Composer John Harbison and the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s principal double bass Edwin Barker will join host Martin Bookspan for the “Joys of Tanglewood†at the Berkshire Museum on Tuesday, July 31, at 10 a.m. The topic will be the “2007 Festival of Contemporary Music and New Music for Double Bass.â€
The Joys of Tanglewood series, offered every Tuesday through August 21, is presented by the Berkshire Museum and the Boston Symphony Association of Volunteers. Tickets are $12 ($10 for Tanglewood Friends and Berkshire Museum members). Tickets are available by telephone at 413-443-7171, extension 10.
John Harbison’s principal compositions include four string quartets, three symphonies, the cantata The Flight Into Egypt, which earned him a Pulitzer Prize in 1987, and three operas including The Great Gatsby, commissioned by The Metropolitan Opera and premiered to great acclaim in December 1999. Recent works include his Requiem for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Piano Sonata No. 2 for Robert Levin, String Quartet No. 4 for the Orion String Quartet, The Violists' Notebook, Four Psalms (commissioned by the Israeli Consulate for the Chicago Symphony to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel), and Partita, a Minnesota Orchestra centennial commission.
Major revivals of The Great Gatsby took place at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in October 2000 and at the Metropolitan Opera in May 2002, Four Psalms was performed by the Cantata Singers of Boston in 2001, and by the American Composers Orchestra in New York in November 2002, and his opera Full Moon in March was presented in May 2003. As conductor, Harbison has led a number of leading orchestras and chamber groups including the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony, and the Handel and Haydn Society. For many years he has been principal guest conductor of Emmanuel Music in Boston, leading performances of Bach cantatas, 17th-century motets, and new music.
Acknowledged as an accomplished solo and ensemble player, Edwin Barker has concertized in North America, Europe, and the Far East. Barker has performed and recorded with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Chamber Players and Collage, a Boston-based contemporary music ensemble. He is also a frequent guest performer with the Boston Chamber Music Society at NEC’s Jordan Hall. He gave the world premiere of James Yannatos' Bass Concerto – written especially for him – with Alea III and subsequently performed it with Collage. He was the featured soloist for the New England premiere of Gunther Schuller's Bass Concerto, conducted by the composer, with the Boston Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Barker’s major teaching affiliations include the Tanglewood Music Center, Boston University and New England Conservatory. Mr. Barker’s solo CD recordings include Three Sonatas for Double Bass on Boston Records and James Yannatos’s Variations for Solo Contrabass on Albany Records. His other double bass teachers have included Peter Mercurio, Richard Stephan, and Angelo LaMariana.
Upcoming guests will be: orchestra manager Raymond Wellbaum, personnel manager Lynn Larsen, and archivist Bridget Carr on August 7; production trio Ira Siff, Michael Deegan, and Sarah Conly on August 14; and composer John Williams on August 21.
Series host Martin Bookspan is best known as “the voice of Lincoln Center,†a role he has had since the first Live from Lincoln Center in 1976. During his distinguished career in print and broadcasting he has worked with the BSO, the New York Philharmonic, classical station WQXR, and channels 7 and 11 in New York City. He is the author of 101 Masterpieces of Music and Their Composers and Consumer Reports Reviews: Classical Recordings.
The Berkshire Museum is located at 39 South Street on Route 7 in Downtown Pittsfield. The galleries are open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. For more information, contact the Berkshire Museum at (413) 443-7171, ext. 10, or visit www.berkshiremuseum.org .
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Battle of the Berkshires Tournament Continues in Pittsfield
iBerkshires.com Sports
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Berkshire Force 16U travel softball team earned a 12-4 win over the Nor'Easters to wrap up pool play at the Battle of the Berkshires at the Doyle Complex.
Arianna Perkins went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and four RBIs to lead a 13-hit attack for the Force.
Lillian MacDonald was 2-for-3 at the plate with a pair of doubles, and Ava MacMahon, Mackenzie Biros and Markiara Jackson each had a pair of hits.
Amelia Polidoro and McMahon split time in the circle in the five-inning win, combining to strike out eight and allow three earned runs.
The Force 16U squad took a pair of losses earlier in the day on Saturday: 11-2 to the Worcester Union Rose and 12-10 to the Charlton Wildfire.
Elsewhere in 16U play, the the Greylock Thunder Saturday beat the Demo, 17-2.
Avery Lane earned the win in the circle with a three-inning, complete-game effort.
Cassidy Flynn scattered five hits in a complete-game effort in the circle as Lenox upset top-seeded Hoosac Valley, 3-2, in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament. click for more
Brayden Durant struck out seven and walked one in a complete-game effort on the mound Saturday to pitch the Drury baseball team to a 6-0 win over Keefe Tech in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament at Joe Wolfe Field. click for more
Jason Codey struck out 13, walked two and allowed just an infield single as the Generals earned a 7-1 win over Wahconah to claim their third straight regional title. click for more
Gracelyn Wright struck out eight, and Genevieve Lagess went 3-for-5 with four runs batted in as the Hurricanes beat Monson, 17-3, to claim their first Western Mass title in four years. click for more
For the boys, Ward Bianchi helped lead the way with a win in the shot put and a second place in the javelin as the Mounties finished 16 points ahead of runner-up Pittsfield (pending the results of the pole vault, which were unavailable at 11 p.m. Friday night). click for more
