Thrilling Music at Tanglewood, Sevenars

With the arrival of August, we are at the mid-point – the height of the classical music festival season. Programs at Tanglewood this week offer as the artistic highlight an enthralling full traversal of all five Beethoven piano concertos performed by the luminous pianist Paul Lewis, and accompanied by the BSO, led by maestro Andris Nelsons – two each on Friday (Nos. 2 and 4) and Saturday (Nos. 1 and 3), and concluding with No. 5 (the magisterial "Emperor") on Sunday. The week’s other prominent occasion, on Tuesday, August 2, will showcase each of the entities that comprise the Tanglewood Music Festival during the all-day ‘Tanglewood on Parade’ celebration. Read below for further information about these and other thrilling concerts and related planned activities, covering events from July 27-August 2.

Tanglewood 

Programs in the Koussevitsky Music Shed

• Friday, July 29, 8:00 p.m.: Maestro Andris Nelsons leads the BSO, with soloist Paul Lewis performing Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 2 and 4. The program opens with the premiere of "Makeshift Castle" by Julia Adolphe. 

• Saturday, July 30. 8:00 p.m.: The Beethoven piano concerto cycle continues with Concertos Nos. 1 and 3, with the opening work "Punctum" by Caroline Shaw.

• Sunday, July 31, 2:30 p.m.: Beethoven’s majestic Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor") concludes the concerto cycle with soloist Paul Lewis and the BSO, led by conductor Andris Nelsons. The program opens with the premiere of "Starling Variations" by Elizabeth Ogonek and concludes with Symphony No. 3 by Louise Farrenc (1804-1875), a highly esteemed French pianist and composer of symphonies and piano works.

Programs in Ozawa Hall

• Wednesday, July 27, 8:00 p.m.: The Takács String Quartet performs music by Bach, Bryce Dessner, Julien Labro, Dino Saluzzi, Clarice Assad and Maurice Ravel (the stunningly beautiful String Quartet in F Major).

• Thursday, July 28, 8:00 p.m.: The Silkroad Ensemble and Rhiannon Giddens present four new works by Silkroad artists Shawn Conley, Sandeep Das, Maeve Gilchrist, and Kaoru Watanabe for a program entitled "Phoenix Rising."

Programs in The Linde Center

• Wednesday, July 27, 1:30-3:30 p.m.: TLI Open Violin Workshop with BSO Associate Concertmaster Alexander Velinzon coaching TMC students.

• Thursday, July 28, 1-2 p.m.: TLI ‘In Conversation’ with composer Julia Adolphe.

• Thursday, July 28, 2-3:30 p.m.: TLI Open Conducting Workshop with BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons coaching TMC Conducting Fellows.

• Saturday, July 30, 5-6 p.m.: TLI Spotlight Series features U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, whose music and poetry reflects her passion for love and justice and her Native American heritage.

TANGLEWOOD ON PARADE EVENTS - Tuesday, August 2

Tanglewood on Parade features conductors Thomas Adès, Stefan Asbury, JoAnn Falletta, Thomas Wilkins, and John Williams leading the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center orchestras.

The program includes works of Paul Hindemith and Maurice Ravel, as well as Leonard Bernstein’s "America" from "West Side Story" and John Williams’ "JUST DOWN WEST STREET … on the left." The program concludes with an orchestral performance of the Ukrainian National Anthem, followed by the traditional "1812 Overture," both dedicated to the people of Ukraine and the courage and perseverance they have consistently shown in their struggle for their country’s continuing independence. 

Gates open with a fanfare at 2:00 p.m., and small ensemble and family activities are scheduled throughout the day; following the performance, brilliant fireworks light up the Berkshire skies.

For tickets for these and for all Tanglewood/BSO concerts (lawn and Shed seating) and for special events call (617) 266-1200 or 888-266-1200. Online: tanglewood.org.

Sevenars Music Festival

Founded in 1968, Sevenars Concerts, Inc. is showcasing its 54st 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, July 31, 4:00 p.m.: Pianist Liana Paniyeva is the featured artist, performing a rich and wide-ranging recital of virtuosic Romantic piano works by composers Chopin, Schumann, Schubert-Liszt, Medtner, Mykola Lysenko, Viktor Lysenko and Rachmaninoff.

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 14. Phone: (413) 238-5854 (please leave a message for a return call). Visit online at: www.sevenars.org. Email: Sevenars@aol.com. Admission is by donation at the door (suggested $20). Refreshments will be available. 

Gender Diverse Community Members Talk Allyship at BCC Panel

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:45PM / Monday, March 31, 2025

Maayan Nuri Héd, left, Luna Celestia Mornelithe, Jackson Rodriguez and Jay Santangelo talked about their experiences and where they had found allyship and community.

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— Ahead of Monday's International Transgender Day of Visibility, community members shared their experiences with gender diversity during a panel discussion at Berkshire Community College.

"Really my goal, I think, ultimately in life is to make being trans such a casual thing that it isn't even a question anymore," Jackson Rodriguez, a teaching assistant, told a packed lecture hall on Wednesday.

"It's just a way of being. I wouldn't say I've ever come out. I would always say that I'm just — I've always been me."

Hosted by the Queer Student Association, conversation topics ranged from gender and coming out to movies, drag, and safe spaces in the community. There are over 1.6 million trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive people in the United States, "and they are going to continue to exist, whether you have a say in it or not," said QSA President Briana Booker.

"Trans people are not asking you to give them special treatment. They are not asking you to put away your beliefs and your ideas to fit a world for them," Booker said. "They are asking to be treated as they are: human beings, people."

Panelists included Rodriguez; artist and director of nonprofit Seeing Rainbows Maayan Nuri Héd;  Wander Berkshires founder Jay Santangelo, and artist Lunarya 'Luna' Celestia Mornelithe. When asked how they define gender, Héd said, "I don't," Mornelithe joked, "I lost mine," Santangelo explained it is fluid for them, and Rodriguez said gender is a performative thing that can be changed however a person sees fit.

Attendees had several questions about allyship, as President Donald Trump recently signed several executive orders targeting gender-diverse identities, including a declaration that the U.S. only recognizes "male" and "female" as sexes.

"Something I find myself repeating ad nauseum to people because it's really, really simple but so important and people resist doing it, is to have a conversation," Héd said. "Specifically have a conversation with a trans person."