"American Traditions Festival" events at Tanglewood12:00AM / Monday, May 23, 2005
The Berkshires, MA - A series of Fourth of July weekend performances at the Tanglewood Music Festival are a centerpiece for Berkshire County's upcoming "American Traditions Festival" slated for the spring through Fall of 2005. More than two dozen Berkshire venues will present performances, dance, artwork and exhibitions exploring historical and contemporary aspects of America's heritage during the festival.
Scheduled "American Traditions" events at Tanglewood include singer/songwriter James Taylor on July 4 and 5; a live broadcast of Garrison Keillor's "A Prairie Home Companion" on July 2; and a celebration of Steven Sondheim's 75th birthday on July 13. Tanglewood will also celebrate "American Traditions" with performances by the Mark Morris Dance Group on June 26 and 27; the Boston Symphony Orchestra with James Levine and Peter Serkin on July 17; and the Grammy-winning vocal ensemble New York Voices in a Boston Pops "All That Jazz" program on August 14. Boston Pops Film Night with Academy Award-winning composer John Williams on August 27; and the fifth annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival from September 2 to 4, will round out Tanglewood's events for the festival.
"American Traditions" will take the stage at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival through performances by Tony Award-winning tap dancer Savion Glover from June 21 to 26; the 25-member Martha Graham Dance Company interpreting six decades of masterworks from June 29 to July 3; and the exhibition "Masters of Movement: Portraits of America's Great Choreographers" from June 18 to Aug. 28.
Other festival highlights include the 100th anniversary celebration of Edith Wharton's classic American novel, "The House of Mirth," from May 1 to October 31, "Selected Shorts Celebrates Great American Writers" July 8 to 10 and 15 to 17, and "The Amy Clampitt Poetry Series," honoring the local American writer and featuring former national poet laureate Rita Dove, on August 5, all scheduled to take place at The Mount, Edith Wharton's acclaimed estate; "The Art of 'The New Yorker': Eighty Years in the Vanguard," honoring the iconic magazine's 80th anniversary, from June 11 to October 31, and an outdoor juried exhibition, "Windblown: Contemporary American Weathervanes," from July 16 to October 31, both to take place at the Norman Rockwell Museum.
Additional American Traditions events include:
· "Quilt Masterpieces from Folk Art to Fine Art," a display of 19th and 20th century American quilts from June 4 to August 21, and "Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film 1880-1910," from July 16 to November 6 at Williams College Museum of Art.
· "The Power of Place: The Berkshire Hills and Beyond," an exhibition of regional historical paintings, contemporary artwork, and contemporary photographs, from May 14 to October 30 at The Berkshire Museum.
· The premiere of Berkshire Theatre Festival's "Mystery Sideshow 3: Way Out West": Discover a new world view through a collection of inspired Old West tall tales, cowboy chronicles and Native American mythology, as BTF PLAYS! presents its third installment of stories about historical wonders at Berkshire South Regional Community Center, from August 3 to 27.
· "Little Women, Little Men: Folk Art Portraits of Children from the Fenimore Art Museum," featuring classic portraits by American artists from July 4 to October 16 at The Clark Art Institute.
· "The Stars and Stripes: Fabric of the American Spirit," a historical display of parade flags, from May 28 to October 16 at Hancock Shaker Village.
· A summertime performance piece by artist Dave Cole, featuring two construction cranes knitting an enormous American flag at MASS MoCA.
· The world's largest collection of original art by American icon Norman Rockwell at the Norman Rockwell Museum.
· Performances of "Ice Glen," a Berkshire romantic comedy, from June 3 to September 4, and "The Mission of Jane and The Promise," adapted from Edith Wharton, from June 24 to September 4 at Shakespeare & Company.
· Performances of "Follies" by James Goldman and Stephen Sondheim, from June 23 to July 16 at Barrington Stage Company.
· The exhibition "The Melting Pot: Melville's Portrait Gallery in Moby Dick" (Memorial Day weekend through Columbus Day); performance of "Moby Dick Lives" (date to be announced); lecture by Dr. John Stauffer, author and Harvard professor of American Literature, on author Herman Melville's thoughts on multiculturalism and race, a Melville short story about a slave ship revolt, and "My Bondage and My Freedom" by Frederick Douglass (June 26) at Arrowhead.
· "The Old Maid And The Thief" by Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Gian Carlo Menotti, July 25, 27, 29 and 30, at the Berkshire Opera Company.
· "Gateway to the Gilded Age," a new permanent exhibition highlighting the railroad's role in transforming the Berkshires into a vacation destination, from Memorial Day weekend through October at the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum.
· The exhibitions "50 Years of Chesterwood," on view from May 1 to October 31, "Contemporary Sculpture at Chesterwood 2005 Outdoor Exhibit," from July through Columbus Day, and the ongoing "Daniel Chester French: Sculpting an American Vision," from May through October, at Chesterwood.
· Close Encounters With Music: A performance of "Edith, Edna and Emily" honoring Edith Wharton, Edna St. Vincent Millay and Emily Dickinson, on May 28.
· The exhibition "Currency Transformed : A Juried Exhibition of Paper Arts by Contemporary American Papermakers and Paper Artists," on view June 1 through mid-October at The Crane Museum of Papermaking.
· The exhibitions "Early Farm Life," "School Days," "Daily Life," "Religion," "Gramma's Attic" and "Local Participation in World War II," on view April through September at North Adams Museum of History & Science.
· The Trustees of Reservations: Tours, events and recreation at properties including The Mission House, Naumkeag, The Folly at Field Farm, The Ashley House and Monument Mountain between Memorial Day and Columbus Day.
· Ventfort Hall, The Museum of the Gilded Age: Tours, theater, concerts and other programs from Memorial Day to Columbus Day.
· Displays depicting the Hoosac Railroad Tunnel and the exhibition "19th Annual Friendship Knot Quilters' Guild" from May 29 to July 3 at Western Gateway Heritage State Park.
· Tours of the home of American abstract artists George L.K. Morris and Suzy Frelinghuysen, from June 23 to Oct 10 at The Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio. |
