The Classical Beat: Tanglewood, Sevenars Offer Thrilling Music and Performers

By Stephen DanknerSpecial to iBerkshires
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Tanglewood: Linde Center (Rawn)

With the second week of August, Tanglewood continues its high energy and innovative classical programming with three powerhouse concerts in the Shed – with highlights being especially illuminating, spiritual programs curated by Yo-Yo Ma in the Shed and in Ozawa Hall. Read below for all the details and performing artists appearing in these outstanding programs:

  • Friday, August 7, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: The Boston Symphony, led by Samy Rachlid, with Renaud Capucon, violin, Yo-Yo Ma, cello, and the Berkshire Lyric Chorus directed by Jack Brown present a program entitled "Gratitude and Friendship." Featured works by composers Gabriel Fauré ('Cantique de Jean Racine',) Brahms (String Sextet No. 2 in G, Op. 36,) and concluding with Brahms' rarely-performed Double Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra, Op. 102.  
  • Saturday, August 8, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed:  This very special concert presents a journey in words and music we all share in our co-mingled American present: the land, both our individual and collective stories, and the ideals that motivate us. Together with the BSO and special guest musicians and artists, this program reflects the triumphs, tragedies and possibilities of our country. Featured performers include conductors Teddy Abrams and Ken-David Masur, vocalists Aofie O'Donovan and Jennifer Kreisberg, and members of  "An American Journey," with Yo-Yo Ma and Friends.
  • Sunday, August 9, 2:30 p.m. in the Shed: A program entitled "Our Future Together" presents music by John Tavener, Kayhan Kalhor and Osvaldo Golijov. Featured performers include conductors Samy Rachlid and Anna Handler, cellists Yo-Yo Ma, Karen Ouzounian, and Christine Lee, vocalist Arooj Aftab, Kayhan Kalhor, karmancheh (an ancient traditional bowed Persian stringed instrument,) and the Boston University Tanglewood Chorus.
  • Monday, August 10, 8:00 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: The Tanglewood Music Festival Orchestra, featuring TMC Conducting Fellows and TMC Vocalists, presents a program of American Opera, with works composed by Copland ('The Tender Land,') Tania Leon ('Scourge of the Hyacinths,') John Adams ('El Nino,') John Harbison ('The Great Gatsby,') Osvaldo Golijov ('Ainadamar,') Missy Mazzoli ('Proving Up') and Stravinsky ('The Rake's Progress'.)

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

Sevenars presents an electrifying piano virtuoso

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.

Sevenars is delighted to welcome back prizewinning virtuoso Junwen Liang, performing a stunningly varied American program entitled  "Echoes Across Horizons: American Voices in Classical Piano." 

Junwen graduated with a Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, under the tutelage of Richard Goode. See Junwenliangpianist.com for more about this wonderful artist.

He'll bring Sevenars a stunningly varied program, including music of Amy Beach, Florence Price, Tan Dun, Stephen Dankner, and the rare and masterful Sonata by Paul Aurandt, (sometimes described as a musical successor to Rachmaninoff) - along with other surprises! 

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.

 

 


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The Classical Beat: Spectacular Music and Celebrations at Tanglewood, Sevenars

By Stephen DanknerSpecial to iBerkshires

With the arrival of August, we are at the midpoint – the emerging height of the classical music festival season. Programs at Tanglewood this week offer an enthralling and diverse mix of orchestral works by Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner, Sibelius, Debussy, Ravel, Bartok and Stravinsky performed by the Boston Symphony, the Tanglewood Music Festival Orchestra and, for the delight of chamber music lovers, the Danish String Quartet playing late Beethoven. The week's other prominent highlights includes Maestro Nelsons leading the BSO in a concert version of  Mozart's iconic comic opera "The Marriage of Figaro." Also scheduled: Yo-Yo Ma's curated concerts, conversations and events under the rubric "We The People," and the activities that comprise the all-day 'Tanglewood on Parade' celebration, always a Tanglewood patron favorite. Read below for more detailed information about these and other performances and related celebratory activities, covering the week of July 30-Aug. 4.

Tanglewood

• Thursday, July 30, 8:00 p.m., Ozawa Hall: The polished Danish String Quartet performs Stravinsky's "Suite italienne," Beethoven's String Quartet No. 16 in F, Op. 135 and a medley of arrangements of Danish folksongs.

• Friday, July 31. 8:00 p.m., in the Shed: Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the BSO in a compelling program of Wagner (the 'Prelude and Liebestod' from "Tristan und Isolde"); Sibelius (Symphony No. 7) and Beethoven (the magisterial Piano Concerto No. 5) with Yefim Bronfman the stupendous soloist.

• Saturday, Aug. 1, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: Mozart's uproarious comic operatic masterpiece, "The Marriage of Figaro" is performed in concert with English supertitles by a stellar cast of TMC Vocal Fellows - the Boston Symphony led by Andris Nelsons. The production is directed by James Darrah Black.

Tanglewood on Parade Events - Tuesday Aug. 4

The gates open with a fanfare, followed by events during the afternoon and into the evening; each celebrate Tanglewood's ensembles and performers, including Yo-Yo Ma, Keith Lockhart, Samy Rachid and The Boston Pops, the Tanglewood Festival Orchestra and the Boston Symphony. "Making Music In Community" is the over-arching theme. Visit Tanglewood's website for full program and personnel information, specific events, repertoire and locations. Events throughout the day will occur in Ozawa Hall, the Shed and in the Linde Center. The festivities conclude with the traditional performance of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" by The Pops, accompanied by spectacular fireworks lighting up the Berkshire skies.

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


Pianist Paul-Andre? Bempe?chat in All-Beethoven Program at Sevenars

Founded in 1968, Sevenars Concerts, Inc. is presenting its 58th anniversary season of six summer concerts, held at the Academy in the historic village of South Worthington, MA, located at 15 Ireland Street, just off MA Route 112.

• Sunday, Aug. 2, 4:00 p.m.: Pianist Paul-André Bempechat will present a solo recital. Renowned for his interpretations of the First Viennese School, Brahms, Schumann, and Chopin - Bempechat - a French-Canadian - is a disciple of the artistic legacies of the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School. Decorated as Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture, he has toured widely throughout Europe.

He will perform four of Beethoven's Sonatas - Op. 22, Op. 27 No 2 ('Moonlight'), Op. 90 and Op. 57 ('Appassionata'.} Currently recording all 32 Beethoven sonatas, Mr. Bempéchat offers the Sevenars audience the thrill of hearing these four stunning masterworks.   

The Sevenars Academy is located at 15 Ireland Street, just off Rt. 112 in South Worthington, Ma. Concerts are presented on six consecutive Sundays at 4:00 p.m., through August 16. Phone: (413) 238-5854 (please leave a message for a return call). Visit online at: www.sevenars.org. Admission is by donation at the door (suggested $20). Refreshments will be available at no cost.

 

 

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