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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Companion Corner: Princess at Berkshire Humane Society
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There is an energetic girl waiting to find her new home at the Berkshire Humane Society.
iBerkshire's Companion Corner is a weekly series spotlighting an animal in our local shelters that is ready to find a home.
Princess is a six year old shepherd mix that has been at the shelter for just over a month.
Canine caregiver and adoption counselor Simone Olivieri told us about Princess.
"She's very social, very friendly. When you're out walking her, she just wants to go say hi to every single new person. Loves to make new friends. She's a lot of fun. She's very active. She's very spunky. She's very playful, and she's going to need a very very active family who's going to do a lot with her."
But Princess is no stranger to the shelter. She was a puppy five years ago and got adopted quickly, but now she needs a new family to take care of her.
"She was adopted out fairly quickly as a young puppy. She's been in the same home for the past five years. Unfortunately, they were moving out of state somewhere," Olivieri said. "They could not take her with them, so she ended up coming as a return to shelter, and she came back to stay with us."
Princess needs to go to a home as the only animal or with other male dogs that are her size or bigger.
"Her perfect home would be kids eight and up. No cats. No small animals. She has quite a prey drive. She could go to a home with another dog around her size or larger, preferably a male dog. She does a little bit better with male dogs, and she's looking for a home where people are home quite a bit, so that she's not left alone for too long. She has some separation anxiety," Olivieri said.
She also needs a very active home that can let her use her energy every day, as she is very rambunctious. Especially with playing with her favorite toy, the flirt pole.
"She could use a home where people are going to give her a lot of attention and more than just a few walks a day; she's going to need lots of exercise, lots of playtime, lots of mental stimulation," Olivieri said. "She likes to learn, so someone who would be willing to take her to training classes or work on some training with her, as well as hikes, getting out and about, doing new things, different things. She is very athletic. She'd excel at things like agility, some dog sports. Just someone who is really going to want to engage and do a lot of different kinds of activities with her."
Once you let her get her energy out, she is a cuddler who wouldn't mind being held like a baby from time to time.
"She's very sweet. She's very cuddly. She's very affectionate, but she is not a couch potato. She will stay on that couch with you for a little bit, and then she's ready to go off and do something else. So she's very busy. She's very active," Olivieri said. "Once all of her exercise needs are met during the day, she will settle down nicely, and she will want to be right by your side, cuddle with you at night on the couch, sleep with you."
Princess is very healthy but does experience some anxiety and is not fully potty trained and might have the occasional accident.
"She does have a little bit of anxiety, so she is on some medication for it right now," Olivieri said. "So a lot of structure, a lot of outlets, and familiarity, getting used to a new routine and everything is gonna be really good for her. I mean, she's just lovely. Like I said, she's very social. She likes to play with other dogs. She likes to meet new people."
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