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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First Responders Pull Truck From Pontoosuc Lake
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
PITTSFIELD, Mass.—First responders performed a rescue at Pontoosuc Lake on Friday, Oct. 30, after a truck ended up in the water.
The driver, who was not identified, was taken to Berkshire Medical Center following the incident.
Deputy Chief Neil Myers said the Pittsfield Fire Department was dispatched for a water rescue incident at the boat ramp off Hancock Road at 9:30 a.m.
There was one occupant in the truck who had climbed onto the vehicle's roof when they arrived. The white vehicle had floated across the channel near the ramp and landed on the waterbody's base; one corner of the roof was peeking out of the water when iBerkshires arrived around 10 a.m.
Myers relayed that a witness saw the truck driving into the water; that was the initial report. On the way, first responders received another call reporting the truck had floated across the channel, and the caller was unsure if the person got out.
With this information, PFD dispatched a full assignment: three engines, a ladder truck, and a rescue. Pontoosuc Lake is drawn down right now, with a maximum depth of about 15 feet in that area.
Two firefighters were deployed in cold-water suits to make contact with the driver. They assessed him, provided a life jacket, and put some lines in for safety.
Worried about hypothermia, firefighters planned to keep the man on top of the truck until a boat arrived. Though, Myers said when the boat was launched off the ramp, the man swan dove into the lake and swam to land.
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