The Classical Beat: Tanglewood Concludes; Berkshire Opera, South Mountain Next

"BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons and Jean-Yves Thibaudet at Tanglewood

This week, Tanglewood concludes its magnificently curated, presented and performed 2023 classical music summer festival season with panache by showcasing two live film concert blockbusters: "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" on Saturday evening, Aug. 26, and on Sunday afternoon, Aug. 27, John Williams' "Star Wars: The Story in Music" – both performed by the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra under the direction of conductor Keith Lockhart. Added to this will be the violin, cello and piano trio of stellar performers Kavakos, Ax and Ma performing Beethoven. Each of these performances will be in the Shed. Read below for the details, including end-of-season Popular Artists appearances in the Shed and in Ozawa Hall.

• Friday, Aug. 25, 7 p.m.: Three powerhouse performers—pianist Emanuel Ax, violinist Leonidas Kavakos, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma—combine their talents in a special all-Beethoven program featuring Shai Wosner's transcription of the Fourth Symphony and the majestic Piano Trio in B-flat, ("Archduke.") 
• Saturday, Aug. 26, 8 p.m.: Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra present "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone™ in Concert," the first movie in the popular franchise, featuring a score by John Williams. Lockhart and the Boston Pops will perform the soundtrack live over a screening of the beloved film.  
• Saturday, Aug. 27, 2:30 p.m.: Keith Lockhart returns to lead "Star Wars: The Story in Music," bringing John Williams' music to the Shed for the final orchestral concert of the season. Over the span of two hours, the Boston Pops

Esplanade Orchestra will play music from all nine movies in the epic "Star Wars" saga, guided by a narrator.

Tanglewood events in Ozawa Hall

• Friday, Aug. 25, 6 p.m.: A Prelude Concert featuring

Kids4Harmony with special guest pianist Emanuel Ax performing music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Astor Piazzolla, Price, Mozart, Vivaldi, and others. 

• Saturday, Aug. 26, and Sunday, August 27, 8 p.m.: TLI Presents: "American Moor," Keith Hamilton Cobb's two-person play that explores the American Black Male experience via Shakespeare's Othello and features the artists who originated the off-Broadway production (director Kim Weild, sound designer Christian Frederickson, lighting designer Alan Edwards, and actors Josh Tyson and Mr. Cobb).  

End-of-Season Performances by Popular Artists

• Thursday, Aug. 24, 7 p.m.: Grammy-winning group "Train" returns to Tanglewood, with very special guest Parmalee. 
• Thursday, Aug. 31, 7 p.m.: Perennial Tanglewood favorite Jackson Browne returns for his seventh show. Browne first performed in the Shed in 1973. 
• Saturday, Sept. 2, 7 p.m.: Tanglewood's Popular Artist Series presents "An Evening with Guster" in a return appearance. Formed originally at Tufts University, the band has also made two guest appearances with the Boston Pops (Ozawa Hall). 
• Sunday, Sept. 3, 7 p.m.: An Evening with John Legend features the multiplatinum singer/songwriter in the closing concert of the 2023 summer season.

For tickets for all Tanglewood/BSO concerts (lawn and Shed seating) and for special events call (617) 266-1200. TDD/TTY: (617) 638-9289. Online: tanglewood.org.

Berkshire Opera and South Mountain Concerts

These last two months of magnificent music making are but a prelude to the fall array of upcoming area classical offerings on the horizon at the Berkshire Opera Festival and at South Mountain Concerts - both in Pittsfield. Here are the particulars:

Berkshire Opera Festival presents Puccini's "La Bohéme"

"One chance meeting can change people's lives forever. When Rodolfo hears a knock at his door on Christmas Eve, opera's greatest love story is launched! Puccini's soaring, aching melodies perfectly capture the emotion of every moment, from the exhilaration of young love at first sight to the story's unforgettable and heartbreaking conclusion. The unbridled passion of this ageless tale has made it a favorite of audiences for over a century."

A free pre-performance talk will be given on Saturday, Aug. 26 by dramaturg Cori Ellison at noon (11:45am doors) for all ticket holders. Gain insight into Puccini's timeless tale of love and loss before curtain at 1pm.

There will be three performances: Saturday, 1: 00 p.m., Aug. 26; Tuesday, 7:30 p.m., Aug. 29 and Friday, Sept. 1, 7:30 p.m., -all at the Colonial Theatre. 111 South Street, Pittsfield. Ticket prices are $20. and up. Call (413) 997-4444 or go online at berkshireoperafestival.org.

South Mountain Concerts presents five programs

Founded in 1918, the South Mountain Concert Series was established through the vision and generosity of the American patroness of music, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. South Mountain presents some of the world's leading chamber music ensembles and soloists exclusively during the fall in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. The Concert Hall, now on the National Register of Historic Buildings, was specifically designed for chamber music and built in a colonial style using timber from an old textile mill. The hall seats 440 and enjoys particularly fine acoustics.

The performing ensembles, composers and dates are:               

Sunday, Sept. 3
Pacifica String Quartet - Dvorak, Prokofiev, Beethoven

Sunday, Sept. 10
Emerson String Quartet – Haydn, Mendelssohn, Snider, Ravel

Sunday, Oct. 1
Juilliard String Quartet – Beethoven, Davis, Schubert

Sunday, Oct. 8
Wu Han, piano; David Finckel, cello; Paul Huang, violin;
Paul Neubauer, viola – Beethoven, Saint-Saens, Brahms

Sunday, Oct. 15
Dover String Quartet - Haydn, Price, Schubert

All concerts are at 3:00 p.m. For reserved seating and tickets, call (413) 442-2106.

The Classical Beat: Tanglewood and Sevenars Showcase Stunning Diversity

02:46PM / Wednesday, August 12, 2026

The Sparky Quintet plays at Sevenars.

LENOX, Mass. — This week, as Tanglewood embarks upon its bold mid-August schedule of events, the diversity of programming maximizes themed exploratory expression – from solo piano remembrances of personal loss to massed strings recounting the heroism of historic aviator Amelia Earhart; from concert classics by Beethoven (the "apotheosis of the dance" Seventh Symphony) and Aaron Copland's "Appalachian Spring" choreographed by Martha Graham and performed by the BSO - the entire program danced by her eponymous Dance Company, to a career-celebration/tribute to John Williams with live orchestra (the Boston Pops conducted by Keith Lockhart) performing a broad selection of excerpted film clips/scenes composed by maestro Williams, to the Tanglewood Music Center Festival Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop performing Gustav Mahler's emotionally overpowering Symphony No. 5…all this and much more is in store for eager audiences this week, from August 12-18. Read below for the details of five of these concert highlights.

• Wednesday, August 12, 8:00 p.m., Studio E, Linde Center: Pianist Adam Tendler, in a themed program entitled "Inheritances" transforms personal loss into luminous art with a collection of 16 commissioned solo piano works. The pianist invited composers Laurie Anderson, Devonté Hynes, Nico Muhly and Missy Mazzoli to create pieces in dialogue with his own reflections.
• Thursday, August 13, 8:00 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: Composer/vocalist/violinist and electronics performer Laurie Anderson performs "Amelia" – a work celebrating aviator America Earhart, scored  for string orchestra, with text from the pilot's log from her final trip around the world. Strings from the Boston Symphony and guest artist Martha Mooke will be conducted by Dennis Russel Davies. 
• Friday, August 14, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: Conductor Anna Handler leads the Boston Symphony in a program with dance, featuring the Martha Graham Dance Company, Janet Eilber, Artistic Director. Featured works include the glorious Martha Graham-commissioned Aaron Copland score "Appalachian Spring," Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, and Christopher Rountree's "For Martha – Variations on a Theme of Leonard Bernstein."
• Saturday, August 15, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: Conductor/Music Director Keith Lockhart conducts the Boston Pops in "A Tribute to John Williams – Maestro of the Movies." The Pops celebrates maestro Williams in an ultimate aural feast of his film scoring career, with more than 50 minutes of specially-edited scenes and film clips taken from John Williams' best-loved films, projected in HD and synchronized to his spectacular music.
• Sunday, August 16, 2:30 p.m. in the Shed: Conductor Marin Alsop leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in a program of composers Anna Clyne ("Masquerade,") Max Bruch (Violin Concerto No. 1,) with featured soloist Ray Chen, and Mahler (Symphony No. 5.)

For tickets for all Tanglewood/BSO concerts (lawn and Shed seating) and for special events call (617) 266-1200 or (413) 637-5180; online: tanglewood.org or customerservice@bso.org. In Lenox, visit the Tanglewood box office at the Main Gate located at 297 West Street.

Sevenars Music Festival

Founded in 1968, Sevenars Concerts, Inc., is celebrating its 58th season of six summer concerts, held at the Academy - now air-conditioned – a building designated "an acoustic gem in an idyllic setting," located in the  historic village of South Worthington,15 Ireland Street, off MA Route 112.

• Sunday, August 16, 4:00 p.m.: For a totally fun season Sevenars Music Festival season closer, head to the country – specifically South Worthington, MA., for a great time with Sevenars' longtime friends: The Sparky Quintet:, consisting of piano, voice, guitar, violin, flute and percussion.?

Now in its fourth season at Sevenars, the inimitable Sparky Quartet - now expanded to a Quintet! - formed in tribute to late master clarinetist Bob Sparkman – has deep roots at Sevenars, beginning with Bob's collaborations with treasured pianist and composer Clifton J. "Jerry" Noble, Jr. ("Bob and Jerry"), later joined by the wonderfully versatile Kara Noble for bass and vocals. In 2023, after Bob departed this world, they added the inimitable Chris Devine on violin and flute and the extraordinary Jon Van Eps on percussion and thus became officially the Sparky Quartet. This year, guitarist Bob Ferrier joins to make it the Sparky Quintet, so please come and enjoy this newly expanded ensemble! Their playing, banter, and camaraderie are amazing and are always a big hit - so come enjoy the magic!

Sevenars concerts are presented on consecutive Sundays at 4:00 p.m. until August 16. Phone: (413) 238-5854 (please leave a message for a return call). Online: www.sevenars.org. Admission is by donation at the door (suggested $20). Refreshments will be available at no charge.