Tanglewood
and the rolling hills of the Berkshires
in Western Massachusetts offer a plethora of superlative performing
arts during the compact summer season. During the busy weekends
of July and August, cultural aficionados are hard-pressed
to choose between the glorious concerts of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra (BSO) in Tanglewood’s open-air
Shed and more intimate Seiji
Ozawa Hall and several fine theatre festivals. The
choice of a strategically located hotel puts all of these
events within convenient striking-distance, but reservations
for tickets and rooms must be made very early for the popular
sold-out summer weekends. Because of crowded dining facilities
at peak periods, we have included either
lunch or dinner on each of our four days. This year
we are including a total of five performances
– with both a matinee and evening program on our final
Sunday.
Our
visit in 2008 will concentrate on the famed Boston
Symphony Orchestra and will include a pair of concerts
in the Tanglewood Shed as well as a pair of solo performances
in Ozawa Hall. The orchestral programs in the Shed will include
Gustav Mahler’s towering Symphony No. 2 (‘Resurrection’)
under the eminent Dutch conductor Bernard
Haitink (with soloists and chorus); and a varied Sunday
afternoon of works by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and Schubert led
by Music Director James Levine.
The piano soloist on Sunday will be Peter
Serkin. Our first evening will be in Ozawa Hall for
an intimate solo Recital by the British pianist Imogen
Cooper, who has announced an all-Schubert program;
and we will return to Ozawa Hall on our last night for a much-heralded
80th birthday celebration featuring the ageless Broadway star
Barbara Cook.
The
Williamstown Theatre Festival has
long been regarded as one of the best repertory companies
in the U.S. Tickets are notoriously difficult to obtain, but
our early reservation will assure us of an exciting evening
in the relaxed summer ambience of the Adams Memorial Theatre.
This year will mark the Festival’s 54th season. (The
play has not yet been announced.)
Museum
enthusiasts will also be rewarded by our appointment at the
Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute
in Williamstown, with its treasures of French Impressionist
and American painting. This summer will mark the 52nd anniversary
of the Clark with a major exhibition devoted to the art of
Whistler and Inness. Finally, literary and architecture aficionados
will be grateful for our visit to ‘The
Mount’, Edith Wharton’s gracious 1902 mansion
outside Lenox.
Tanglewood’s
covered Shed has attracted music-lovers
from all over the world for many years and was the original
model which has spawned similar outdoor summer festivals throughout
the country. The revered Boston Symphony Orchestra has always
been the resident ensemble, under such acclaimed conductors
as Serge Koussevitzky, Charles Munch, Leonard Bernstein, Seiji
Ozawa, and now James Levine. In addition to the Shed, Tanglewood’s
extensive grounds overlooking the area’s lovely lake
also contain a small Recital Hall and the most recent addition
of Seiji Ozawa Hall, a beautiful
auditorium with open ends and the warm acoustics of natural
wood.
The
Albany (N.Y.) Airport is the closest terminal to our hotel
in Pittsfield (Mass.), about an hour by car. Independent arrivals
should be on Thursday, July 7th. (A Saturday night stay-over
is included to allow for optimum air fares.) Taxis are readily
available at the Albany Airport (estimated $90 one-way to
Pittsfield), but we suggest you call Jessica Zaccari at the
Crowne Plaza (413) 553-2188 to coordinate the least expensive
transfer to the hotel with other tour members. Pittsfield
is about three hours by car from New York City. (Please see
our concluding paragraph regarding our bus transfer from N.Y.)
