BerkshiresJazz.org presents two free programs in Pittsfield the first weekend of May. On May 3 by the Williams College Jazz Group, an ensemble comprising talented students and headed by Andy Jaffe. The 7:30pm concert will take place at Baba Louie’s Backroom, , 34 Depot Street, Pittsfield.

The student members come from around the country and around the world: Max Dietrich, baritone sax (Newton, Mass.); Nina Kumar, drums (Larchmont,N.Y.); Thobo Mogojwe, vocals (Botswana); Chris Janson, bass (Darien,Conn); Jack Schweighauser guitar (Lake Forest, IL). The pianist and leader is Andy Jaffe, the Lyell B.Clay Artist in Residence in Jazz and Director of Jazz Activities at Williams College.

On Sunday, May 5, percussionist, author, activist, and Pittsfield native Royal Hartigan brings the Blood Drum Spirit ensemble to his home town, to honor our ancestors. The 3pm concert will take place at the Zion Lutheran Church at 74 First Street, Pittsfield.

Royal will be joined by saxophonist David Bindman, pianist Art Hirahara, and bassist Wes Brown. His performance will include selections from two of the group’s CDs, “Ancestors” and “Blood Drum Spirit Live in China.” A free will offering is suggested and all proceeds from offerings will be donated to the Pittsfield Area Council of Congregations Emergency Fuel Fund and to Berkshires Jazz, Inc. More info at BerkshiresJazz.org.

Barrington Stage Company’s 2013 season schedules lists some 275 events. Plays featured on BSC stages in 2013 include On the Town, music by Leonard Bernstein, book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, The Chosen, by Chaim Potok, adapted by Chaim Potok and Aaron Posner; Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare, starring Christopher Innvar, Gretchen Egolf, and Mark H. Dold; Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris. Also on tap is the world premiere of Scott and Hem In The Garden of Allah, written and directed by Mark St. Germain. The play is about the artistic and romantic rivalry between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.

May 22 – June 8. BASHIR LAZHAR by Evelyn de la Cheneliere, translation by Morwyn Brebner. Directed by Shakina Nayfack. American premiere.

This timely and beautifully written play about a French-Algerian refugee inspired the Oscar-nominated film Monsieur Lazhar. St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. Performances Tuesday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 4pm, Sunday at 3pm. Additional matinee Thursday, June 6 at 4pm. Press Opening: Sunday, May 26 at 3pm. Tickets: $40-$46. Tickets to performances May 22 & 23 are $15. Seniors: $32 all matinees. Youth ages 6-18, tickets $15 all performances (subject to availability).
May 28. Post-Show Discussion: BASHIR LAZHAR. St. Germain Stage the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. Following the Tuesday 7:30pm performance.

June 1 – 2. WE MADE THAT: THE SONGS OF MILLER & TYSEN.

The songwriting team who wrote The Burnt Part Boys and The Mysteries of Harris Burdick for the Musical Theatre Lab, perform tunes from those shows and from their new musical Tuck Everlasting. June 1 at 9:30pm and June 2 at 8pm. Tickets are $25, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

June 8 – 9. TONYA PINKINS IN HURRICANE ETHEL: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ETHEL WATERS.

Tony winner Tonya Pinkins. June 8 at 9:30pm and June 9 at 8pm. Tickets are $35, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

June 12 – July 13. ON THE TOWN, music by Leonard Bernstein, book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, directed by John Rando and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse.

A New York City musical comedy bursting with high energy dancing, not to be missed!. Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. Performances Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm, Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday and Friday matinees at 2pm (excluding 6/12, 6/14 and 6/19), Sunday at 5pm. Please note Thursday, July 4 there is no 8pm evening performance; will be a 2pm matinee. Press Opening: Sunday, June 16 at 5pm. Tickets: $20-$65. Performances June 12-14 tickets are $15/$20. Seniors: $39 & $34 all matinees. Youth ages 6-18, tickets $15 all performances (subject to availability).

June 13 – July 6. MUCKRAKERS by Zayd Dohrn, directed by Giovanna Sardelli.

A political and psychological thriller about secrecy and privacy in the modern world. St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. Performances Tuesday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 4pm, Sunday at 3pm. (Additional matinees on Thursday, June 27 and July 4 at 4pm). No 7:30pm performance on July 4. Press Opening: Wednesday, June 19 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $40-$46. Seniors: $32 all matinees. Low priced previews June 13 & 14 are $15. Youth ages 6-18, tickets $15 all performances (subject to availability).
June 18. Post Show Discussion: ON THE TOWN. Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. Following the Tuesday 7pm performance.
June 20. Post-Show Discussion: MUCKRAKERS. St. Germain Stage the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. Following the Tuesday 7:30pm performance.
June 22. BSC ANNUAL SUMMER GALA featuring a performance of ON THE TOWN at 4pm at the Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. Followed by a spectacular party with dinner, dancing and a silent auction at St. Joseph’s High School, 22 Maplewood Ave, Pittsfield, as Barrington Stage celebrates Pittsfield educator and visionary Shirley Edgerton.
June 29. UP CLOSE with the cast of ON THE TOWN. June 29 at 10:30pm. Tickets are $15, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.
June 30 – July 1. Paul Green and the Jewish Jazz Project: Traditional Klezmer Favorites and Jewish Jazz Fusion. June 30 and July 1 at 8pm. Tickets are $25, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.
July 6 – 7. Mr. Finn and his All-Star Songwriters, Take #1. July 6 at 9pm and July 7 at 8pm. Tickets are $20, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.
July 8. LINDA LAVIN “Possibilities” with Billy Stritch on piano. Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield, 8pm. Tickets: $75 VIP seating includes post-show reception with Ms. Lavin; $45, $35.
July 9. Musical Theatre Apprentice Cabaret. 10pm. Tickets are $10, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.
July 14 – 15. SIBLING REVELRY with ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY and LIZ CALLAWAY. 8pm. Tickets $45, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.
July 16. Gutless and Grateful: A Musical Feast with Amy Oestreicher. 8pm. Tickets are $20, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

July 18 – August 3. THE CHOSEN by Chaim Potok; adapted by Chaim Potok and Aaron Posner. Directed by Aaron Posner.

The much-beloved story of two boys, two fathers, and two very different Jewish communities in Brooklyn during World War II. Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. Performances Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm, Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday and Friday matinees at 2pm (excluding 7/19), Sunday at 5pm. Press Opening: Sunday, July 21 at 5pm. Tickets: $20-$58. Performances July 18-20 tickets are $15/$20. Seniors: $39 & $34 all matinees. Youth ages 6-18, tickets $15 all performances (subject to availability).

July 19 – August 10. BSC’s Musical Theatre Lab presents A World Premiere musical SOUTHERN COMFORT,

music by Julianne Wick-Davis, book and lyrics by Dan Collins, starring Jeff McCarthy and Annette O’Toole, directed by Tom Caruso. St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. A new musical about transformation, love and redefining family. Performances Tuesday-Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 4pm and 8pm, Sunday at 3pm. Press Opening: Wednesday, July 24 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $40-$46. Tickets to performances July 19 & 20 are $15. Seniors: $32 all matinees. Youth ages 6-18, tickets $15 all performances (subject to availability).
July 23. Post-Show Discussion: THE CHOSEN. Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. Following the Tuesday 7pm performance.

July 24 – August 11. BSC’s Youth Theatre presents Disney’s THE LITTLE MERMAID JR.

Directed and choreographed by Christine O’Grady. At Berkshire Museum, 39 South Street, Pittsfield. Performances Wednesday-Friday at 7pm, Matinees Wednesday and Thursday at 2pm (excl. 7/24); Saturday at 10am and 3pm; Sunday at 3pm (additional Monday matinee July 29 at 1pm). Tickets: $8-$15. A Museum/Theatre Pass is available for $25 (adults) and $13 (youth).
July 27 – 28. JOE ICONIS & FAMILY. July 27 at 10:30pm and July 28 at 8pm. Tickets are $25, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.
July 31. Post-Show Discussion: SOUTHERN COMFORT. St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. Following the Wednesday 7:30pm performance.
August 3. UP CLOSE with the cast of SOUTHERN COMFORT. 10:30pm. Tickets are $15, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

August 8 – 25. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING by William Shakespeare, starring Christopher Innvar, Gretchen Egolf, and Mark H. Dold, directed by Julianne Boyd.

Shakespeare’s witty war of words between Beatrice (Egolf) and Benedick (Innvar) is set in romantic 1930s Italy. Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union St., Pittsfield. Performances Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm, Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday and Friday matinees at 2pm (excluding 8/9), Sunday at 5pm. Press Opening: Sunday, August 11 at 5pm. Tickets: $20-$58. Performances August 8-10 tickets are $15/$20. Seniors: $39 & $34 all matinees. Youth ages 6-18, tickets $15 all performances (subject to availability).
August 9 – 10. Mr. Finn and his All-Star Songwriters, Take #2. August 9 at 10:30pm and August 10 at 8pm. Tickets are $20, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.
August 12. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange. Part of the 2013 WordXWord Festival, 7pm. Staged reading directed by Dawn Monique Williams. Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union St., Pittsfield. Tickets are $15, reserved seating.
August 13. Post-Show Discussion: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. Following the Tuesday 7pm performance.

August 15 – September 29. SCOTT AND HEM IN THE GARDEN OF ALLAH. Written and directed by Mark St. Germain.

A world premiere play about the artistic and romantic rivalry between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. Performances August 15 – September 1: Tuesday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 4pm (excluding August 17), Sunday at 3pm (additional matinee on Thursday, August 29 at 4pm). Performances September 6-29: Wednesday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 4pm and Sunday at 3pm. Press Opening: Wednesday, August 21 at 7:30pm. Tickets: $40-$46. Seniors: $32 all matinees. Low priced previews August 15 & 16 are $15. Youth ages 6-18, tickets $15 all performances (subject to availability).
August 17 – 18. Musical Theatre Apprentices: 10-Minute Musicals. August 17 at 10:30pm and August 18 at 8pm. Tickets are $10, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.
August 19. For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by Ntozake Shange. Westside Community Arts Project. 7pm, Staged reading directed by Dawn Monique Williams. St. Germain Stage the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. FREE, but reservations are strongly recommended.
August 20. Post-Show Discussion: SCOTT AND HEM IN THE GARDEN OF ALLAH. St. Germain Stage the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. Following the Tuesday 7:30pm performance.
August 25. Sam Salmond. Tickets $20, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

August 30-31. SONGS BY RIDICULOUSLY TALENTED COMPOSERS AND LYRICISTS YOU PROBABLY DON’T KNOW BUT SHOULD…

Narrated by Tony Award-winner William Finn. Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. A BSC Labor Day weekend tradition. Performances Friday and Saturday at 8pm. Tickets: $25-$35.
September 1. Staged Reading DANCING LESSONS by Mark St. Germain directed by Julianne Boyd at 7pm. A new play from the author of Freud’s Last Session, The Best of Enemies and Dr. Ruth, All the Way, Dancing Lessons centers on a high-functioning young man with Asperger’s Syndrome as he tries to navigate a relationship with a Broadway dancer, now sidelined with injuries. Tickets are $15, reserved seating. Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield.
September 21 – 22. LOVE & TAKE OUT with MICHELE BROURMAN. September 21 at 9:30pm and September 22 at 7:30pm. Tickets are $25, general admission. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

September 26 – October 13. CLYBOURNE PARK by Bruce Norris,

Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. A co-production with Dorset Theatre Festival. Performances Thursday at 7pm, Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm. Two added performances: Saturday October 5 at 2pm and Sunday, October 13 at 7pm. Press Opening: Sunday, October 7 at 3pm. Tickets: $20-$40. Low-priced previews on September 26 – 28 are $15/$20. Seniors: $38 all matinees. Youth 18 and under $15 all performances. Additional matinees for student groups are scheduled. Contact Group Services at 413-236-8888 for more information.
October 3. Post-Show Discussion CLYBOURNE PARK. Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. Following the Thursday 7pm performance.

Barrington Stage Company tickets contact information

Single tickets will go on sale February 15, 2012. Subscriptions for the Mainstage and Stage 2 seasons are now available. Mainstage FlexPasses start $108 and Stage 2 Passes start at just $81. Groups of 15 or more should contact Group Sales at 413 236-8888 for additional discounts. Affordable Theatre For All Continues In 2012:

Aston Magna’s 2013 season schedule runs from June 13 through July 13 with concerts at Bard College at Simon’s Rock, at Brandeis University, and at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, plus a June 29 concert at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in downtown Great Barrington, MA.

The season, which will begin on the weekend of June 13-15, will be under the musical direction of Daniel Stepner, Artistic Director and violinist, and will feature many of our most prominent artists, including sopranos Sharon Baker, Dominique Labelle, and Kristen Watson; clarinetist Eric Hoeprich; oboist Stephen Hammer; gambist Laura Jeppesen; theorbist Catherine Liddell; harpischordist Peter Sykes; and trumpeter Josh Cohen.

This summer’s five Aston Magna Festival programs will be performed at Slosberg Auditorium at Brandeis University in Waltham, MA, on Thursday evenings, June 13, 20 and 27, and July 4 and 11 with concerts beginning at 8:00 p.m. The concerts can be heard on Friday evenings, June 14, 21 and 28, and July 5 and 12 at 8:00 p.m. in the air-conditioned auditorium of the Olin Humanities Building on the main campus of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Four of the concerts on Saturdays, June 15 and 22 and July 6 and 13, will take place at the Daniel Arts Center at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, MA, at 6:00 p.m. The concert on Saturday, June 29 will be performed at The Mahaiwe at 8:00 p.m. A pre-concert lecture by Daniel Stepner will be featured one hour before all concerts, and audience members are invited to “Meet the Artists” post-concert. Audience members are invited to a wine and cheese reception following all concerts at the Daniel Arts Center and the June 29 Mahaiwe concert.

For the first concert weekend, on June 13, 14, and 15, clarinetist Eric Hoeprich will introduce the unfamiliar but hauntingly beautiful chalumeau. The program will highlight this once popular instrument, a relative of both the recorder and the clarinet, in works by Handel, Vivaldi, and others, including Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I. Stephen Hammer on baroque oboe, and Kristen Watson, soprano, will also join Mr. Stepner, who will lead a small ensemble.

The second concert will be devoted to music of Johann Sebastian Bach for harpsichord and violin, and will feature all six sonatas for violin and harpsichord. It will be performed on June 20, 21, and 22. Violinist Daniel Stepner and keyboardist Peter Sykes will perform.

During the third weekend, June 27, 28, and 29, the Saturday evening performance will take place at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center at 8:00. The concert will present music by Bach and French composer Marin Marais, whose life was portrayed in the film Tous les matins du monde. Soprano Dominique Labelle will solo in works by Marais as well as in Bach’s “Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen.” The second Brandenburg concerto will also be performed. The ensemble will include gambist Laura Jeppesen, theorbist Catherine Lidell, baroque trumpeter Josh Cohen, and a chamber orchestra led by Mr. Stepner.

Monteverdi madrigals will be performed on July 4, 5, and 6, together with those of one of his predecessors, Giaches de Wert. Masterful and imaginative musical settings from the 16th and early 17th century will be the fare with Aston Magna’s Madrigal Singers performing.

For the final concert weekend, July 11, 12, and 13, Aston Magna explores the musical library of America’s third president, Thomas Jefferson, illuminated by excerpts from his writings. An accomplished musician himself, Jefferson collected a good number of musical gems, including music of Corelli, Mozart, J.C. Bach, Maria Cosway and Francis Hopkinson. Performing will be soprano Sharon Baker, violinist Daniel Stepner, and harpsichordist Michael Sponseller.

In conjunction with the first two concert weekends, period instrument workshops will be offered at Brandeis University. On June 9-14, workshop classes and private instruction will be offered by Mr. Hammer, oboe, and Mr. Hoeprich, clarinet, exploring Mozart’s use of wind instruments in The Magic Flute. In the June 16-21 workshop, Mr. Stepner will offer sessions on Bach’s works for unaccompanied violin, geared to both modern and baroque violinists. For more information, please consult the website, www.brandeis.edu/summer/music/.

For information or to order tickets to the concerts at the Olin Auditorium on the main campus of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, please phone 845-758-7887. Individual tickets purchased in advance for concerts at Olin Auditorium are $35 ($30/seniors). Students with valid full-time student ID, or under the age of 25, may purchase up to two $5 student rush tickets on the day of the performance. Student rush tickets are subject to availability. Tickets to these concerts are not available online.

Tickets to the June 29 concert at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center can be purchased by calling 413-528-0100 or on line at www.mahaiwe.org. Audience members are invited to a wine and cheese reception following the June 29 Mahaiwe concert.

Subscriptions to the Festival are available at Slosberg Auditorium, Brandeis University, and at Daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock. Single tickets purchased in advance for the Slosberg Auditorium concerts are $30 ($25/seniors); subscription tickets are discounted at $5, $4, $3 and $2 per ticket, for 5, 4, 3, and 2 concerts, respectively. Individual tickets purchased in advance for concerts at the Daniel Arts Center are $35 ($30/seniors); subscription tickets are discounted at $5, $4, and $3 per ticket, for 4, 3, and 2 concerts respectively. Buying in advance also saves you an additional $5 over the price of individual tickets at the door.

Student rush tickets at $10 are available at the door at all concerts. Aston Magna encourages parents to bring the kids! Children 6 to 16 are free, two per each paid adult ticket at Daniel Arts Center.

Tickets or information to concerts at the Daniel Arts Center and at the Slosberg Auditorium may be ordered by calling 413-528-3595, (out of area 800-875-7156) or on line at www.astonmagna.org.

While 2013 may be felt as an annus horribilis among James Taylor fans, since he’ll be on a songwriting sabbatical, the roster of popular artists scheduled to perform during Tanglewood’s 76th season in the Berkshires is an attractive one. Melissa Etheridge will open the festivities with a concert in the Koussevitsky Music Shed on June 21. The next day, a new symphonic project, The Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration, featuring Warren Haynes with the Boston Pops under the direction of Keith Lockhart, will be presented in the Shed.

Folk, rock, pop, and radio shows Tanglewood 2013 season

• Melissa Etheridge Live – June 21 7PM
• Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration – June 22 8:30PM
• Joan Baez & Indigo Girls – June 23 2:30PM
• Terence Blanchard Group – June 28 8PM
• A Prairie Home Companion at Tanglewood with Garrison Keillor – June 29 5:45PM
• Jackson Browne with Special Guest Sara Watkins – July 4 7PM
• Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds Five, and Guster “Last Summer On Earth Tour 2013” – July 23 7PM
• An Evening with Steve Miller Band – July 29 7PM
• Esperanza Spalding – August 4 8PM
• Grace Potter and the Nocturnals with Josh Ritter – August 19 7PM
• Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me! – August 29 8PM
• Donal Fox, Scarlatti Jazz Project – Aug. 31, 2013 – 1pm – Ozawa Hall
• Harry Connick, Jr. – Aug. 31, 2013 – 7pm – Shed

Jackson Browne 2013 Tanglewood Fourth of July concert

The redoubtable Garrison Keillor returns with a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, for the 14th consecutive year, on June 29. James Taylor’s fellow Troubadour Club alumnus Jackson Browne headlines Tanglewood’s Fourth of July celebration, with special guest Sara Watkins.

Vince Gill returns to Tanglewood, with Boston Pops

Understanding Tanglewood’s Popular Artist moniker to stray far beyond whatever parameters may pertain to “pop music,” the schedule unfolds with a couple of musicians from the discrete genres of country and jazz. Vince Gill, who played Tanglewood with his wife Amy Grant and James Taylor in 2011, is featured guest on a July 7 Boston Pops program. Triple-threat Esperanza Spalding, the virtuoso bassist, vocalist, and composer leads her Radio Music Society Tour to Tanglewood’s Seiji Ozawa Hall on Sunday, August 4, 2013.

The Boston Symphony Orchestra’s 2013 Tanglewood schedule begins July 5 with an all-Tchaikovsky program led by popular guest conductor Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos and featuring the popular violinist Joshua Bell.

Image credits:

• Jackson Browne unplugged and in concert; Author=http://www.flickr.com/people/36703550@N00
• Esperanza Spalding performing at the Newport Jazz Festival 2008; “Cowboy” Ben Alman http://www.benalman.com
• Melissa Etheridge, Hollywood Walk of Fame; Attribution: Angela George
• Warren Haynes performing with Govt Mule; Chris Hakkens http://www.flickr.com/photos/chris_hakkens/3595676891/in/set-72157619171503309

The 2013 Tanglewood popular artists schedule has been updated to include the Terence Blanchard Group, featuring New Orleans jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard, who first performed at Tanglewood on August 31, 2008. The concert will take place in Ozawa Hall on Friday, June 28, at 8 pm. Jazz already scheduled for this summer at Tanglewood is Grammy award-winning jazz bassist/vocalist/composer Esperanza Spalding with her her Radio Music Society Tour on August 4.

formerly with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers

Blanchard is renowned in jazz circles as a remarkable trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. A veteran of Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers (recommended by Wynton Marsalis as his replacement in 1983), Blanchard began his own recording career in a band co-led with saxophonist Donald Harrison, delivering two albums for Concord and three more for Columbia before launching his solo career with his eponymous 1991 album, also for Columbia. He recorded nine albums for Columbia and Sony Classical. In 2003 Blanchard signed with Blue Note Records where his career jettisoned to a new level of excellence, beginning with Bounce and then two years later with the Herbie Hancock-produced, Grammy-nominated Flow. In 2007 Blanchard won the large jazz ensemble Grammy for the haunting song-cycle album A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina) and in 2008 won the best instrumental solo Grammy for Live at the 2007 Monterey Jazz Festival (he won the same Grammy in 2009 for Jeff Tain Watts’s album Watts for the track “Dancin’ for Chicken”). In 2009, he recorded Choices, a compelling sextet date featuring spoken-word passages by social activist Dr. Cornel West and guest vocals by R&B soul singer Bilal. Choices was Blanchard’s 18th album as a leader/co-leader and his 39th album overall.

While recording and touring his own bands, Blanchard has also becoming a go-to composer for scoring films, beginning in the early ’90s for such films as Jungle Fever (1991) and Malcolm X (1992). He has enjoyed a special collaborative relationship with director Spike Lee, including his 2002 film 25th Hour (for which Blanchard received a Golden Globe nomination), the 2006 HBO documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, and 2008’s Miracle at St. Anna. Blanchard worked on the soundtrack for Cadillac Records (2008) and most recently contributed the score for Lucasfilm’s Red Tails, about the Tuskegee pilots.

Blanchard’s work with film has organically spread to working on scores for Broadway productions. Directed by Anna D. Shapiro, The Motherf**ker With a Hat premiered at Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York on April 11, 2011 and closed on July 17, 2011. It garnered six Tony Award nominations. As for A Streetcar Named Desire, set in the gritty French Quarter of 1940s New Orleans, Blanchard says, “I’ve been inspired by Tennessee Williams’s play and the original screenplay. One of the things about the movie—which is great and even historic in terms of our culture—is how much reference there is to music, such as the line ‘and the brass band plays.’ New Orleans had a profound effect on Tennessee Williams, which is why he wrote this play.” This new production starred Blair Underwood and was produced by Front Row Productions, which enlisted Blanchard to develop thematic ideas and arrangements with a New Orleans sensibility. Blanchard was commissioned by Opera St. Louis for his first-time opera, premiering this year. A boxing fan, Blanchard decided to focus on the story of former welterweight and middleweight champion Emile Griffith, a tremendous fighter from the U.S. Virgin Islands who also had to deal with the repercussions of being a closeted gay in the early ‘60s.

More about 2013 Tanglewood schedule.