The Cantilena Chamber Choir Presents Christmas At Harvard

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LENOX, Mass - The Cantilena Chamber Choir will present a Christmas program in the tradition of Harvard’s Memorial Church. The program is dedicated in memory of John Ferris, Harvard’s organist and choirmaster for over three decades who passed away this summer at age 82.

The program will include works sung by the Harvard University Choir that appeared in the past Christmas services of Lessons and Carols at the church during Booth’s tenure. They include works by Bruckner, Handel, Ives and Sweelinck, and traditional carols in new arrangements. There will also be secular readings (both poignant and humorous) on the Christmas season as read by Stephen Booth, rector of the Trinity Parish in Lenox. The first program will be held on Sunday, DEC. 7th, at 3:00 pm at Trinity Church, 88 Walker Street, and the second concert will be held on Sunday, DEC. 14th at 3:00pm at the Old Parish Church on Main Street in Sheffield.

Featured on the December program is Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, a work for Women’s Choir and harp written in 1942 on the transatlantic voyage that brought Britten back to wartime England. The featured harpist is Susan Knapp Thomas. Arrangements of familiar carols and songs will also be performed, including The Coventry Carol, Personant Hodie, and music by Billings and Ives.

Tickets are available at the door at $15 for adults and students are admitted free with a paying adult. Reservations (recommended) can be made by phone at 518-791-0185 or by email at satbchoir@yahoo.com. Those interested in more information can visit www.cantilenachoir.org.

Now in its fifth season, the Cantilena Chamber Choir is the Berkshire region's leading a cappella group. It is comprised of 24 singers who possess vocal training, good sight-reading skills, and considerable choral experience. Last season it has collaborated with the New England Baroque Soloists for two concerts, October and May, and presented a special performance of Ron Perera’s Golden Door as a benefit for the Berkshire Immigrant Center. Past season highlights include a concert with the New England Baroque Soloists, the Empire Brass at the Colonial Theater, a concert of works by Berkshire Composers, a special benefit for the Lenox Library with Shakespeare and Company’s Annette Miller, a collaboration with Boston University’s Tanglewood Two symposium in June 2007 at Williams College, and a production of Dido and Aeneas with Aston Magna.

The Cantilena Chamber Choir is under the artistic direction of Andrea Goodman who is also the Director of the Northern Berkshire Chorale in Williamstown and the Saratoga Choral Festival, an annual summer concert series for chorus and orchestra in Saratoga Springs, New York.
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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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