, will wander the grounds. Enjoy modern dance by the Lisa Leizman Dance Company or join in a contra dance with the folk sounds of Eric Buddington’s local band CoinciDance. Hooping Harmony will offer instruction on the art of hula hooping.

KB Bead Designs will provide materials to make O’Keeffe inspired jewelry. Create a cactus garden to bring home with plants provided by Mount Williams Greenhouse. Fees are charged for these two workshops.

Screenings of the original animated film produced by eight- to twelve-year MinervaMation Animation Camp participants will be held at 11:30 am, 1:30 pm, and 3:30 pm in the auditorium. Students produced the film relating to the Dove/O’Keeffe exhibition during a weeklong workshop at the Clark.

Where’d You Get That!? will donate all of the proceeds from its sale of candy and Dove/O’Keeffe inspired ephemera to the Northern Berkshire Food Bank. Look for this Williamstown fixture under a tent on the grounds.

Tasty, family-friendly food will be available for purchase from local restaurants including the Clark Café with hamburgers and hot dogs; Helen’s Place with wraps and mini fruit cups; Boston Sea Foods with clam boats; Coyote Flaco with guacamole, chips, and quesadillas; Spice Root with an Indian buffet; Hot Tomatoes with pizza; and Lickety Split with hand-dipped ice cream cones.

This Family Day is supported by funding from the officers and employees of Allen & Company, Inc.

A visit to the Clark is a rewarding family experience year-round with 140 acres of scenic meadows and trails providing ample opportunities for families to hike, run and play, spot the many birds inhabiting the area, and try geo-caching. The Clark’s grounds are open to the public free of charge. Free admission to the galleries is always offered to children 18 and under and students with valid ID.

The Clark is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, MA. The galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday 10 am to 5 pm (daily in July and August). Admission June 1 through October 31 is $12.50 for adults, free for children 18 and under, members, and students with valid ID. Admission is free November through May. For more information, call 413-458-2303 or visit clarkart.edu.