by Mark G. Auerbach
Of Note
Peter Serkin. Photo by Kathy Chapman.
Community Music School of Springfield has announced a new Classical Chamber Series. The Series’ inaugural concert will feature internationally renowned pianist Peter Serkin, with guest artist Kristyna Petiskova, clarinetist, performing at CMSS’s Robyn Newhouse Hall in Springfield on Sept 9 Additional series concerts include The Parkington Trio, on October 28 ; Apple Hill String Quartet on January 27; Paradise Windson March 24; Amity Street Brass Quintet, on April 7; and Portland String Quartet, on April 28. For details:413-723-8428 or www.communitymusicschool.com .
Audra McDonald. Photo by Autumn de Wilde.
Tanglewood’s star-studded salute to Leonard Bernstein’s Centennial on his actual birthday, August 25, will be recorded by PBS for airing on Great Performances on December 28. Audra McDonald hosts an array of guests from the worlds of classical music and Broadway, among them. Keith Lockhart, John Williams, Michael Tilson Thomas, Midori, Thomas Hampson, Yo-Yo Ma, and more. For details: 888-266-1200 or www.tanglewood.org
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra will present Star Wars: A New Hope In Concert featuring screenings of the complete film with Oscar-winning composer John Williams’ musical score performed live to the film on October 27. The concerts will be led by HSO Music Director Carolyn Kuan, and are sure to sell out. For details:860-987-5900, or www. hartfordsymphony.org.
Anastasia, the hit Broadway musical that began life at Hartford Stage, launches a national tour starring Lila Coogan, Stephen Brower, and Jason Michael Evans at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, NY October 9. During its 30-city tour, it’s also scheduled to play Providence, but no word, as yet as to performances in Boston, Worcester, or a return to Hartford. The show will continue to run on Broadway. For details: https://www.anastasiabroadway.com/tour/
Keep in Mind
Arts Beat Radio airs every Friday at 8AM, on 89.5fm/WSKB. On August 17, at 8AM, Mark G. Auerbach chats with Playhouse on Park’s Meredith Atkinson, and Elizabeth Aspenleider, a star at Shakespeare and Company. And don’t miss our August 24 program, “Two Music Men” with composers Steven Schoenberg and Alexander Sovronsky, Start your weekend with ArtsBeat Radio. Tune in live on the airwaves, on Comcast ch. 15, or www.wskb.org
As You Like It, Shakespeare’s beloved comedy, will be performed at Shakespeare and Company’s outdoor Roman Garden Theatre through September 2. Allyn Burrows, Artistic Director of Shakespeare and Company, directs. The Bard’s madcap story follows Rosalind, played by two-time Elliot Norton Award winner Aimee Doherty, who escapes a threatening world of oppression in the pursuit of love and the prospect of new horizons. The comedy is set in the Roaring Twenties. For details: 413-637-3353 or www.shakespeare.org.
Heisenberg by Tony Award-winning playwright Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), comes to Shakespeare and Company in Lenox, directed by Tina Packer. Featuring Tamara Hickey and Malcolm Ingram, performances run in the Tina Packer Playhouse through September 2. For details: 413-637-3353 or www.shakespeare.org
Mitch Giannunzio
Try and Get Some Sleep Now by playwright and actor Mitch Giannunzio is a thriller about a chance encounter that goes wrong between a young female lawyer and her elderly female neighbor during a NYC power blackout. The cast includes Kenneth Tigar, Margery Shaw, Sandra Blaney, and Justin Fuller. The play gets a staged reading at North Hall in Huntington, MA on August 19. For details: 413 667-5543 or www.northhallhuntington.org
Wynton Marsalis. Photo by Frank Stewart
Wynton Marsalis brings the Wynton Marsalis Quintet to the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood on September 1. The concert will celebrate New Orleans’ Tri-Centennial taking place this year. The concert will also include a very special guest performance by the Ellis Marsalis Quintet, featuring the patriarch of the Marsalis family, New Orleans-based modern jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis. Wynton Marsalis, who was a Tanglewood Music Center Fellow in 1979, last performed at Tanglewood with the Wynton Marsalis Quintet in 2012. Ellis Marsalis last performed at Tanglewood in 2014. For details: 888-266-1200 or www.tanglewood.org
The Springfield Jazz and Roots Festival returns to Court Square on August 11. The program line-up includes: Avery Sharpe, Maceo Parker, Sweet Honey in The Rock, Wanda Houston and more. For details: https://springfieldjazzfest.com/
Air Supply
Air Supply’s 1980 “Lost in Love” became the fastest-selling single in the world, leaping to the top of all of the charts and was named Song of the Year. Seven top-five singles later, the soft rock duo at that time had equaled The Beatles’ run of consecutive top five singles. Their albums Lost in Love, The One That You Love, Now & Forever, and The Greatest Hits sold in excess of 20 million copies. They perform August 12 at The Mahaiwe in Great Barrington. For details: 413-528-0100. or www.mahaiwe.org
The Capitol Steps wind up their summer run at Cranwell in Lenox, with their new musical political satire, Make America Grin Again, nightly except Tuesdays, through August 31. For details:413-881-1636 or https://shop.cranwell.com/index.php?p=catalog&parent=105&pg=
Seven “R”s at Sevenars. Rorianne Schrade closes the Sevenars 50th Season with a piano recital featuring music by Ries, Rameau, Rachmaninoff, Respighi, Rodrigo, Roussel, and Ravel, on August 19 in Worthington, MA. Miss Schrade reprises the program at Blandford’s White Church on August 25. For details: www.sevenars.org.
The Aliens, Amherst native Annie Baker’s much-heralded play, closes The Chester Theatre season through August 19. James Barry, Joel Ripka, and Paul Pontrelli co-star. Chester Theatre Artistic Director Daniel Elihu Kramer stages the play. For details: 413-354-7771 or http://chestertheatre.org/
Rigoletto, Verdi’s dramatic masterpiece, will be performed at Berkshire Theatre Group’s Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, , August 25, 28, and 31, by Berkshire Opera Festival. The production is sung in Italian with English projections. For details: https://www.berkshireoperafestival.org/
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra’s Percussion Ensemble will perform a free concert at The Springfield Armory on August 30. The performance is free, according to their Facebook page. For details: 413-733-2291 or www.springfieldsymphony.org.
—
Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio. Mark produces and hosts ArtsBeat Radio for 89.5fm/WSKB.
