Monty Alexander Trio at Tanglewood August 25, 2004 performance; by Dave Read Monty Alexander peered out from the Ozawa Hall stage at Tanglewood, saw the auditorium half full, and proceeded to deliver a concert of upbeat and optimistic music to an enthusiastic audience that occupied way less than half the hall. Such is the nature […]
Continue reading Monty Alexander Trio at Tanglewood2013 Tanglewood reviews
Beethoven’s Ninth closes BSO’s 2013 Tanglewood season
Beethoven’s Ninth closes BSO’s 2013 Tanglewood season August 25, 2013 performance; by Dave Read There is an appealing symmetry in the scheduling of Beethoven’s Ninth at Tanglewood; it is the composition chosen 76 years ago by founding maestro Serge Koussevitsky to open the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer sojourn in the Berkshires and now it is […]
Continue reading Beethoven’s Ninth closes BSO’s 2013 Tanglewood seasonYo Yo Ma’s Goat Rodeo Show at Tanglewood
Yo Yo Ma’s Goat Rodeo Show at Tanglewood August 15, 2013 performance; by Dave Read If Tanglewood were simply Tanglewood, summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, its Tanglewood Music Center and eight or nine weeks of classical music performed by the BSO and their various guest soloists and conductors, we Berkshires locals would have […]
Continue reading Yo Yo Ma’s Goat Rodeo Show at TanglewoodTan Dun’s The Map, with Yo Yo Ma at Tanglewood
Tan Dun’s The Map, with Yo Yo Ma and the BSO at Tanglewood August 7, 2004 performance; by Dave Read Among the many memorable images from this Tanglewood program was this tableau: a Paris-born Chinese cellist and a Siberian violinist trading jazzy licks with the video-taped image of a Chinese leaf blower. Coming during the […]
Continue reading Tan Dun’s The Map, with Yo Yo Ma at TanglewoodYo Yo Ma’s Brazil at Tanglewood
August 3, 2003 Tanglewood concert review by Dave Read The esteem for Yo Yo Ma is widespread, extending even to the climate gods, who transformed Tanglewood into a rain forest August 3 to accommodate the five Brazilian, one Cuban, and one British musician who collaborated with him in the Koussevitsky Music Shed for a concert […]
Continue reading Yo Yo Ma’s Brazil at Tanglewood2013 Tanglewood on Parade
2013 Tanglewood on Parade August, 2013 performance; by Dave Read We arrived at Tanglewood on Parade in time for the 8pm round of brass fanfares, which preceded the gala concert in the Shed. At 2pm, brass fanfares at the Main Gate heralded the beginning of an all-day celebration featuring performances throughout the Tanglewood campus by […]
Continue reading 2013 Tanglewood on ParadeEsperanza Spalding at Tanglewood
Esperanza Spalding at Tanglewood August 4, 2013 performance; by Dave Read Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood was transformed Sunday evening into Ms. Esperanza Spalding‘s neighborhood; she is the phenom, who at age 4 made up her mind to have a life in music while watching Yo Yo Ma perform on Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. A year later […]
Continue reading Esperanza Spalding at TanglewoodVerdi’s Requiem at Tanglewood
Verdi’s Requiem at Tanglewood July 27, 2013 performance; by Dave Read Maestro Carlo Montanaro conducted a performance of Verdi’s Requiem at Tanglewood, leading four vocal soloists, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in filling the Koussevitsky Music Shed and environs with sound sufficient to console, frighten, excite, and mollify. Verdi composed his […]
Continue reading Verdi’s Requiem at TanglewoodWest Side Story at Tanglewood
West Side Story at Tanglewood July 13, 2013 performance; by Dave Read Two nights after a merely modest audience was attracted to Tanglewood for the concert performance in Ozawa Hall of John Harbison’s The Great Gatsby, an ungainly horde assembled at the Koussevitsky Music Shed for a screening of West Side Story with the Boston […]
Continue reading West Side Story at TanglewoodThe Great Gatsby John Harbison’s Opera performed at Tanglewood
The Great Gatsby John Harbison’s Opera performed at Tanglewood July 11, 2013 performance; by Dave Read The concert performance in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood of The Great Gatsby, by the orchestra and chorus of Emmanuel Music, was so enjoyable that we’re tempted to propose a corollary to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s adage, There are no second […]
Continue reading The Great Gatsby John Harbison’s Opera performed at Tanglewood