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Article updated October 22, 2019 by Dave Read

When you’re attending a concert at Tanglewood on a Sunday afternoon, you may count yourself among the luckiest. Now, we’ve all got more such opportunities because the new Tanglewood Learning Institute will host Sunday afternoon chamber music concerts this fall, winter, and next spring by current and former Boston Symphony Orchestra players.

Preceding the first of them is a weekend of programs, beginning with a Thursday-evening film screening of Falling Down Stairs, a 1997 collaboration between cellist Yo-Yo Ma and choreographer Mark Morris, featuring Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3 as a soundtrack.

Opening weekend of TLI programs

Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, amateur artists are given the opportunity to hone their skills in the fields of photography and painting with IS183 Art School of the Berkshires faculty artists. Later that day, 2–5 p.m., a multidisciplinary TLI OpenForum panel addresses the topic “Mastery in the DIY Era.”

Presenters include violinist Yevgeny Kutik and master model ship builder Rob Napier. The weekend concludes with a Sunday 3 p.m. chamber music concert by BSO associate principal clarinetist Thomas Martin, BSO violist Michael Zaretsky, and pianist Randall Hodgkinson in works by Mozart, Schumann, and Bruch. All events will take place in the Linde Center.

Sunday, October 27, 2019, 3 p.m.

• MOZART Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano, K.498, “Kegelstatt”
• SCHUMANN Märchenerzählungen for clarinet, viola, and piano, Op. 132
• BRUCH Eight Pieces for clarinet, viola, and piano, Op. 83
• Thomas Martin, clarinet; Michael Zaretsky, viola; Randall Hodgkinson, piano

The following weekend will be the first of three symposia to honor the legacy of the Martha Graham, in collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company.

Appalachian Spring @ 75, October 30, 2019, 7:30 p.m.
This tribute to the celebrated ballet—starring Graham, choreographed by her, and featuring an iconic score composed by Aaron Copland —includes a lecture about the genesis of the work through Graham/Copland correspondence and video of Martha herself, a special presentation of several dance excerpts from the ballet focusing on the Bride and Husbandman roles, and a Q&A session with Janet Eilber, Artistic Director of the Martha Graham Dance Company, and Patsy Gay, Associate Archivist of Jacob’s Pillow.

The other Martha Graham programs are:

• March 11, 2020, 7:30PM, Graham’s Greeks: Night Journey;
• April 29, 2020, 7:30PM A Legacy of Innovation: The Lamentation Variations.

TLI tickets and further information.

Hotels in the Berkshires

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.

2019 Tanglewood schedule

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has released the schedule for the 2019 season at Tanglewood, which will be remembered for the opening of the Tanglewood Learning Institute, the four buildings overlooking Seiji Ozawa Hall on the Leonard Bernstein camopus.

Music director Andris Nelsons will be present for the month of July, conducting 13 programs, including the world premiere of a new work by Kevin Puts, The Brightness of Light, based on letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz on July 20, and a concert performance of Wagner’s complete Die Walküre on july 27 and 28.

Article updated October 15, 2019 by Dave Read

The Boston Symphony Orchestra announces Tanglewood’s first-ever fall/winter/spring schedule of performances and activities to take place October 2019 through June 2020. Under the auspices of the Tanglewood Learning Institute, the new programming provides a wide spectrum of performances, programs, activities, and events designed to engage curious minds and attract both newcomers and longtime patrons seeking to expand their involvement with music and the arts.

During its inaugural season of fall/winter/spring programming, the Tanglewood Learning Institute will present more than 40 programs and activities in the Linde Center for Music and Learning, Tanglewood’s new four-building complex is also available for event and concert rental use by the Berkshire community and beyond. Beyond the TLI fall/winter/spring programming, there are approximately 35 additional events scheduled to take place at the Linde Center this fall, winter, and spring, including weddings, conferences, receptions, workshops, and meetings, as well as performances and concerts by local arts organizations.

WEEKEND PROGRAMS
• TLI KICK-OFF WEEKEND, October 24-27: to include a film screening of Falling Down Stairs, the Yo-Yo Ma/Mark Morris collaboration inspired by Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3; a multidisciplinary presentation on “Mastery in the DIY Era”; a chamber music concert featuring BSO musicians; and a special edition of the TLI’s Focal Point, offering lessons in amateur photography and painting

• IMMERSION WEEKENDS: a Fiddle Weekend for amateur musicians, led by BSO violinist Bonnie Bewick, and a weekend-long focus on artists and their historic Berkshire homes and studios in collaboration with Chesterwood

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
• MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY COLLABORATION: three symposiums focusing on different historic moments in the life of the legendary dance company, featuring dancers in excerpts from some of Graham’s iconic dances, plus lectures, film presentations, and Q&A discussions

• TASTE: three afternoons/evenings of music, learning, food, and related arts with spotlights on Argentina, Russia, and cultures from around the world

• TLI OPENFORUMS: three Saturday-afternoon multidisciplinary programs featuring artists and experts from different fields exploring topics touching on music, including “Reclaiming Our Connection to Nature,” featuring a performance of James Burton’s The Lost Words with the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir, in collaboration with Mass Audubon Pleasant Valley Sanctuary

• TLI TALKS: two three-part interactive arts appreciation sessions—“Dancing to the Music: Exploring the Composer-Choreographer Collaborative Process” and “Beyond the Muse: Exploring the Influence of Composer-Performer Partnerships”
CONCERTS BY BSO MUSICIANS AND ENSEMBLES
• TLI CONCERTS: performances by current and retired Boston Symphony Orchestra musicians and ensembles, including a springtime performance by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in celebration of its 50th anniversary

ART CLASSES, CINEMA PRESENTATIONS, AND FAMILY ACTIVITIES
• FOCAL POINT: Four-part Saturday-morning courses offering amateur artists opportunities to hone their skills in photography, pastel, and watercolor; and ART NIGHT OUT: “Drop-in” Friday-evening visual arts classes at the Linde Center, including smartphone photography and pamphlet-stitch bookmaking, both presented in conjunction with IS183 Art School of the Berkshires
• CINEMATICS: a Thursday-evening film series encouraging participants to explore and celebrate the relationship of music, cinema, and the human spirit; and CINEMATICS FOR FAMILIES offering Saturday-morning screenings and hands-on activities for kids.
WEEKEND PROGRAMS

TLI KICKOFF WEEKEND
The fall/winter/spring TLI KICKOFF WEEKEND (October 24–27) starts with a Thursday-evening film screening of Falling Down Stairs, a 1997 collaboration between cellist Yo-Yo Ma and choreographer Mark Morris, featuring Bach’s Cello Suite No. 3 as a soundtrack. Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, amateur artists are given the opportunity to hone their skills in the fields of photography and painting from IS183 Art School of the Berkshires Faculty Artists. Later that day, 2–5 p.m., a multidisciplinary TLI OpenForum panel addresses the topic “Mastery in the DIY Era.” Presenters include violinist Yevgeny Kutik and master model ship builder Rob Napier. The weekend concludes with a Sunday 3 p.m. chamber music concert by BSO associate principal clarinetist Thomas Martin, BSO violist Michael Zaretsky, and pianist Randall Hodgkinson in works by Mozart, Schumann, and Bruch. All events will take place in the Linde Center.

Fiddle Weekend, March 13–15, 2020
BSO violinist Bonnie Bewick, who often delves into the traditional fiddle repertoire, is joined by Laurel Martin and Katie McNally. Participants will rotate through workshops exploring Irish, Scottish, and Canadian fiddle styles, learn tunes in each genre, hear performances and jam sessions by guest artists and friends, take part in a dance, and experience how traditional music draws people together, fostering community and connection.

Creative Placemaking at Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios, May 15–17, 2020
Presented in collaboration with Chesterwood, the Stockbridge summer estate and studio of American sculptor Daniel Chester French (1850–1931), this program invites participants to explore the creativity and inspiration of artists represented at Historic Artists’ Homes and Studios (HAHS) sites across the country, enhancing their understanding of the creative process through the visual and performing arts, past and present.

TLI honors the legacy of the legendary dancer/choreographer Martha Graham (1894-1991) in three symposiums presented in collaboration with the Martha Graham Dance Company.

Appalachian Spring @ 75, October 30, 2019, 7:30 p.m.
This tribute to the celebrated ballet—starring Graham, choreographed by her, and featuring an iconic score composed by Aaron Copland—includes a lecture about the genesis of the work through Graham/Copland correspondence and video of Martha herself, a special presentation of several dance excerpts from the ballet focusing on the Bride and Husbandman roles, and a Q&A session with Janet Eilber, Artistic Director of the Martha Graham Dance Company, and Patsy Gay, Associate Archivist of Jacob’s Pillow.

Night Journey, March 11, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
The TLI’s second Martha Graham event will feature Night Journey, her 1947 ballet performed to music of William Schuman and the third of her dances derived from Greek mythology, in this case the Oedipus story, with Graham as Jocasta. The genesis of Night Journey dates from the meeting of Graham and Schuman backstage at Symphony Hall in Boston after the BSO’s world premiere of Schuman’s Symphony No. 3 in 1941.

Lamentation Variations, April 29, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
TLI honors this work, which was conceived in 2007 to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11, with a performance of selected variations, a lecture about the essence of Martha’s “vocabulary” and demonstration of her technique, as well as film footage of Martha dancing the original Lamentation ballet (1930, music by Zoltán Kodály).

TASTE
A new addition to the TLI schedule, this season’s three TASTE events combine music, learning, catered dinner, and related arts.

Spotlight on Argentina, November 15, 2019, beginning at 4 p.m.
Bandoneon player JP Jofre is featured in this celebration, which includes the free afternoon class “Tango for Anyone and Everyone,” a catered dinner of Argentine food and wine, and a bandoneon trio concert.

The Culture of Russia, February 21, 2020, beginning at 4 p.m.
Conductor/pianist Ignat Solzhenitsyn shares insights about his homeland, beginning with an afternoon event in collaboration with local literary and visual arts organizations, continuing with a dinner showcasing Russian food and drink, and concluding with a presentation by Mr. Solzhenitsyn of music and poetry featured in his father Alexander’s writings.

Around the World, May 28, 2020, beginning at 4 p.m.
The TASTE series concludes with performances by artists from the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Folk Arts and Heritage program.

TLI OPENFORUM
TLI OpenForum, a re-imagining of summer 2019’s The Big Idea, offers multidisciplinary events (concerts, panel discussion, multimedia presentations, talk/demos, workshops, Q&A sessions) that involve collaborators and explore a topic relevant to music and connected to other disciplines. Each session has a specific focus.

• October 26, 2019, 2–5 p.m. (during TLI Kickoff Weekend)
“Mastery in the DIY [Do-it-Yourself] Era,” with violinist Yevgeny Kutick and master model ship builder Rob Napier

• November 23, 2019, 2–5 p.m.
“Finding Home,” in partnership with Norman Rockwell Museum and Mass Cultural Council, featuring world music artist Neuza de Pina

• April 11, 2020, 2–5 p.m.
“Reclaiming Our Connection to Nature,” in partnership with Mass Audubon Pleasant Valley Sanctuary, featuring a performance of TFC conductor James Burton’s The Lost Words with the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir

TLI TALKS SERIES
Two three-session arts appreciation series featuring engaging and interactive multimedia presentations in spring 2020.

March 8, 15, and 22, 3–4:30 p.m., with TLI Program Manager Emilio Gonzalez
Dancing to the Music: Exploring the Composer-Choreographer Collaborative Process

Session 1: “Setting the Stage for Collaboration: Ballet from the Nineteenth Century into the Twentieth”
Subject matter includes the start of the tradition of great ballets—Adam to Tchaikovsky—and the Ballets Russes Explosion
Session 2: “(Some of) the Great Partnerships”
Subject matter includes Balanchine and Stravinsky; Martha Graham and Louis Horst; Martha Graham and Aaron Copland
Session 3: “Postmodern Dance and Post-Notation Music”
Subject matter includes Cage and Cunningham, Judson Dance Theater.

April 26, May 3, and May 10 from 3–4:30 p.m. with TLI Director Sue Elliott
Beyond the Muse: Exploring the Influence of Composer-Performer Partnerships

Session 1: The Human Voice
Session 2: It’s Instrumental
Session 3: The Rest of the Story

CONCERTS BY BSO MUSICIANS—CURRENT AND RETIRED—AND ENSEMBLES

TLI CONCERTS
TLI Concerts presents chamber concerts by BSO players, current and retired, in the new Linde Center’s Studio E at Tanglewood.

• Sunday, October 27, 2019, 3 p.m.
MOZART Trio for clarinet, viola, and piano, K.498, “Kegelstatt”
SCHUMANN Märchenerzählungen for clarinet, viola, and piano, Op. 132
BRUCH Eight Pieces for clarinet, viola, and piano, Op. 83
Thomas Martin, clarinet; Michael Zaretsky, viola; Randall Hodgkinson, piano

• Sunday, December 1, 2019, 3 p.m.
KODÁLY Duo for violin and cello, Op. 7
BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat, Op. 74, “Harp”
Victor Romanul and Xin Ding, violins; Daniel Getz, viola; Adam Esbensen, cello

• Sunday, February 23, 2020, 3 p.m.
HINDEMITH Sonata for Alto Horn and Piano
EWAZEN Elizabethan Suite
Saskia APON Quartet No. 1
Steven WINTEREGG Latin Dances
DORSEY Three Moods
Clarence WOODS Slippery Elm Rag
Joseph LAMB Ragtime Nightingale
CLARKE Bride of the Waves
Ronald Barron, trombone; Larry Wallach, piano; Allan Dean, trumpet; Ian Striedter & David Kidd, trombones; Cameron Owen, bass trombone; David Fields & Bailey Forfa, percussion; Lawrence Wolfe, double bass

• Sunday, April 5, 2020, 3 p.m.
Doug BALLIETT Beast Fight
Katherine BALCH Kalesa Ed Kaluca for seven double basses
FRANÇAIX Duo Baroque
BARTÓK Selected duos for two violins (performed on double basses)
Eric Finbarr Carey, tenor; Charles Overton, harp; Carl Anderson, Benjamin Levy, Dennis Roy, Todd Seeber, John Stovall, Thomas Van Dyck, and Lawrence Wolfe, double basses

• Saturday, April 11, 2020, 7:30 p.m.
50th Anniversary Concert by the Tanglewood Festival Chorus
RACHMANINOFF All-Night Vigil
Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor
[This program is preceded by a TLI OpenForum event from 2–5 p.m. featuring James Burton’s The Lost Words with the Boston Symphony Children’s Choir, conducted by the composer]

ART CLASSES, CINEMA PRESENTATIONS, AND FAMILY ACTIVITIES

VISUAL ARTS with IS183 Art School of the Berkshires,
Focal Point, Saturdays, 10 a.m.-12 noon—Opportunities for amateur artists to hone their skills in photography, painting, and drawing using the immense natural beauty of the Tanglewood campus as a backdrop.

• Participants can receive one-on-one mentorship from IS183 Faculty Artists—local professional photographers, painters, and illustrators.

• Fall 2019 classes, October 26, November 2, 9, and 16, covering photography and either pastel or watercolor

• Spring 2020 classes, April 25, May 2, 9, and 16, covering photography and either pastel or watercolor

Art Night Out—Drop-in Friday evening art classes at the Linde Center, taught by IS183 Faculty Artists

• Smartphone photography, December 13, 7–9 p.m.

• Pamphlet-stitch bookmaking, February 7, 7–9 p.m.

• Subject TBA, April 3, 7–9 p.m.

CINEMATICS with Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF)
A continuation of the summer series, Cinematics encourages participants to explore and celebrate the relationship between music, cinema, and the human spirit.

• Offered on Thursdays (October 24, December 5, December 12, February 6, March 5, April 2, and May 7)

• New to the schedule: two family film series, one in collaboration with Norman Rockwell Museum (featuring animation/illustration) on February 15 & 22 (titles TBD) and another in collaboration with Mass Audubon Pleasant Valley Sanctuary on April 18 and 25 (titles TBD) that also includes a nature workshop component led by Audubon staff.

Hotels in the Berkshires

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.

2019 Tanglewood schedule

The Boston Symphony Orchestra has released the schedule for the 2019 season at Tanglewood, which will be remembered for the opening of the Tanglewood Learning Institute, the four buildings overlooking Seiji Ozawa Hall on the Leonard Bernstein camopus.

Music director Andris Nelsons will be present for the month of July, conducting 13 programs, including the world premiere of a new work by Kevin Puts, The Brightness of Light, based on letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz on July 20, and a concert performance of Wagner’s complete Die Walküre on july 27 and 28.

Article updated September 15, 2019 by Dave Read

Two poems by Dave Conlin Read, Fall Vespers and Winter Reverie, will be published in the Fall/Winter 2019-2020 issue of the Aurorean, due out in late October.

Fall Vespers

Because summertime leaves
us limp with languor, trees
who cast only shadows
heretofore,
now also cast doubt.

They loosen the noose
of certitude –

their showy displays
present a deciduous
analogue to television,
tablets and smart things –

perhaps even lead some
to ogle the colorful leaves.

Winter Reverie

Weeks of cold days under granite skies
Trudging streets flanked by walls
Of drab snow, shaped by glacial snow plows,

Lead to a magical moment when I
Become John Muir, six thousand feet tall,
Striding across Yosemite Valley

Article updated September 12, 2019 by Dave Read

It was my good fortune to participate in a poetry workshop during the 2018 Sharon Springs Poetry Festival, along with nine other poets, which was run by festival-founder Paul Muldoon.

I was smart enough to ask colleagues in my weekly workshop in the Berkshires to help me decide between the two poems that I’d thought suitable to workshop with Muldoon, but then was too imperious to follow their decision!

My local group suggested that I bring “More Ways to Ponder” while I opted for “Cape Cod Post Card.” The group consensus was a two page poem that collects about a dozen epigrams loosely related to the topic of poetry; it has since been published in an anthology.

My choice, which I was very excited about, fell flat as a pancake at the workshop. It was a little mystifying that the regard of Muldoon and the others for the poem were so divergent from my own. But, aware that I must be ready to kill my darlings, I was over my disappointment by the time I was out of Schoharie county.

That poem was scrapped, but a new one was made around the aspect of the old one that had nothing whatsoever to do with Cape Cod. While it has yet to find acclaim out in the wild, nonetheless my poetry cohort agree it’s a worthy poem.

Article updated September 6, 2019 by Dave Read

Following the appearance in a January 2012 edition of the New Yorker of his now-famous essay “Out the Window,” I became acquainted with Donald Hall and had the pleasure of three visits at Eagle Pond Farm, with trips to a succession of area restraunts. Also, I attended his last reading and poetry talk in Nov. 2017 at the University of New Hampshire, as well as his funeral seven months later. This is an aggregation of links to useful, entertaining, and eluciadting items related to Donald Hall, who died on June 23, 2018.

• The Web of Stories, “an archive of stories from people who have influenced our world…” – recorded at Eagle Pond Farm, Jan. 2005; there are 111 video clips of 5.5 minutes duration – Web of Stories;
• Comprehensive, up-to-date, bibliogrphy and related info by the publisher of Poetry magzine – including 54 poems, several essays by and about him: Poetry Foundation;
• His 2001 essay, “Death to the Death of Poetry,” is among the material posted here: Academy of American Poets;
• In their own words: “This guide compiles links to resources on Donald Hall throughout the Library of Congress Web site, as well as links to external Web sites that include features on Hall’s life or selections of his work.” Includes White House video of President Obama presenting him the National Medal of Arts in 20120: Library of Congress;
• NPR interview, 2014;
• Interview by Peter A. Stitt, The Paris Review, The Art of Poetry, No. 43 (Issue 120, Fall 1991); The Paris Review;

Notice the pile of disused railroad ties above; Seamus Heaney collected a railroad spike here, then immortalized it in a poem, the monograph/broadside of which was one of Don’s prized possessions. When I learned that, after my visits to Wilmot, I looked up Heaney’s poem, and somehow wound up reading a different Heaney poem, which – if you’re not already exhausted, led me to make one of my own:

Machine Learning

The machine delivered
Seamus Heaney’s poem “May,”
where I found fontanel – a treat,
as if I’d been foraging morels,

but I’d asked for “Iron Spike,”
wherein he visits Eagle Pond,
home of Don Hall and Jane Kenyon,
poets he had a soft spot for.

– Dave Conlin Read