Classical Beat: Tanglewood Music Festival Concludes Its Classical Season

By Stephen DanknerSpecial to iBerkshires
08:00AM / Wednesday, August 21, 2024Print Story | Email Story

Tanglewood Music Festival Concludes Its Classical Season

This week, Tanglewood concludes its magnificently curated, presented and performed 2024 classical music summer festival season with panache by showcasing several performing soloists and a noted Finnish conductor – all making their Tanglewood debut performances. Orchestral masterworks by Brahms, Beethoven, Elgar and Ravel, as well as stellar concerto performances of works by Mozart and Chopin will take center stage in the Shed. These, in addition to several outstanding Ozawa Hall chamber music programs, leading to the traditional Tanglewood Music Festival season- concluding performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 ('Choral') will enthrall listeners. Read below for the details, including the end-of-season Popular Artists appearances in the Shed and in Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning..

Four Tanglewood Classical Highlights This Week

A brilliant violin/piano recital program in Ozawa Hall will feature pianist Alessio Bax and violinist James Ehnes in their Tanglewood debuts performing Mozart (Violin Sonata No. 21 in E minor, K.304); Brahms (Violin Sonata No. 1 in G, Op. 78) and Beethoven (Violin Sonata No. 9 in A, Op. 47 'Kreutzer') (August 21).

The rising star American conductor Ryan Bancroft makes his BSO debut in the Shed, along with the elegantly expressive pianist Bruce Liu in Chopin's enraptured Piano Concerto No. 1, followed by Elgar's deeply moving Enigma Variations (August 23).

Conductor Karina Canellakis and the BSO accompany violinist James Ehnes in Chausson's sensitively lyrical "Poème" on a program that features the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in the Shed (Brahms: 'Shicksalslied'); they will also perform works by Beethoven and Ravel (August 24).

Ludovic Marlot will conduct BSOs performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 on Sunday, August 25 at 2:30 pm in the Shed.

Full Tanglewood Schedule of Concerts, Events

Wednesday, August 21

8 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall

Tanglewood Recital Series

James Ehnes, violin

Alessio Bax, piano

MOZART Sonata No. 21 in E minor, K.304

BRAHMS Sonata No. 1 in G, Op. 78

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 9 in A, Op. 47, ('Kreutzer')

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Thursday, August 22

1 p.m., Tent Club

TLI Talks and Walks

Anthony Fogg, moderator, with conductor Karina

Canellakis

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Friday, August 23

6 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall

Prelude Concert

Koussevitzky and the Choral Connection: exploring

choral works by composers who were commissioned

by the Koussevitzky Foundation

Tanglewood Festival Chorus

James Burton, conductor

TIPPETT "Dance, Clarion Air"

POULENC Salve Regina

STRAVINSKY Ave Maria

BRITTEN "A Hymn to the Virgin"

Helen GRIME Telling

MESSIAEN O Sacrum Convivium

WALTON "Set me as a seal upon thine heart"

WALKER "Stars"

Augusta Read THOMAS "The Rewaking"

HARVEY "Come, Holy Ghost"

8 p.m., Shed

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Ryan Bancroft, conductor

Bruce Liu, piano

CHOPIN Piano Concerto No. 1

ELGAR 'Enigma' Variations

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Saturday, August 24

10:30 a.m. Shed

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Open Rehearsal, Sunday program

8 p.m., Shed

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Karina Canellakis, conductor

James Ehnes, violin

Tanglewood Festival Chorus

James Burton, conductor

Karina Canellakis conducts Beethoven, Brahms,

Chausson, and Ravel

BEETHOVEN "The Creatures of Prometheus" overture

BRAHMS "Schicksalslied"

CHAUSSON "Poème," for violin and orchestra

RAVEL Tzigane

RAVEL "Daphnis et Chloé," Suite No. 2

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Sunday, August 25

2:30 p.m., Shed

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Ludovic Morlot, conductor

Ambur Braid, soprano

Jess Dandy, contralto

Elgan Llr Thomas, tenor

Davóne Tines, bass-baritone

Tanglewood Festival Chorus

James Burton, conductor

BRUCKNER Ecce sacerdos magnus

BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 ('Choral')

THREE TANGLEWOOD POPULAR ARTIST PERFORMANCES

Sunday, August 25

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

TLI Presents: The Edmar Castaneda Quartet

Edmar Castaneda, harp

Andrea Tierra, vocalist

Shlomi Cohen, sax

Rodrigo Villalon, drums

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Friday, August 30

7 p.m., Shed

Popular Artist Series

Judy Collins, The Indigo Girls, and Rufus Wainwright

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Saturday, August 31

7 p.m., Shed

Popular Artist Series

DISPATCH with the Boston Pops Orchestra

Keith Lockhart, conductor

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

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King and Confidantes Debate Hope and Change in 'American Five'

By Alan PetrucelliSpecial to iBerkshires
03:10PM / Sunday, June 28, 2026

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Fiction and fact meld in the regional premiere of "The American Five," now playing at the Larry Vaber Stage of the Unicorn Theatre.

The play takes a fictionalized look at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his four closest confidants in the months leading up to the famed March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963. The quintet, through differing opinions, animated arguments, constant threats of violence and a late-night meal featuring challah bread and wine, become a family as they prepare for the history-making march that galvanized the Civil Rights movement.

Most of us know the King saga. It's the second act in which playwright Chess Jakobs' genius shines. Prejudice runs rampant here: Is Stanley Levison, a Jewish lawyer from New York who shows up in Montgomery to join the fight for racial equality and "to repair the world," viewed as white? Jewish? Both? And march strategist and organizer Bayard Rustin experiences his own fight for civil rights because of his homosexuality. Here, Jakob explores prejudice on different levels.

The cast is top-notch with many emotional highs. As King, Rashun Carter (who would look more like his character if he had a full moustache) and Sydney Elisabeth (as Coretta Scott King) are at their best during a scene that bounces between humor and poignancy.

She questions her husband about his meeting with President John F. Kennedy; he is angry and refuses to discuss it. "There is no 'you' out there, without a 'me,' in here," she says, leading King to agree that because of her self-worth and unwavering devotion to him, she is "Coretta Scott Queen."

As Clarence Jones, King's personal counsel, Brett Diggs has assurance and dignity; Harry Smith's portrayal of lawyer Stanley Levison, is nothing short of extraordinary. Destan Owens' performance as gay Bayard Rustin is the play's most outstanding performance as he defends his relations with men: "You don't get to judge me!" he tells King. "I'm just trying to find love."

"The American Five" is tightly directed by Gerry McIntyre; the historic period projections and footage/designed by Alex Hill remind people that there are dreams, such as hope and change, that are still being fought.

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