Dave Read

Tanglewood adds Dolly Parton to 2016 schedule

March 25, 2016 Article by Dave Read

Tanglewood adds Dolly Parton to a 2016 schedule of Popular Artists that already was one for the ages with such luminaries as Bob Dylan, James Taylor, Brian Wilson, Jackson Browne, Earth, Wind & Fire, Chick Corea, Chris Botti, and the B-52s! But wait, there’s more! Garrison Keillor, coming to the end of his 40 year run hosting A Prairie Home Companion, returns for the 17th year in a row, and the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration, featuring guitarist Warren Haynes makes a return to Tanglewood this season, too.

Dolly Parton’s awards and charitable foundation

Ms. Parton, who will be making her Tanglewood debut, has racked up a stunning list of accomplishments, including:

25 RIAA certified gold, platinum and multi-platinum awards,
25 No. 1 songs on the Billboard Country charts,
7 Grammy Awards,
10 Country Music Association Awards,
5 Academy of Country Music Awards,
3 American Music Awards,
Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year Award.

Two years after the 1986 opening of Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN, Ms. Parton established the Dollywood Foundation which funds Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library across America and in Canada by giving every preschool child a book each month from the time he or she is born until the child reaches kindergarten. Currently 60,000,000 books are mailed to children in the US, Canada and throughout the UK.

Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Swing Orchestra close season

The Dolly Parton concert will open the 2016 Tanglewood season and the just-announced closing concert will be Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Swing Orchestra performing in the Shed on Saturday, September 3, at 8pm, in a program called Dancing Under the Stars. A dance floor will be set up on the lawn for this crowd-pleasing evening of memorable melodies and big band classics. This is the Boston Pops Swing Orchestra’s first-ever performance at Tanglewood.

Tickets for Dolly Parton at Tanglewood on June 17 range from $32 to $149. Tickets for the Boston Pops Swing Orchestra on September 3 range from $22 to $124. Tickets for these performances will go on sale Monday, April 4, at 10 a.m. by phone at 888-266-1200 or online at www.tanglewood.org.

Tanglewood 2016 pop, rock, jazz schedule

Dolly Parton

June 17, 2016 – 7 pm Koussevitsky Music Shed

Earth, Wind & Fire

June 18, 2016 – 7 pm Koussevitsky Music Shed

Brian Wilson’s Pet Sounds

June 19, 2016 – 2:30pm Koussevitsky Music Shed
Read more: Brian Wilson’s Pet Sounds

Jacksone Browne

June 21, 2016 – 7 pm Koussevitsky Music Shed

Chris Botti

June 24, 2016 – 8pm Seiji Ozawa Hall

A Prairie Home Companion at Tanglewood with Garrison Keillor

June 25, 2016 – 5:450pm Koussevitsky Music Shed
Reviews of previous shows here.

Bob Dylan and His Band, Mavis Staples

July 2, 2016 – 7pm Koussevitsky Music Shed
Bob Dylan in the Berkshires

James Taylor with His All-Star Band

July 3 & 4, 2016 – 8pm Koussevitsky Music Shed

Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration

July 1, 2016 8pm Koussevitsky Music Shed
Warren Haynes, Boston Pops, Keith Lockhart, conductor

Boston Pops, Seth MacFarlane, soloist

July 10, 2016 – 2:30pm Koussevitsky Music Shed

Chick Corea Trio

July 31, 2016 – 8pm Seiji Ozawa Hall
featuring Christian McBride and Brian Blade

John Williams’ Film Night

Aug. 13, 2016 – 8 pm Koussevitzky Music Shed
Boston Pops Orchestra
John Williams, conductor

Train with Andy Grammer

Aug. 23, 2016 – 7 pm Koussevitzky Music Shed

Raiders of the Lost Ark with Orchestra

Aug. 26, 2016 – 8 pm Koussevitzky Music Shed
Boston Pops, Keith Lockhart, conductor

Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!

Sept. 1, 2016 – 8 pm Koussevitzky Music Shed

Boston Pops Orchestra with Special Guest The B-52s

Sept. 2, 2016 – 8 pm Koussevitzky Music Shed

Boston Pops Swing Orchestra, Keith Lockhart, conductor

“Dancing Under the Stars”
Sept. 3, 2016 – 8 pm Koussevitzky Music Shed

About Tanglewood

Tanglewood is one of the most beautiful and esteemed venues in the world; spread accross more than two hundred acres in Lenox and Stockbriodge it is the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Tanglewood Music Center, the BSO’s summer academy of advanced study for professional musicians, founded in 1940 by Serge Kopussevitsky. With performances in the 5,700 seat Koussevitsky Music Shed (1938), and 1,200 seat Seiji Ozawa Hall (1994), annual attendance at Tanglewood performances exceeds 300,000. Besides a full complement of classical music, including appearances by leading soloists, conductors, and orchestras, plus the annual Festival of Contemporary Music, Tanglewood’s Popular Artist Series presents an eclectic menu of pop, folk, jazz, and rock artists and musical acts. Regular favorites include James Taylor and live broadcasts of A Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor.

See complete 2016 Tanglewood schedule for:

2016 Tanglewood tickets

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.

Tanglewood grounds map

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.

How to get to the Berkshires

Follow this link for Berkshires travel information, including public transportation within Berkshire county and Amtrak and Peter Pan bus schedules.

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.

Tanglewood adds Jackson Browne to 2016 schedule

March 1, 2016 Article by Dave Read

Jackson Browne has been added to the Tanglewood 2016 season schedule, along with Earth, Wind & Fire, Train, with Andy Grammer, and the B-52s. These concerts augment an already stellar Popular Artists segment of Tanglewood’s 2016 schedule, which runs from June 18 to September 3 at Lenox, in the Berkshires. Jackson Browne, member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, returns to the Koussevitzky Shed on Tuesday, June 21, at 7 p.m. Mr. Browne, who first played Tanglewood in 1973, headlined the July 4 2013 concert in his previous appearance here. Tickets for these shows go on sale March 14 24 starting at 10 a.m. through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, by phone: SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200, and at the Symphony Hall Box Office at 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston MA.

Tanglewood adds Earth, Wind & Fire, Train, the B-52s to 2016 schedule

Tanglewood adds Jackson Browne, Earth Wind & Fire to 2016 schedule — Earth, Wind & Fire, 2009 performance; photo by Craig O’Neal.

Earth, Wind & Fire open the Tanglewood season with their June 18 concert, a return engagement since their June 2011 Tanglewood debut. Founded in Chicago in 1971, they are the seventh top-selling musical group of all-time and members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Train, popular for such songs as Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me), Calling All Angels, and Hey, Soul Sister, makes their third Tanglewood appearance August 23. Opening for Train is Andy Grammer, who’s first top 10 hit on the Billboard chart was Honey, I’m Good. The B-52s, esteemed by many as The World’s Greatest Party Band for hits such as Love Shack, Rock Lobster, and Roam, will make their Tanglewood debut with the Boston Pops Pops on Friday, September 2, at 8.

See complete 2016 Tanglewood schedule for:

2016 Tanglewood tickets

Tanglewood grounds map

How to get to the Berkshires

Follow this link for Berkshires travel information, including public transportation within Berkshire county and Amtrak and Peter Pan bus schedules.

Hotels near Tanglewood

Tanglewood adds Seiji Ozawa to 2016 schedule

BULLETIN!!! May 27, 2016 The BSO has announced that Seiji Ozawa has canceled his trip to Tanglewood because of ill-health after recent performances with the Berlin Philharmonic and Seiji Ozawa International Academy Switzerland in Paris and further work in Japan.

Seiji Ozawa has been added to the 2016 Tanglewood schedule, which already includes favorites such as Yo Yo Ma, James Taylor, A Prairie Home Companion, with Garrison Keillor, and John Williams’ Film Night. Maestro Ozawa, a recent Kennedy Center honoree and the only Music Directior Laureate in the history of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, will open the July 9 BSO program with Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. View photos from Maestro Ozawa’s farewell press conference at Tanglewood in 2002.

There are very few places that have had such a profound impact on me as Tanglewood, where I studied as a Fellow in 1960, and started my professional work with the BSO in 1970. It is an honor for me to return to this fantastic place and to my beloved Boston Symphony Orchestra, with whom I spent the most significant part of my musical life as a conductor. Words cannot express the joy I feel about returning to Tanglewood this summer. Seiji Ozawa

Seiji Ozawa to work with Tanglewood Music Center fellows

Seiji Ozawa's last Tangleqwood concert as BSO Music Director; photo: Walter Scott. — Seiji Ozawa’s last Tangleqwood concert as BSO Music Director; photo: Walter Scott.

On July 5, Mr. Ozawa will lead the Swiss Academy String Quartet Ensemble and the Tanglewood Music Center in a program to include the slow movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 16 in F and the first movement of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings. He will work also with the Conducting Fellows of the Tanglewood Music Center2016 Tanglewood tickets

Tanglewood grounds map

How to get to the Berkshires

Follow this link for Berkshires travel information, including public transportation within Berkshire county and Amtrak and Peter Pan bus schedules.

Seiji Ozawa photos Tanglewood July 12, 2002

February 2, 2016 Article by Dave Read
Now that Seiji Ozawa hass been added to the 2016 Tanglewood schedule, here is another look at photos from Maestro Ozawa’s 2002 Tanglewood farewell press conference.

On Friday afternoon July 12, 2002, at the start of a weekend of special programs in celebration of his 29 year tenure with the BSO, Maestro Ozawa met with the press just outside the Koussevitsky Music Shed, where these photos were taken. By the 2002 season, he was music director emeritus; his last concert at Tanglewood as music director was Salome on Aug. 8, 2001.

Seiji Ozawa’s Tanglewood farewell press conference, July 12, 2002; photos by Dave Conlin Read.

2016 Tanglewood tickets

Tanglewood grounds map

How to get to the Berkshires

Follow this link for Berkshires travel information, including public transportation within Berkshire county and Amtrak and Peter Pan bus schedules.

Berkshires cultural schedules November 2015

Here’s acomprehensive look at what is playing at performing arts venues in the Berkshires during November, 2015. Dark weeks for many local cultural organizations, but busy at others where Thanksgiving and Christmas season performances have become traditions.

Theatre in the Berkshires November 2015

These Berkshires orgnizations will present plays and/or theatre events during November: WAM Theatre @ BSC, Sundance Institute Theatre Program @ MASSMoCA.

Holy Laughter – WAM Theatre @ BSC – October 29 – November 22

Holy Laughter, about an Episcopal priest who finds that the reality of leading a church is radically and hilariously different than what she learned in seminary, will be presented by WAM Theatre October 29–November 22 at Barrington Stage Company’s St. Germain Stage, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield, MA.
Info. and tickets: wamtheatre.com/.

Sundance Theatre Lab – MASS MoCA – November 24

Sundance Institute Theatre Program’s annual lab at MASS MoCA, 87 Marshall Street, North Adams MA, gathers top-tier dramatic artists and includes a work-in-progress performance.
Info. and tickets: massmoca.org/

Music in the Berkshires November 2015

The Berkshires are known worldwide as the locale of Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Even so, music is very much a year-round activity throughout the Berkshires, where concerts and musical events are presented at an array of venues in towns such as Williamstown, North Adams, Sheffield, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, Lee, and Pittsfield. Concert details and ticket info: The Colonial Theatre; || Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center; || MASS MoCA; || Berkshire Concert Choir.

The Eagles Band 8th Annual Concert – The Colonial Theatre – Nov. 6, FREE
Natalie MacMaster – A Celtic Family Celebration – The Colonial Theatre – Nov. 7
Art Garfunkel – Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center – Nov. 14
The New Christy Minstrels – The Colonial Theatre – Nov. 14
On The Stage Series: Robin Spielberg – The Colonial Theatre – Nov. 15
Moondance: The Ultimate Van Morrison Tribute Concert – The Colonial Theatre – Nov. 19
And the Kids – The Colonial Theatre – Nov. 20
Mozart – Berkshire Concert Choir – Zion Lutheran Church, Pittsfield – Nov. 21
Stephin Merritt – MASS MoCA – Nov. 21
The Mary Verdi Christmas Show – The Colonial Theatre – Nov. 28

Fine art exhibitions in the Berkshires November 2015

An Eye for Excellence: Twenty Years of Collecting – Clark Art Institute – through April 10, 2016

225 South Street
Williamstown, MA 01267
413-458-2303
web: clarkart.edu

Related events: Looking at Lunchtime Wednesday, November 11, 12:30 pm Curatorial Assistant Genevieve Hulley discusses early photography in the exhibition An Eye for Excellence: Twenty Years of Collecting.

Dinner and the Show Saturday, November 21, 5:30 pm Enjoy a private tour of An Eye for Excellence: Twenty Years of Collecting with Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs Jay A. Clarke, followed by a gourmet farm-to-table meal.

Current exhibitions at MASS MoCA, North Adams

87 Marshall St.; North Adams, MA 01247
Phone: 413.MoCA.111
Web: massmoca.org

Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective will remain on view at MASS MoCA until 2033!. It includes 105 of LeWitt’s large-scale wall drawings, spanning the artist’s career from 1969 to 2007. These occupy nearly an acre of specially built interior walls that have been installed—per LeWitt’s own specifications—over three stories of a historic mill building situated at the heart of MASS MoCA’s campus.

Barbara Takenaga: Nebraska – On view now – Hunter Center
SuttonBeresCuller: Big Top Grand Stand – through November 8, 2015
Ran Hwang: Untethered – On view now
Walk in My Shoes – On view now
Francesco Clemente: Encampment – through January 3, 2016
Artists’ Choice: An Expanded Field of Photography – through April 24, 2016
Clifford Ross: Landscape Seen & Imagined – through April 17, 2016
Liz Deschenes: Gallery 4.1.1 – through April 24, 2016
Jim Shaw: Entertaining Doubts – through January 31, 2016
Bibliothecaphilia – through March 2016

Mahler’s Eighth marks TMC’s 75th

August 12, 2015 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read

The culmination of the Tanglewood Music Center’s 75th anniversary celebration was the Aug. 8, 2015 performance of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, the Symphony of a Thousand, with BSO music director Andris Nelsons conducting 363 musicians, including the TMC Fellows, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, eight leading vocal soloists, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute Chorus, the American Boychoir, and members of the BSO. Not only was this concert an impressive spectacle, but it was as thrilling a musical experience as one could imagine.

Latin hymn combined with Goethe’s Faust

Andris Nelsons and Klaus Florian Vogt with the TMCO performing Mahler's Symphony No. 8, 8.8.15 (Hilary Scott) — Andris Nelsons and Klaus Florian Vogt with the TMCO performing Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, 8.8.15 (Hilary Scott)

The composition is in two parts: the 8th century hymn for the Christian feast of Pentacost, Veni, creator spiritus, and the final scene from Goethe’s Faust, which itself covers three millenia of history. Mahler found the connection for that improbable coupling in the third stanza of the hymn, “Accende humen sensibus,/Infunde amorem cordibus!” (“Illuminate our senses,/Pour love into our hearts!”) Judging by the response of the audience in the Shed and accross the Lawn, that invocation was achieved – everybody smiled broadly, standing for wave after wave of applause.

For a brief video of this performance, visit streambso.org, where you’ll see that Mahler’s 8th opens loud and bright, organ and choir invoking a church-like setting. But however universal every doctrine claims its scope, this performance of Mahler’s 8th would bear no doctrinal delimitation; this celebration was no church-going event! Mahler’s treatment of Goethe’s text is practically a sampler of musical styles and ideas, leading to the final chorus. The journey is spellbinding, building naturally to a close, nothing forced, no straining, the accumulation of one beautiful sound after another until your senses – and your soul, have been thouroughly engaged and satisfied.

Boston Symphony orchestra – Aug. 8, 2015 program
Koussevitsky Music Shed, Tanglewood
Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler Symphony No. 8
The Leonard Bernstein Memorial Concert
Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra
Alumni of the Tanglewood Music Center
Erin Wall, soprano (Magna Peccatrix)
Christine Goerke, soprano (Una poenitentium)
Erin Morley, soprano (Mater Gloriosa)
Mihoko Fujimura, mezzo-soprano (Mulier Samaritana)
Jane Henschel, mezzo-soprano (Maria Aegyptiaca)
Klaus Florian Vogt, tenor (Doctor Marianus)
Matthias Goerne, baritone (Pater Ecstaticus)
Ain Anger, bass (Pater Profundus)
Tanglewood Festival Chorus, John Oliver, conductor
Boston University Tanglewood Institute Chorus, Ann Howard Jones, conductor
American Boychoir, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz, conductor
Tanglewood tickets:
Box Office: 617-266-1200; 888-266-1200
Website: tanglewood.org

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

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.

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.