The Classical Beat:Great Music at Tanglewood and Sevenars

Tanglewood showcases three audience-favorite Festival extravaganzas

With the arrival of August, we are at the apex of the music festival season. Programs at Tanglewood offer a diverse and intriguing mix of chamber music by Schubert and Dvorak, as well as by early 20th century and living composers; rare performances of vocal music of Lili Boulanger and Clara Schumann; virtuosic orchestral repertoire, featuring an all-Beethoven program and, for a scintillating contrast, the piquant music of Maurice Ravel, Silvestre Revueltas and Henri Dutilleux. You won't want to miss Tanglewood's annual "John Williams' Film Night," featuring the Boston Pops led by conductors John Williams and Ken-David Masur; this very special edition will occur over two consecutive evenings.

For an exceptional afternoon of virtuoso pianism, enjoy the superb artist Junwen Liang in a solo recital on Sunday at the Sevenars Festival in pastoral South Worthington.

Listed events inclusively cover the week from Wednesday, July 31 through Tuesday, August 6. Read below for the details.

Tanglewood

Here are this week's three spectacular, large-scale highlights – each featuring superlative artists performing audience-favorite repertoire:

The Boston Pops at "John Williams' Film Nights," which includes a celebration of the great film composer Henry Mancini's 100th birthday, with conductors Ken-David Masur and David Newman (August 2 and 3)  

An all-Beethoven program with pianist Kirill Gerstein, violinist Joshua Bell, and cellist Steven Isserlis led by conductor Alan Gilbert (August 4).

The annual Tanglewood on Parade this year is dedicated as a memorial tribute to BSO Music Director Laureate Maestro Seiji Ozawa, who passed away earlier this year, with conductors Keith Lockhart, Alan Gilbert, Ken-David Masur, and Anna Rakitina and guests soprano Christine Goerke and the Marcus Roberts Trio (August 6). The eclectic program includes works by John Williams, Richard Strauss, Hector Berlioz, and George Gershwin, as well as Tchaikovsky's concluding, spectacular "1812 Overture."

Here are Tanglewood's concerts and auxiliary events for the week:

Wednesday, July 31:

1:30 p.m.in Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning

TLI Open Workshops: Toby Oft, trombone

8 p.m. in Seiji Ozawa Hall

Recital Series:

Kirill Gerstein, piano

Joshua Bell, violin

Steven Isserlis, cello

DEBUSSY Sonata for Cello and Piano

DEBUSSY Sonata for Violin and Piano

RAVEL Sonata for Violin and Cello

Brad MEHLDAU "Après Fauré No. 3" (Nocturne)

FAURÉ Nocturne No. 13 in B minor, Op. 119

DEBUSSY Works for piano solo

Pièce pour l'œuvre du "Vêtement du blessé" (For the "Clothing for the Wounded")

Berceuse héroïque

Les Soirs illuminés par l'ardeur du charbon ("Evenings lit by burning coals")

Élégie

FAURÉ Piano Trio in D minor, Op. 120

Thursday, August 1:

1 p.m. in the Tent Club

TLI Talks and Walks

Anthony Fogg, moderator, with conductor Ken-David

Masur

8 p.m. in Seiji Ozawa Hall

Recital Series:

Danish String Quartet

Johannes Rostamo, cello

SCHUBERT Quintet in C, D.956

Thomas ADÈS

"Wreath for Franz Schubert," for String Quintet

SCHUBERT "Die Nebonsonnen" from Wintereisse (Arr. Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen)

Friday, August 2:

2 p.m. in Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning

TLI The Art of Conducting: Alan Gilbert

6 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall

Prelude Concert

Bracha Malkin and Sheila Fiekowsky, violins

Cathy Basrak, viola

Christine Lee, cello

Todd Seeber, double bass

Daniel Bauch and Matt McKay, percussion

Nina Guo, soprano

William COBLE Satsang, for solo double bass

Todd SEEBER "The Sleepers" DVORÁK String Quintet in G, Op. 77

8 p.m. in the Shed

Boston Pops Orchestra David Newman and Ken-David Masur, conductors John Williams' Film Night

A beloved highlight of the Tanglewood season, John

Williams' Film Night returns with Maestros Williams and

Masur leading the Boston Pops in two memorable

evenings of music and film clips from Hollywood's

Golden Age to contemporary favorites, including a

special celebration of Henry Mancini's 100th birthday.

Saturday, August 3:

10:30 a.m. in the Shed

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Open Rehearsal, Sunday program

1:30 p.m. in Seiji Ozawa Hall

BU Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Orchestra

2:30 p.m. in Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning

TLI Presents: "Black Voices in Cabaret–Josephine Baker"

6 p.m., Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning

TMC Fellows

Prelude Concert

Clara SCHUMANN Six lieder, Op. 13

Lili BOULANGER Selected songs

BONDS Four Songs

SAARIAHO "The Tempest Songbook"

8 p.m., Shed

Boston Pops Orchestra

John Williams and Ken-David Masur, conductors

John Williams' Film Night

Sunday, August 4:

10 a.m. in Seiji Ozawa Hall

TMC  Chamber Music

BEACH Piano Quintet in F-sharp minor, Op. 67

George LEWIS float, sting

Jan BACH Rounds and Dances

Maya MIRO JOHNSON Come Cut Me Open

BEETHOVEN String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 74, The Harp

10:30 a.m., Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning

TLI for Families: In collaboration with the Norman

Rockwell Museum

Rebecca Sheir, host

1:30 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall

BU Tanglewood Institute Young Artists Wind

Ensemble

2:30 p.m. in the  Shed

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Alan Gilbert, conductor

Kirill Gerstein, piano

Joshua Bell, violin

Steven Isserlis, cello

BEETHOVEN Triple Concerto

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4

7 p.m. in Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning

TLI Presents: Kirill Gerstein and guests perform

Cabaret music from 1920s Berlin

Monday, August 5:

8 p.m. in Seiji Ozawa Hall

Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra

Alan Gilbert, conductor

TMC Conducting Fellows

HAYDN Symphony No. 90

RAVEL Le Tombeau de Couperin

REVUELTAS "Sensemayá"

DUTILLEUX "Métaboles"

Tuesday, August 6:

Tanglewood on Parade

2:30 p.m. in Seiji Ozawa Hall

TMC chamber orchestra, unconducted

MOZART Symphony No. 35 in D, K.385, Haffner

3:30 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall

Music for Cello Ensemble

Featuring cellists of the TMC and BSO

WAGNER Prelude to Lohengrin (Arr. Renaud Guieu)

Arturo MÁRQUEZ "Danzón No. 2" (Arr. Sebastien

Walnier)

QUEEN Bohemian Rhapsody (Arr. Sebastien Walnier)

5:00 p.m. in Seiji Ozawa Hall

TMC Vocal Concert

TAILLEFERRE Six Chansons françaises

IVES Selected songs

BEACH Selected songs

Caroline SHAW "Vago augellin"

Caroline SHAW "And the Swallow…"

BEACH "Peace I Leave With You"

5:30 p.m. in the visitor center

Frame and friends

7:30 p.m.in the  Shed

TMC Fanfares

Valerie COLEMAN "Fanfare for Uncommon Times"

COPLAND "Ceremonial Fanfare"

COPLAND "Fanfare for the Common Man"

8 p.m. in the Shed

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Boston Pops Orchestra

Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra

Keith Lockhart, John Williams, and Anna Rakitina,

conductors

Christine Goerke, soprano

Marcus Roberts Trio

Program to include

John WILLIAMS "For Seiji!"

BERLIOZ "Hungarian March" from "The Damnation of

Faust"

GERSHWIN Rhapsody in Blue

TCHAIKOVSKY "1812 Overture"

Fireworks to follow the concert

For tickets to all Tanglewood events, call (888) 266-1200, or go online at tanglewood.org.

Piano Masterpieces at Sevenars 

Music at Sevenars, the outstanding series of Sunday afternoon concerts, presented from mid-July through mid-August, continues this week:

• Sunday, August 4 at 4:00 p.m.: Sevenars presents the outstanding pianist Junwen Liang, who has been named Sevenars' "Young Artist to Watch." Mr. Liang will perform a recital of keyboard masterworks by Bach, Chopin, Liszt, Debussy and Prokofiev. Mr. Liang has been praised as "an extremely gifted and promising young artist" (New York Concert Review), and his biography includes an impressive array of "captivating" performances (Stroll Magazine), including those at the Tuesday Concert Series in Washington, DC, the Sunday Recital Series at Saint Thomas in New York, the Trinity Concert Series, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Academy of Music in Philadelphia and the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.

Founded in 1968, Sevenars Concerts, Inc., is celebrating its 56th season of six summer concerts, held at the Academy, 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.

Concerts are presented on consecutive Sundays at 4:00 p.m. until August 18. Phone: (413) 238-5854 (please leave a message for a return call). Online: www.sevenars.org. Email: Sevenars@aol.com. Admission is by donation at the door (suggested $20). Refreshments will be available.

Sheffield Craftsman Offering Workshops on Windsor Chairs

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
10:30AM / Sunday, March 29, 2026

Andrew Jack uses hand tools in his wood working shop. 

SHEFFIELD, Mass. — A new workshop is bringing woodworking classes and handmade items.

Andrew Jack specializes in Windsor chairs and has been making them for almost 20 years.

He recently opened a workshop at 292 South Main St. as a space for people to see his work and learn how to do it.

"This is sort of the next, or latest iteration of a business that I've kind of been limping along for a little while," he said. "I make Windsor chairs from scratch, and this is an effort to have a little bit more of a public-facing space, where people can see the chairs, talk about options, talking about commissions.

"I also am using it as a space to teach workshops, which for the last 10 years or so I've been trying to do out of my own personal workshop at home."

Jack graduated in 2008 from State University of New York at Purchase, and later met woodworker Curtis Buchanan, who inspired him.

"Right after I finished there, I was feeling a little lost. I wasn't sure how to make the next steps and afford a workspace. And the machine tooling that I was used to using in school." he said, "Right after I graduated, I crossed paths with a guy named Curtis Buchanan, and he was demonstrating making really refined Windsor chairs with not much more than some some flea market tools, and I saw that as a great, low overhead way to keep working with wood."

Jack moved into his workshop last month with help from his wife. He is renting the space from the owners of Magic Flute, who he says have been wonderful to work with.

"My wife actually noticed the 'for rent' sign out by the road, and she made the initial call to just see if we get some more information," he said. "It wasn't on my radar, because it felt like kind of a big leap, and sometimes that's how it's been in my life, where I just need other people to believe in me more than I do to, you know, really pull the trigger."

Jack does commissions and while most of his work is Windsor chairs, he also builds desks and tables, and does spoon carving. 

Windsor chairs are different because of the way their backs are attached into the seat instead of being a continuous leg and back frame.

"A lot of the designs that I make are on the traditional side, but I do some contemporary stuff as well. And so usually the legs are turned on a lathe and they have sort of a fancy baluster look to them, or they could be much more simple," he said. "But the solid seat that separates the undercarriage from the backrest and the arms and stuff is sort of one of the defining characteristics of a Windsor."

He hopes to help people learn the craft and says it's rewarding to see the finished product. In the future, he also hopes to host other instructors and add more designs for the workshop.

"The prime impact for the workshops is to give close instruction to people that are interested in working wood with hand tools or developing a new skill. Or seeing what's possible with proper guidance," Jack said. "Chairs are often considered some of the more difficult or complex woodworking endeavors, and maybe less so Windsor chairs, but there is a lot that goes into them, and being able to kind of demystify that, or guide people through the process is quite rewarding."

People can sign up for classes on his website; some classes are over a couple and others a couple of weekends.

"I offer a three-day class for, a much, much more simple, like perch, kind of stool, where most of the parts are kind of pre-made, and students can focus on the joinery that goes into it and the carving of the seat, again, all with hand tools. And then students will leave with their own chair," he said.

"The longer classes run similarly, although there's quite a bit more labor that goes into those. So I provide all the turned parts, legs and stretchers and posts and things, but students will do all the joinery and all the seat carving the assembly. And they'll split and shave and shape their own spindles, and any of the bent parts that go into the chair."

His gallery is open Wednesday through Sunday 10 a.m to 2 p.m., and Monday and Tuesday by appointment.