Tanglewood, Tannery Pond, Taconic Music, Sevenars Shine

Tanglewood enters its second week of classical programming with inspiring concerts in the Shed and in Ozawa Hall. As always, excellence is the watchword: from Leonard Bernstein’s delightful and brilliant comic opera "Trouble in Tahiti" to classic symphonic works of Mozart, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Wagner; from Bernstein's emotionally uplifting "Chichester Psalms" to a semi-staged performance of Puccini's "La bohème," Tanglewood hits all the high notes.

In Manchester, Vt., there's the Taconic Music festival. Taconic's concerts are always thrilling to hear and to experience, both in terms of repertoire and the level of musical artistry of their outstanding performers – resident mentors, visiting artists and the gifted student instrumentalists in TM's Chamber Music Intensive program.

Sevenars Concerts, in South Worthington, Mass., presents the acclaimed Revere Piano Quartet in a program described as being "filled with sumptuous Romanticism" - not an overstatement, as you'll hear if you attend; read below for the details of this concert and about each of the others listed above.

Why go? Simply stated, what you’ll see and hear this week in these four venues is a sampling of the very best within the richness and diversity of classical music programming in our region – all brilliantly performed.

Tanglewood

• Wednesday, July 11, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: The phenomenal and intellectually stimulating pianist Jeremy Denk performs a gripping recital of visionary works by Mozart, Prokofiev, Beethoven (the transcendent Sonata No. 30 in E Major, Op. 109,) and Schumann (the groundbreaking Fantasy in C Major, Op. 17).

• Thursday, July 12, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: Jamie Bernstein, the composer's daughter, directs a semi-staged performance of Leonard Bernstein's one-act opera "Trouble in Tahiti," featuring conductor Charles Prince, soprano Alexandra Silber as Dinah, and baritone Nathan Gunn as Sam, with soprano Kerstin Anderson; tenor William Ferguson; and baritone Christopher Herbert.

• Friday, July 13, 8 p.m. in the Shed: Maestro Morris Gnann leads the BSO in a program of Wagner (the luxuriant "Siegfried Idyll"), Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat, K. 595, with the esteemed pianist Paul Lewis the soloist, and Schumann’s awe-inspiring Symphony No. 3 in E flat Major ("Rhenish").

• Saturday, July 14, 8 p.m. in the Shed: BSO Maestro Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony and a stellar cast of singers in a semi-staged performance of Puccini's tragic opera "La boheme."

• Sunday, July 15, 2:30 p.m. in the Shed: Maestro Nelsons conducts the BSO in Mendelssohn's ebullient Symphony No. 4 in A Major ("Italian"), Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in C, with the prodigious pianist Yuja Wang the soloist, and to conclude the concert, Bernstein's uplifting 'Chichester Psalms,' featuring the Tanglewood Festival Chorus with boy soprano soloist Rafi Bellamy Plaice.

• Monday, July 16, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: The Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, directed by two TMC conducting Fellows, presents its second performance in Ozawa Hall, with music by Mozart (the Symphony No. 35, "Haffner") and Beethoven (the "Leonore" Overture No. 3, Op. 72b). The program concludes with Brahms' magisterial Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98, led by Maestro Christoph von Dohnányi.

For tickets for all Tanglewood/BSO concerts (lawn and Shed seating) and special events, call 617-266-1200 or 888-266-1200 (TDD/TTY at 617-638-9289). For local information, call 413-637-1600. You can also order tickets and get information online.

$20 tickets for attendees under 40, one of the BSO’s most popular discount ticket offers, will be available for select BSO and Boston Pops performances in the Shed. In addition, Tanglewood continues to offer free lawn tickets to young people age 17 and under, as well as a variety of special programs for children, including Kids’ Corner, Watch and Play, and the Young People’s Concert on Friday, Aug. 10.

Cellist Inbal Segev and pianist Juho Pohjonen will perform at Tannery Pond on July 14.

Tannery Pond Concerts

This gem of a series offers outstanding chamber music in a 19th century Shaker-built barn (the "Tannery") located on the scenically magnificent grounds of the Darrow School in New Lebanon, N.Y.

• Saturday, July 14, 8 p.m.: A stellar recital awaits attendees at a not-to-be-missed evening of cello/piano music by Beethoven and Grieg performed by two of Tannery Concerts' favorites - cellist Inbal Segev and pianist Juho Pohjonen.

For tickets, call 888-820-1696 or go online. Tickets are $30 and $39. Tannery Pond is located on the grounds of Mount Lebanon Shaker Village and Darrow School, New Lebanon, N.Y., one and a half miles east of the town center on Route 20.

Taconic Music

Taconic Music finale features masterpieces by Debussy and Brahms. Four events this week will conclude Taconic Music's second summer season

• Saturday, July 14, 7:30 p.m.: Taconic Music's fourth and final concert of its 2018 Festival Series brings together two masterpieces of the string literature: Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10 and Brahms' String Sextet in B-flat Major, Op. 18. Debussy believed that "music should exist above all else to give pleasure," and, with a wholly original, iridescent harmonic language and unique style, he brought to life a work that infuses impressionism with exotic scales and harmonies. Brahms' Opus 18 in B-flat Major, completed in 1860, with the richness of two cellos and two violas in addition to the two violins, creates a body of sound that could not be more attuned to the composer’s deeply abiding and earnest musical sentiments.

Guest ensemble The Indianapolis String Quartet — Zach DePue and Joana Genova, violins; Michael Isaac Strauss, viola; Austin Huntington, cello — will perform the Debussy quartet. They will be joined for the Brahms sextet by violist Ariel Rudiakov and cellist Sophie Shao. The performance will be given at the Riley Center for the Arts at Burr and Burton Academy, 143 Seminary Ave., Manchester. General admission for adults is $25; students and children are $10. There is an advance purchase discount of $20 for adults for tickets purchased online or by phone prior to 2 p.m. the day of the concert.  Concert details can be found on the Taconic Music website: www.taconicmusic.org or on the main ticketing page.

• Thursday, July 12, 11 a.m.: The Indianapolis Quartet will join Walter Parker in the studios at Vermont Public Radio for a live broadcast featuring the Debussy String Quartet.

• Friday, July 13, 2-4 p.m.: the Indianapolis String Quartet will lead a chamber music masterclass with students from TM's Chamber Music Intensive at the Manchester Community Library, 138 Cemetary Avenue, Manchester. Admission is $10 at the door.

• Sunday, July 15, 4 p.m.: Rounding out the weekend, TM presents the NextGen Concert II, which will feature string quartets by Ravel, Shostakovich, and Beethoven, as well as Schumann's Piano Quintet, Op. 44, performed by members of TM's Chamber Music Intensive. This concert will be given at the Riley Center at Burr & Burton Academy, 143 Seminary Ave., Manchester, Vt. Admission is $10 at the door, students/kids free.

Sevenars Concerts

• Sunday, July 15, 4 p.m.: The Revere Piano Quartet will offer a program of sumptuous and powerful 19th-century Romantic music by Antonin Dvořák and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Pianist Tae Kim and Smith College violinist/violist Ronald Gorevic join forces with the husband-wife duo cellist Eugene Kim and violinist Jin-Kyung Joen. Their program will include Dvořák’s beloved E-flat Piano Quartet and the incredible and rarely heard Suite for 2 violins, cello and piano left hand by Korngold. The world-renowned pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in World War I, commissioned this work. This music speaks of survival in the face of adversity and is sure to provide a moving and heartfelt experience to listeners.

The Sevenars Academy is located at 15 Ireland Street, just off Route 112 in South Worthington, Mass. Admission is by donation (suggested $20) and refreshments are included. For information, call 413-238-5854 or visit the website.

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