Steve Dankner, a guest classical music writer, whose preview coverage of the summer music festival season at Tanglewood and at other regional performance venues will begin in June, has sent in a musical murder-mystery book review that should be of interest to music lovers.
Gerald Elias, the brilliantly gifted violinist and mystery writer, who hails from Salt Lake City, has published the latest – the seventh - in his series of musical whodunits, "Cloudy With a Chance of Murder."
A fast-paced page-turner, the action takes place on a rustic, isolated island in the Great Salt Lake – the summer home of the Antelope Island Music Festival – where devoted listeners congregate each summer to hear world-class musical virtuosi perform great classical chamber music.
Only this summer, sub rosa jealousies and sworn vendettas are also on the program…along with Bach and Mendelssohn.
Author Elias, a Tanglewood violinist, artfully and with meticulous detail taps into his insider knowledge of summer music festival lore to set the scene for the action: how an innocent, but ‘politically incorrect' remark among musical friends and colleagues snowballs into a devastating – and deadly – chain of events. Lives and careers are in the balance, and how, due to a freak, catastrophic summer hailstorm, there's no escape for the musicians and festivalgoers to exit the devastated festival grounds. The deranged murderer, too, is stranded, and given the opportunity, he'll attempt to kill again; no one is safe!
Only Elias could paint such a picture with classical music as its backdrop. The prescient, all-knowing yet blind violinist/mentor/detective hero, Daniel Jacobus joins with and enables his young protégé, the brilliant violinist
virtuoso Yumi Shinegawa in uncovering the tale's twists and turns, taking the reader on an exhilarating musical ride: an Allegro con brio to the end, where all the pieces of this intricate musical puzzle come together, culminating in a final, climactic presto delirioso. Most highly recommended.
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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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Jason Codey struck out 13, walked two and allowed just an infield single as the Generals earned a 7-1 win over Wahconah to claim their third straight regional title. click for more
Gracelyn Wright struck out eight, and Genevieve Lagess went 3-for-5 with four runs batted in as the Hurricanes beat Monson, 17-3, to claim their first Western Mass title in four years. click for more