Dave Read

Adams, MA fall foliage events 2016

Adams, MA fall foliage events during 2016 include RambleFest and RambleFest Half Marathon/8K – Oct. 9, 12pm – 5pm

RambleFest is a day of music, food and fun in celebration of autumn in the Berkshires.
RambleFest Half Marathon will be held along the beautiful Ashuwillticook Trail from Berkshire Mall in Lanesborough, to the Visitors Center in Adams. Starting time is 9:30am for the half marathon and 10am for the 8K – details and registration.
Berkshire Mall.

49th Annual Greylock Ramble – Oct. 10

Mount Greylock, Cheshire Harbor Trail at 281 W Mountain Rd, Adams, MA
Each Columbus Day, thousands hike to the highest spot in Massachusetts. Free shuttles take hikers from downtown Adams to and from the Cheshire Harbor Trail from 8am-4pm.
Please use the shuttle as parking near the trail is very limited.

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Hancock Shaker Village names Jennifer Trainer Thompson President and CEO

Hancock Shaker Village names Jennifer Trainer Thompson president and CEO, roles that she will assume when her current post as senior vice president at the MASS MoCA ends December 31..

Ms. Thompson has over 28 years of experience in arts administration and culture in the Berkshires. One of a small team that developed MASS MoCA beginning in 1988, she has been integral to the evolution of the museum, having organized and developed several departments, including development, membership, public relations, and most recently partnerships and external affairs. As MASS MoCA’s director of development from 1988 to 2012, she helped raise some $70 million for operations and programs, including the Permanence Campaign that launched the museum’s endowment and Sol LeWitt building. More recently, she has focused on partnerships, where she worked closely with museum leadership, institutional partners, and other supporters to identify new ways to leverage an expanding network to further the museum’s core mission both regionally and nationally.

In conjunction with an annual, highly successful New York gala for MASS MoCA that she created and branded, she has worked with performers ranging from David Byrne to Laurie Anderson, as well as artists such as Jenny Holzer, Darren Waterston, and others to develop unique limited-editions of their work for MASS MoCA’s benefit. Those in the Berkshires know her also as one of the models for photographer Gregory Crewdson’s work, most recently in his critically acclaimed show, “Cathedral of the Pines.”

We are so pleased to have Jennifer join Hancock Shaker Village at this pivotal moment in its history… She is a modern-day renaissance woman who possesses the intelligence, skills, style, and a passion for art and community that will propel Hancock Shaker Village into the next decade. – Dan Cain, chairman of Board of Trustees.

“There are few professionals in the museum world as multi-talented as Jennifer Thompson,” said Michael Conforti, former head of the Clark Art Institute and president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, as well as current MASS MoCA trustee. “Her expertise from fundraising to program development has been fundamental to the remarkable success of MASS MoCA over the years and those talents will make her an extraordinary leader for Hancock Shaker Village.”

“I am honored to lead Hancock Shaker Village at this great time of opportunity and transformation,” said Ms. Thompson. “The Village is a jewel in the crown of Berkshire cultural organizations, and it is so many things: a museum, an historic village, a library, a working farm—not to mention an inspiration for innovation, design, and beauty. Tremendous opportunities exist to build upon the foundation and successes of the past, starting with the collection and the property, and identifying innovative approaches to presenting these with a special relevance to the region and today’s audiences.”

Ms. Thompson is the author of 22 books, including ten acclaimed cookbooks, as well as articles on design, science, art, and lifestyle that have been published in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Travel & Leisure, Omni, and Harvard Magazine. In conjunction with her books, which range in subject from nuclear power to raising heirloom chickens, she has appeared on hundreds of talk shows, such as Good Morning America, CNN, National Public Radio, Live with Regis, and Fox News.

Ms. Thompson will replace Linda Steigleder, who concludes her term as president and CEO in December 2016 after leading Hancock Shaker Village for five years. Ms. Steigleder was instrumental in raising $1.5 million to improve public access and visitor amenities at the historic site, adapt restrooms to handicapped standards, replace and repair roofs, repaint and restore the exteriors of 20 out of the 23 buildings in the Village, including the iconic Meeting House and Laundry and Machine Shop. Under her leadership, the Village energized its public program offerings, completed a partnership study with the Berkshire Museum, collaborated with four other museums on a major exhibition, The Shakers, America’s Quiet Revolutionaries, ramped up the exhibition of contemporary art at the site and programs delivered by living artists and makers, reconnected with lapsed donors, improved the museum’s fundraising event formats and net results, stabilized its finances with a balanced budget to fund all of its exhibits, programs, working farm, facilities maintenance and the presentation of its extensive collection of Shaker artifacts.

Hancock Shaker Village map and contact info.

Centrally located in the Berkshires, at the intersection of Routes 20 and 41 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Hancock Shaker Village is a living history museum and farm. The 750-acre National Historic Landmark depicts daily life at the Shakers’ City of Peace through its 220 years. The fully restored Village includes 20 historic buildings, heirloom medicinal and vegetable gardens, 22,000 examples of authentic Shaker furniture, crafts, tools, and clothes, as well as heritage breed farm animals and hiking trails. There are tours, craft and cooking demonstrations, lectures and workshops, and a variety of activities for children and families, plus a museum store and café. An interactive audio tour is available in English, French, Italian, and German.

open for fall self-guided touring

Hancock Shaker Village is open for fall self-guided touring from 10:00am to 5:00pm daily through Sunday, October 30, 2016. Beginning on Monday, October 31 and continuing through Wednesday, November 23, guided tours will be offered daily at 11:00am, with additional tours at 2:00pm on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information, call 800.817.1137 or see www.hancockshakervillage.org.

Mail: PO Box 927, Pittsfield, MA 01202
Street: 1843 W. Housatonic St., Pittsfield, MA 01201
413-443-0188; 800-817-1137
web: hancockshakervillage.org

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Baby lambs at Hancock Shaker Village, May, 2016

Andris Nelsons conducts Beethoven’s Ninth at Tanglewood

August 28, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read

Andris Nelsons conducted Beethoven’s Ninth at Tanglewood August 28, 2016, in a program that included Aaron Copland’s Quiet City, which gave the Boston Symphony Orchestra the opportunity to bid farewell to trumpeter Thomas Rolfs and English hornist Robert Sheena. Before proceeding with Beethoven’s beloved symphony, almost always programmed to close the BSO’s Tanglewood season, music director Nelsons addressed the audience, going on at unexpected length, to voice the organization’s gratitude and best wishes to the departing players, but also to speak of his excitement with the day’s program and with the setting, expressing his gratitude to the audience and inviting them this fall to Symphony Hall in Boston “another great place to make music.” He said also that he is looking forward to returning to the Berkshires next year for the the first two and last two weeks of the Tanglewood season – news that was announced today.

Andris Nelsons addresses audience before leading BSO, Tanglewood Festival chorus, and soloists in Beethoven's Ninth at Tanglewood, Aug. 28, 2016; Hilary Scott photo. — Andris Nelsons addresses audience before leading BSO, Tanglewood Festival chorus, and soloists in Beethoven’s Ninth at Tanglewood, Aug. 28, 2016; Hilary Scott photo.

It feels as if Maestro Nelsons is settling in, and perhaps we’re at the beginning of another long tenure, to close out the ferquently unsettled interregnum since the departure of Seiji Ozawa during the 1st Geo. W. Bush administration. Last month, the BSO announced the extension of Nelsons’ contract through the 2021-2022 season, with an evergreen clause for automatic renewal. Today’s concert ratified the wisdom of that bit of business, as the performance was brilliant, with the audience erupting in applause at the glorious conclusion – leading the ovation from his seat in Sec. 3 was another Tanglewood stalwart, James Taylor.

Andris Nelsons is kinetic sculpture on the podium

So soon after determining that the greatest concert we’ve attended was last week’s performance of Aida, which itself was close on the heels of 5 star shows by The Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma and the Chick Corea Trio, it’s time to recognize that such absolutes cannot obtain here, at Tanglewood, where breathtaking excellence may be acheived more than once, even a few times in a single month!

Besides the ineffably beautiful music Maestro Nelsons inspires the orchestra and vocalists to produce, he also becomes a work of kinetic sculpture on the podium – balletic, athletic, military, and architectural by turns. And I’ll wade all the way into a metaphorical morass to state that observing his baton gestures close up is like getting to watch the stitchery at the same time as you’re marveling at a beautiful tapestry.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Thomas Rolfs, trumpet
Robert Sheena, English horn
Rachel Willis-Sørensen, soprano
Ruxandra Donose, mezzo-soprano
Joseph Kaiser, tenor
Wilhelm Schwinghammer, bass
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
COPLAND Quiet City
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9

Hotels near Tanglewood

Find hotels near Tanglewood with user reviews, check amenities, nearby attractions, availability and then book your room reservations at these lodging establishments through our partner, International Hotel Solutions (IHS), the leading provider of secure online hotel reservations.

Berkshies transportation

For how to get to the Berkshires and public transportation within Berkshire county, see this page: Amtrak and Peter Pan bus schedules.

Tanglewood tickets and box office information

Tickets for Tanglewood concerts are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston MA. Download the 2018 Tanglewood season brochure.

Andris Nelsons conducts Acts I and II of Verdi’s Aida at Tanglewood

August 20, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read

BSO Music director Andris Nelsons conducted Verdi’s Aida, Acts I & II at Tanglewood, in the Koussevitsky Music Shed on Aug. 20, 2016, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, soloists Kristine Opolais, Violeta Urmana, Andrea Carè, Alfredo Nigro, Franco Vassallo, Morris Robinson, Kwangchul Youn, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, leading a performance that was as beautiful as any we’ve ever heard.

We knew, going in, that it would be an exciting concert, given the venue, program, and the artists involved (especially the always-awesome Tanglewood Fetival Chorus), but never expected to be so thouroughly engaged and stimulated that we felt a pang of sadness as it came to a close. Of course, to an opera aficionado, the end of this performance would’ve only marked the midway point of Aida, which consists of four Acts.

Aida is about conflict bertween Egypt and Ethiopia

Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the BSO and soprano Kristine Opolais in Verdi's Aida at Tanglewood, Aug. 20, 2016; Hilary Scott photo. — Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the BSO and soprano Kristine Opolais in Verdi’s Aida at Tanglewood, Aug. 20, 2016; Hilary Scott photo.

My interest in the libretto extended only to its role distributing parts to the soloists and the TFC, so they could produce the singing that was so perfectly married to the instrumental score. I did keep up with the English supertitles – because they were there and impossible to ignore, but would’ve been happy without them. They alone wouldn’t tell you enough of the backstory for the plot to be particularly meaningful, except that there was some brouhaha between Egypt and Ethiopia. Regardless the righteousness of either side’s cause, however, the King, as portrayed by bass Morris Robinson, was so compelling in Act 1 that I went looking for where to enlist in his army during intermission.

And you may be aware that soprano Kristine Opolais, who sang Aida tonight, is married to Maestro Nelsons; banish the thought that there’s any nepotism involved with this casting, as she totally rocked the role! Since the operatic lexicon is beyond my ken, suffice it to say all of the soloists sang beautifully, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, led tonight by guest conductor James Burton, was spectacular, not missing a beat since the retirement last season of founding conductor John Oliver.

About Tanglewood: box office, tickets, getting there, nearby hotels

Tickets for the 2016 Tanglewood season, $12-$124, go on sale January 24 starting at 10 a.m. through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston MA. Tanglewood brochures with complete programs and information on how to order tickets will be available in early February by calling 617-638-9467. For further information, please call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492 or visit www.tanglewood.org. 2016 Tanglewood schedule – PDF.

Follow this link for Berkshires travel information, including public transportation within Berkshire county and Amtrak and Peter Pan bus schedules.
Find hotels near Tanglewood with user reviews, check amenities, nearby attractions, availability and then book your room reservations at these lodging establishments through our partner, International Hotel Solutions (IHS), the leading provider of secure online hotel reservations.

Boston Symphony Orchestra
Andris Nelsons, conductor
Kristine Opolais, soprano (Aida)
Violeta Urmana, mezzo-soprano (Amneris)^^
Andrea Carè, tenor (Radames)^^
Alfredo Nigro, tenor (Messenger)^^
Franco Vassallo, baritone (Amonasro)^^
Morris Robinson, bass (The King)
Kwangchul Youn, bass (Ramfis)^
Tanglewood Festival Chorus
VERDI Aida, Acts I and II
Sung in Italian with English supertitles
^Tanglewood debut – ^^BSO and Tanglewood debuts

Getting around the Tanglewood campus

The Tanglewood campus, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center comprises several hundred acres in the towns of Lenox and Stockbridge. It is the location of the Koussevitsky Music Shed and Ozawa Hall, where hundreds of thousands attend concerts and a variety of events, including picnics. We always advise new visitors to arrive early and take their daily walking exercise wandering the beautiful Tanglewood grounds.

Here is a dynamic map of the Tanglewood grounds, with photos and information for such points of interest as Aaron Copland Library, Highwood Manor House, The Glass House, and The Lion’s Gate.

2016 Tanglewood on Parade

August 2, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read

2016 Tanglewood on Parade gala concert included four guest conductors, Stefan Asbury, Stephane Denave, Ken-David Masur, and Giancarlo Guerrero besides Boston Pops Conductor Laureate John Williams, who also is a composer of movie scores, including Star Wars, an excerpt of which was on tonight’s program. Even though March of the Resistance, from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, was just a small part of the program, it is noteworthy because George Shultz was in the audience. He was secretary of state during the Reagan administration, who’s Strategic Defense Initiative was nicknamed Star Wars, following the runaway success of the original movie in 1977.

The format for this program differs from every other BSO concert on the Tanglewood schedule. There are always more orchestras and more conductors leading the musicians in more musical selections. What remains static year after year is the presence of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, each presenting a segemnt of the program and then all massing for the grand finale performance of the 1812 Overture, Tchaikovsky’s celebration of the defeat of Napolean’s army, which always blows the roof off the joint! Maestro Giancarlo Guerrero, music director of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra and native of armed-forces-free Costa Rica, was the aptly named choice to conduct the 1812 Overture, and he succeeded brilliantly in unifying the 140 or so musicians into one triumphant orchestra.

Returning to lead the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra was Stephane Deneve, chief conductor of the Stutgart Radio Symphony and Brussels Philoharmonic, who can be heard here talking about working with the Tanglewood Music Center fellows – “…each year it is a different orchestra, but every year they seem to get better…” – and about La Valse, Ravel’s choreographic poem which he conducted tonight. The performance was spell-binding; hard to believe the orchestra was convened little more than a month ago, and wistful to know that it will disband later this month!

Opening the concert was Stefan Asbury, head of the TMC conducting program, with the BSO performing Night Train to Perugia, by Michael Gandolphi, who was called to the podium afterwards to share in the audience’s warm reception to the orchestra’s performance of his work. Next, Ken-David Masur, BSO assistant conductor, led a reduced orchestra and soloists Elizabeth Rowe on flute and Jessica Zhou on harp in a sublime performance of Mozart’s Concerto in C for Flute and Harp.

And in addition to the Star Wars piece, John Williams led the Boston Pops in the world premiere of Of Grace and Majesty, Suite from The BFG, before yielding the podium to Maestro Guerrero.

About Tanglewood: box office, tickets, getting there, nearby hotels

Getting around the Tanglewood campus

Chick Corea Trio at Tanglewood

July 31, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read

Lenox, MA – The Chick Corea Trio, with Christian McBride on bass and Brian Blade on drums, performed a thrilling set of hyphen-free jazz before a capacity audience in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, bringing to a close one segment of a year-long 75th birthday celebration by the NEA Jazz Master, who was born June 12, 1941 in Chelsea, MA. Mr. Corea will conclude the celebration with an unprecedented eight week stint at New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club between October 19 and December 12, when he’ll perform with more than a dozen bands, including versions of Return to Forever: an acoustic combo with Hubert Laws on flute and Ravi Coltrane on tenor saxophone, and a fusion powerhouse with John McLaughlin on guitar, Victor Wooten on bass and Lenny White on drums.

The Chick Corea Trio, with Christian McBride and Brian Blade at Tanglewood July 31, 2016; Hilary Scott photo.

Tonight’s setlist was drawn from Trilogy, the widely acclaimed 2014 album of popular Chick Corea compositions, previously unreleased material, plus an array of jazz standards. Besides Thelonius Monk and Bud Powell, Corea also paid tribute to Miles Davis, in whose employ he burst upon the scene in the late ’60s, a musician whose stagecraft was diametrically opposed to Corea’s, a most relaxed and affable artist who opened and closed tonight’s show engaged in dialogue with an impromptu Tanglewood chorus that he drew into the performance.

Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Bud Powell, Thelonius Monk

Davis’ On Green Dolphin Street and All Blues, were highlights of the concert, along with Alice in Wonderland, which he dedicated to pianist Bill Evans, because “when he played it he owned it, even though he didn’t write it.”