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The Classical Beat: Tanglewood Defines Summer Music in the Berkshires

By Stephen DankneriBerkshires Staff
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Tanglewood in Lenox has a variety of opening week events.

For many music lovers, Tanglewood in Lenox virtually defines music in the Berkshires. It is the largest summer presenter, with the most comprehensive schedule of performances across the full spectrum of musical styles and genres.

Before getting into imminent opening events, bookmark the Boston Symphony’s websites, bso.org or tanglewood.org for the full summer concert schedule, season highlights, tickets and general information.

During the opening week’s events, from Thursday, June 25, through Wednesday, July 1, Tanglewood celebrates the opening of their celebratory 75th Music Festival with a sampling of both popular and classical concerts that are sure to attract audiences. Here’s a preview of these exhilarating and varied musical offerings:

• Thursday and Friday, June 25 and 26, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: The Mark Morris Dance Group is joined by Tanglewood Center Music Fellows in the world premiere of Morris’s choreography to Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 1. Darius Milhaud’s 1922 jazz-era pastiche “The Creation of the World” will be a hoot, and breathtaking to see and hear.

• Saturday, June 28, 5:45 p.m. in the Shed: Garrison Keillor’s perennially popular “A Prairie Home Companion” live radio broadcast.

• Sunday, June 28, 10:00 a.m. in Ozawa Hall: A Tanglewood Music Center Chamber Music concert, featuring woodwinds, brass and percussion instrumental Fellows performing music by De Raaff, Dvorak, Gieshoff, Stravinsky, and concluding with Olivier Messiaen’s stupendously thrilling “Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum.”

• Sunday, June 28, 2:30 p.m. in the Shed: Huey Lewis and the News 2015 Tour: Featuring special guest artist Jamie Kent.

• Monday, June 29, 1 p.m., 4 p.m., and 8 p.m.: Tanglewood presents their traditional String Quartet Marathon featuring string TMC Fellows performing a wide-ranging sampling of individual string quartet movements from across the 250-year continuum of the quartet literature. Be sure to catch the 8 p.m. premiere of Derek Bermel’s “Harmonica”  - a 75th anniversary TMC commission.

• Tuesday, June 30, 8 p.m. in the Shed: Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga performing music from their “Cheek to Cheek” album.

• Wednesday, July 1, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: The Boston Symphony Chamber Players joined by pianist Randall Hodgkinson, present a concert of music by Nathan, Nielsen and Brahms.

Tickets for all Tanglewood events can be purchased online at tanglewood.org, via SymphonyCharge, at 888-266-1200 or 888-266-1200, and at the Tanglewood box office located at the main gate, on West Street in Lenox. For further information, call 413-637-1600.

 

 


Tags: classical music,   Tanglewood,   

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A Boutique Hotel is Bringing Guests a Luxury Stay in Lenox

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LENOX, Mass. — A new Inn is bringing a boutique-style stay for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Owners, Sullivan Capital LLC, purchased the property, located on 135 Main Street, in 2024. After a year or renovations, Garden Gables Inn is open for business. 

"Garden Gables started off as one of the many Berkshire cottages, 1790 was the date on that, and it's always operated as an inn," said Hospitality Manager Yvonne Walton. "It's just a great gathering place and relaxation spot for people to come and get the feel of Lenox, and just slow down and enjoy the nature and the surrounding area...get culture and art and see some great concerts. I think it'll be a wonderful place, definitely does more of the upper-scale hospitality." 

Owners Niko Giallouis and Eric Sullivan bought the property from the former owner. Sullivan had his eye on Lenox since attending a wedding almost 10 years ago.

"I came to a wedding in Lenox, probably six or seven years ago. Personally, just kind of fell in love with the area, and I guess that's kind of how it got on my radar. So you know from that perspective, as we got into the hotel business out towards an area, it was a place I was kind of monitoring and waiting for the right property to show up."

After purchasing the two underwent a full renovation, a project that cost around $1.5 million. The building, first built in 1780, required some TLC. Sullivan's wife, Jessica, who owns Jessica Sullivan Design, designed the inn.

Sullivan said they installed a new roof, repainted everything, renovated the bathrooms, installed new floors, a new HVAC system, and new plumbing.

"We really touched everything from the outside...I mean, all the aesthetics and layouts changed a bit," he said. "As I said, put about a million and a half into it. All new furniture, fixtures, everything. The design's completely different. It wasn't a full gut, but it was a heavy, heavy renovation."

The two like to collaborate with local businesses, and they make a point to direct visitors to local restaurants, businesses, and attractions.

"If guests are asking for recommendations, our customer service team, our guest services team, will relay that kind of information. Even if we can call and make a reservation for somebody, happy to do it," he said. "We aren't doing breakfast, but what we do is we have partnerships with a lot of the breakfast places downtown. We actually purchase a gift certificates for each person each day, so that they can use that to go downtown."

Sullivan hopes that guests don't see their inn as just a place to sleep and dump their bags, but make it an experience for anyone who stays.

"We really focus on kind of the experience side of things, so again, we want to give you the best experience you can have here...and we want that not just to be the place you put your bag and go do things. It's important to think of everything," he said.

Sullivan said partnerships are important to their business and are a way to connect with locals.

"The local partnerships, I can't stress that enough, because no matter how much and how great the room is, people are still going to want to go do other things," he said. "So, I think it just benefits everybody if we're all working together and so forth, and supporting the community, being neighborly too, because we are surrounded by residential homes...But we really try to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of love into the building, all the details, really care about the senses," Sullivan said.

The Inn's check-in and reservations are completely online. When guests arrive, all they have to do is check in online and receive their code that they will use to enter their room. Sullivan hopes this helps create less stress for guests and gets them to their room as fast as possible, especially after a long trip.

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