Tanglewood at Trinity Episcopal Church is the annual harbinger of things to come at the most prestigious summer music festival in the Eastern United States.
Sponsored by the Tanglewood Ushers and Programmers, the traditional Memorial Day Chamber Concert is an expression of generosity and love. The sponsors offer a platform for outstanding graduates of the Tanglewood Music Center, this year featuring Katie Lansdale, violin; Marka Gustavsson, viola; cellist Darrett Atkins and Melvin Chen, piano.
The performers donate music as a way of showing their appreciation for the support extended to them during their student days.
A corps of Ushers and Programmers, representing diverse walks of life and interests, has been serving Tanglewood since its inception in 1937. Personnel has changed over the years, but charter member Benjamin Bowers, whose service extended for nearly 60 years and who took “early†retirement at age 93, could be found in the audience once again last Friday, greeting his many friends and applauding the young musicians whom he helped to launch several generations ago.
Fund-raising, one of the volunteers’ functions, has paid off so well that they established the Harry Stedman Fellowship, which sponsors a vocal fellow, at the Tanglewood Music Center. (Stedman, a Dalton resident, was head usher from 1955 to 1984.)
Thanks to increasing contributions to the fund, renamed the Tanglewood Ushers and Programmers Fund in 2000, a second endowment, the Instrumental Fellowship, in honor of Bob Rosenblatt, recital chairman of the group and its moving force for many years, was added. Friday’s young artists were four of its 36 recipients.
Endowments guaranteed in perpetuity, the Ushers and Programmers found another meaningful cause for support, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Berkshire County School Outreach Program. The proceeds from Friday’s recital will be contributed to this fund.
This year’s artists each have accumulated many honors. Chen and Gustavsson, fellows together in the early ’90s, Lansdale and Atkins, attending several years earlier, have each been recognized for their outstanding musical attainments of which Friday’s concert offered samples.
Chen, born in Nashville, holds a doctorate in chemistry from Harvard and a double master’s degree in piano and violin from the Juilliard School. An active chamber musician, recitalist in the Lincoln Center Society Two, Chen first appeared at Tanglewood as an Ushers and Programmers fellow. During the following two seasons he returned as a piano fellow, an almost incredible achievement. At present he is a Christian A. Johnson fellow and visiting professor of music and chemistry at Bard College and serves on the piano faculty of the Yale School of Music.
During her first year at the Tanglewood Music Center, Lansdale was selected the outstanding violinist and the following year she became the outstanding participant. Following that honor she was invited to membership in the Lions Gate piano trio, named after one of the approaches to the Tanglewood grounds. Her passion for performing solo Bach does not stand in the way of the intellectual quests of this cum laude graduate from Yale.
Gustavsson loves to refer to her roots by introducing herself as “I’m from the cornfields of Indiana.†She also calls herself a nerdy classical player, enjoys mixed ensembles, is a member of the Colorado Quartet and has performed the complete Beethoven Quartet cycle in Berlin and Haydn’s 10 quartets at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival. Among recent composers Gustavsson has showcased Takemitsu, Ligeti, Dutilleux and John Halle, whom she met at Tanglewood and subsequently married. Similar to Chen, she teaches at Bard College.
One might consider Atkins a musical Evel Coneval as he has been dubbed a daredevil for his astounding technical virtuosity. If the music is unusual and new, it is for Atkins. With the string quartet Flux, he gave the first performance of Morton Feldman’s Quartet No. 2, lasting some six hours. Mercifully, it was not part of Friday evening’s menu. Atkins enjoys unusual combinations, as collaborating with free-jazz legend Ornette Coleman and electronic pop wizard David Baron. As a 1990 Ushers and Programmers fellow, Atkins was chosen principal cellist of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra’s scheduled European tour with Leonard Bernstein, a tour that never materialized, due to the Maestro’s fatal illness. The Tacoma, Wash. native holds degrees from Oberlin College, Rice University and Juilliard School, where he is a faculty member.
Their Friday program was surprisingly traditional for a group that espouses modern composers.
Newcomers to this stage, the girls had chosen a Mozart duo for violin and viola, which they phrased with sisterly intimacy and tenderness. A Brahms cello sonata, in contrast, was a showpiece for a pair of exceptionally dexterous artists.
Combined enthusiasm sparked the Dvorak quartet with growing vigor and drive as it rushed to its ebullient finale.
Tanglewood at Lenox started in Pittsfield as Tanglewood at South Church. After three years and a grand pause and the arrival of Chen, these concerts relocated to Lenox, then known as Tanglewood at Town Hall. Extensive renovations caused another move to their present venue. Despite its beautiful ambience one misses a raised platform. The performers deserve to be seen as well as heard by their capacity audiences.
Perhaps the time has come for yet another move, this time to Ozawa Hall.
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North Adams Awarded Grant to Support First Responder Health, Wellness
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The City of North Adams has been awarded a $15,000 grant from the Massachusetts Interlocal Insurance Association (MIIA) to support the health and wellness of local first responders through advanced, preventative medical screenings.
The grant will allow the City to offer comprehensive cardiac-focused health screenings to all North Adams Police and Fire personnel. The program goes beyond a standard annual physical and is designed to provide early insight into cardiovascular health risks commonly faced by Public Safety professionals.
Screenings will include advanced lipid and biomarker testing, along with personalized health consultations, delivered in partnership with Sigma Tactical Wellness, a nationally recognized provider specializing in first responder wellness.
"We know that a troubling percentage of officers die within ten years of retirement," said Mark Bailey, Chief of Police. "My priority is ensuring that our officers are healthy during their careers and well beyond them. This grant allows us to focus on early detection and long-term wellness so our officers can look forward to — and fully enjoy — their retirement."
Chief Brent Lefebvre, Fire Chief, echoed the importance of the program.
"Firefighters face elevated cardiovascular risks throughout their careers. This grant gives our members the opportunity to better understand their health and take preventative steps — at no cost to them — which ultimately strengthens our Department and the community we serve."
Participation in the program is voluntary, and all health information collected will remain strictly confidential.
Samuel Currence served his country in the Air Force with distinction, professionalism and unparalleled humility from 1962 to 1985, retiring as a technical sergeant. click for more
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
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