Article updated June 20, 2018 by Dave Read Tanglewood schedules present an embarrassment of riches, putting us at risk of fun-overload, which is as dangerous as second-helpings of pecan pie at Thanksgiving. Having covered Tanglewood since the Clinton Administration, we know enough to moderate, not overbook, and to look closely at the lineup so as… read more
How to get to the Berkshires
Here are inks for local and regional public transportation depots and stops, plus where to get Peter Pan bus and Amtrak train schedules and tickets: how to get to the Berkshires.
Alison Krauss at Tanglewood June 19, 2018
Article updated June 20, 2018 by Dave Read The original iteration of the Berkshires as a playground for the obscenely rich was during the last quarter of the 19th century, when it became an autumnal retreat for robber barons and other scallywags who’d grown bored of their Newport and Adirondack estates. In terms of man-made… read more
Sting plays Tanglewood
Sting made his Tangleood debut two days after the BSO wrapped their summer in the Berkshires, along with his son Joe Sumner and The Lost Bandoleers, in support of his 2016 release, 57th and 9th. A sold-out audience filled the Koussevitsky Music Shed on a chilly night for a concert of two dozen songs drawn… read more
Beethoven’s Ninth closes 2017 Tanglewood season
August 28, 2017 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read The honeymoon between Music Director Andris Nelsons, born 1978, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, born 1881, is over; their marriage was on full display for the 2017 season finale at Tanglewood, where they produced as beautiful performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 as you could imagine…. read more
Yo-Yo Ma at Tanglewood Aug. 6, 2017
August 6, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read This was a special Tanglewood concert on a Sunday in early August, with drama-free weather, with traffic streaming through Lenox since noon for a 2:30 performance. An audience of almost 14,000 assembled to listen to the ebullient Yo-Yo Ma perform the Cello Concerto of the troubled… read more
Tanglewood Takes Flight with Mass Audubon at Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary
August 2016 Tanglewood program review by Dave Read Tanglewood Takes Flight; Celebration of Birds and Music with Mass Audubon at Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary is a collaboration between two organizations that span the town of Lenox, a novel merging of their missions. The program is a most obvious idea to anyone who has attended concerts… read more
Tanglewood on Parade
August 2, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read Tanglewood on Parade is one of those events that qualifies as the coolest thing in the world, an event you’d make a point of attending, if you knew enough to. It is an all-day celebration of all things classically musical, in a variety of venues spread… read more
2016 Opening week at Tanglewood
Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read For the first time in seventeen years, our Tanglewood season got underway with James Taylor and his All-Star Band, instead of with Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion. During Keillor’s run, which began in the last days of the Clinton Administration and ended at the same point in… read more
BSO and Nelsons win second Grammy
Article by Dave Read Facebook Twitter The Boston Symphony Orchestra was awarded its ninth Grammmy at the February 12, 2016 awards ceremony and the second in a row as part of its collaboration with Deutsche Grammophon to record Dmitri Shostakovich’s entire canon of 15 symphonies, plus his opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. For this year’s… read more
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… read more
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… read more
Silk Road Ensemble with Yo-Yo Ma at Tanglewood
Aug. 7, 2016 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read The Silk Road Ensemble, with Yo-Yo Ma, used the Koussevitsky Music Shed at Tanglewood like a high school during their Aug. 7, 2016 performance, presenting both lessons in social studies and the senior assembly. Eighteen years since being co-founded by Yo-yo Ma at Ozawa Hall, the… read more