LENOX, Mass. — Architectural historian and author/speaker Cornelia Brooke Gilder will lecture at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum on "Architects in Albany – The Berkshire Connections."
Gilder will present her visual talk on Saturday, March 20 at 3 p.m. followed by a Victorian Tea, and will sign copies of the new book "Architects in Albany," for which she is the major contributing writer. Among other work, Gilder is best known as co-author (with Richard S. Jackson Jr.) of "Houses of the Berkshires: 1870-1930, named an honor book by Historic New England."
"Architects in Albany" contains some 36 entries on architects and architectural firms that were commissioned to design Albany buildings from one of the nation’s most imposing state capitols to churches, schools, banks and row houses dating from the 19th and 20th centuries. Gilder will focus specifically on those architects whose work is found both in the Empire State’s capital and in the Berkshires.
Among these are McKim, Mead and White, the firm that designed the Georgian-style Benjamin Arnold House in Albany and in Stockbridge, the Casino, now the home of the Berkshire Theatre Festival, as well as Naumkeag. The Albany County Courthouse, found on Capitol Hill, was designed by the firm of Hoppin and Koen, the architects for The Mount, Eastover, and Ashintully, all in the Berkshires. Patrick C. Keely designed two St. Joseph churches, one in Albany and the other in Pittsfield. J. Cleveland Cady’s style can be seen in the First Presbyterian Church of Albany and in his Morgan Hall at Williams College. William Appleton Potter was the architect for Albany’s U.S. Post Office and Federal Building and Pittsfield’s County Registry of Deeds building, formerly the city’s Atheneum.
The new book is an expansion of the 1978 booklet "Albany Architects: Yesterday Versus Today," for which Gilder was editor. Educated at Vassar College and Cambridge University, Gilder, a lifelong Berkshire resident, also wrote "Hawthorne’s Lenox," "The Tanglewood Circle" and "A History of Ventfort Hall" with the late Joan Olshansky. In 2005, she co-curated "A Walk in the Country: Inness and the Berkshires" at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute.
Tickets for the lecture and tea are $16 per person for nonmembers and $14 for members. Reservations are highly recommended as seating is limited. For information or reservations call Ventfort Hall at 413-637-3206. The historical mansion is located at 104 Walker St.
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The Classical Beat: Look For a Profusion of Events at Tanglewood From Fall and Into Next Spring
by Stephen DanknerSpecial to iBerkshires
LENOX, Mass. — Come late August, classical aficionados are grateful for the cornucopia of extraordinarily sonorous riches the Boston Symphony has bestowed upon audiences within the incomparably bucolic setting that is Tanglewood. It's been, as ever, a magical summer of glorious music making.
But wait – it's not over; for a cool, refreshing stylistic change of pace, with a tincture of Jazz, Broadway, Dance, Classical, Pops and Local Community events to buoy the spirits, be sure to check out the complete schedule of upcoming events at the storied Tanglewood Learning Institute, beginning in September. Read below for the complete TLI listings.
Tanglewood Learning Institute Announces Fall/Winter/Spring Season, Presenting Over 50 Events September 2026 through May 2027
TLI's most expansive season to date brings classical, jazz, Broadway, and dance talent to Tanglewood's Linde Center. Tickets now on sale.
The Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI) has announced the 2026–'27 fall/winter/spring season, the most expansive yet, with over 50 events at the Linde Center for Music and Learning on Tanglewood's campus and in the Berkshires community. Marking the third year of year-round TLI programming, the upcoming season offers a wide-ranging performance lineup of exciting classical, jazz, Broadway, and dance talent as well as the TLI Cinematics film series, new TLI Focal Point photography classes, and community engagement events.
The season begins in late September with TLI Jazz: Mark G. Meadows & The Movement (Sept. 18) and TLI Presents: Beijing Guitar Duo (Sept. 25). Berkshire-based artists appear throughout the season, including a dedicated weekend of TLI Close to Home performances (Oct. 30–Nov. 1). BSO musicians curate and perform five TLI Chamber Concerts (Oct. 18, Nov. 8, Feb. 28, April 11, and April 25). Last year's inaugural Berkshire Bach Portals series, a collaboration with Berkshire Bach Society, continues with four programs about the impact of Bach's music across artistic disciplines (Nov. 7, Jan. 30, March 20, and May 15). As currently planned, the TLI fall/winter/spring season concludes May 23 with a performance by Grammy-winning vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth. TLI events continue during the 2027 Tanglewood summer season.
Single tickets and choose-your-own subscriptions for the upcoming TLI season go on sale Wednesday, August 12 at 10 a.m.
TLI Presents
A wide-ranging lineup of soloists and ensembles will visit the Linde Center for TLI Presents programs, beginning with the Tanglewood debut of the Beijing Guitar Duo (Meng Su and Yameng Wang) in a program that shows the expressive range of classical guitar and includes works by Telemann, Giuliani, and Chinese American composer Tan Dun (Sept. 25, 7 p.m.). Award-winning Moldovan accordionist Radu Ratoi follows with a varied recital that reveals the remarkable expressive range of his instrument with pieces by Rameau, Bach, Philip Glass, Gubaidulina, Tchaikovsky, and others (Oct. 23, 7 p.m.).
Broadway comes to the Linde Center by way of two-time Tony-nominated singer and actress Christine Andreas ("My Fair Lady," "Oklahoma!," "The Light in the Piazza"), who brings classic and contemporary selections from the American songbook in her show S'Wonderful with Grammy-nominated composer and pianist Martin Silvestri. In a new format for TLI, this event will feature cabaret-style table seating with bites and beverages available for purchase (Nov. 13, 7 p.m.). Later that weekend, the Grammy-winning and four-time nominated wind quintet Imani Winds, renowned for blending classical masterworks with newly commissioned works and diverse musical influences, performs an adventurous chamber music program (Nov. 15, 3 p.m.)
Founded by retired Boston Ballet principal dancer John Lam, who led TLI 101: Dance at the Linde Center in July, Lam Dance Works returns to Tanglewood for an intimate evening where dance, live music, and the human voice illuminate memory, identity, and our shared humanity. The program features works by internationally acclaimed choreographers Peggy Baker, Jorma Elo, and Yury Yanowsky, with Artistic Director Lam offering audience insights before each work and a post-performance conversation with the artists. (Nov. 21, 7 p.m.).
Newly installed as a Berkshire tradition, BSO Holiday Brass returns to the Linde Center for four presentations, including a morning performance geared towards families (Dec. 18–20).
Colombian cellist Santiago Cañón-Valencia, Silver Medalist and "Audience Favorite" at the 2019 XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition, presents a recital that pairs music by Bach and George Crumb with several of his own compositions (Feb. 26, 7 p.m.). Concert pianists Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung, each in-demand soloists in their own right, offer an afternoon concert featuring repertoire for four hands, including works by Bach, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Poulenc, and Piazzolla (March 7, 3 p.m.).
Actor and singer Jarrod Spector, most recently seen on Broadway as King George III in "Hamilton," shares his musical journey in "Jukebox Life," a cabaret-style evening of Broadway, rock n' roll, and crooner classics that traces his career from winning "Star Search" at age six to the bright lights of Broadway (April 9, 7 p.m.).
In a highlight of the season, pianist and composer Conrad Tao and choreographer and dancer Caleb Teicher give two performances of their collaborative and original program Counterpoint. The stylistically diverse music of "Counterpoint" includes the Aria from Bach’s Goldberg Variations, Art Tatum’s brilliantly virtuosic stride piano, Arnold Schoenberg’s ironic/modernistic take on the Viennese waltz, a delicate miniature from Tao and Teicher’s More Forever, and threading it all together, Gershwin’s perennially beloved "Rhapsody in Blue." Tao and Teicher’s earlier work," More Forever," is a Bessie Award-winning, New York Times critic’s pick which was lauded for "constantly extending the sonic aspects of dance" (April 17, 7 p.m., and April 18, 3 p.m.).
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