The Classical Beat: Visit Tanglewood, Sevenars For Great Music

By Stephen DanknerGuest Column
08:00AM / Wednesday, July 12, 2023Print Story | Email Story

Ron Gorevic will perform Bach at Sevenars Music Festival Sunday, 4 PM

Tanglewood enters its second week of both pops and classical programming with thrilling concerts in the Shed, Ozawa Hall and at the Tanglewood-Linde Center, a constituent part of the new and innovative Tanglewood Learning Institute (TLI). As always, diversity in programming combined with outstanding performances is assured.

Sevenars Concerts in South Worthington, Mass., founded in 1968, offers a wonderfully intimate and musically enthralling series of seven concerts. This summer, Sevenars is celebrating its 55th anniversary season. Read below for a description of this week's uniquely exceptional recital.

Why go? Simply stated, what you'll see and hear this week in these two venues is a sampling of the very best performances within the richness and diversity of classical music programming in our region.

Tanglewood: Boston Symphony and the Pops in the Shed

• Friday, July 14, 8:00 p.m.: The Boston Pops and conductor Keith Lockhart present "Two Pianos: Who Could Ask for Anything More?" - a program celebrating George Gershwin and his world, with vocalist/pianist Michael Feinstein and pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet.

• Saturday, July 15, 8:00 p.m.: Maestro Andris Nelsons leads a BSO concert performance of Mozart's opera "Così fan tutte," directed by James Darrah in his BSO debut, and featuring soprano Nicole Cabell, mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey, tenor Amitai Pati, and baritone Elliot Madore as the capricious couples, soprano Meigui Zhang, in her Tanglewood debut, and bass-baritone Patrick Carfizzi, plus the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, James Burton, conductor.

• Sunday, July 16, 2:30 p.m.: Maestro Nelsons and the BSO open the program with Beethoven's "Leonore" Overture No. 3, followed without intermission by Orff's vibrant secular cantata "Carmina burana," with soprano Erin Morley, countertenor Reginald Mobley, in his Tanglewood debut, and baritone Will Liverman, as well as the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, and the Boston Children's Chorus (sung in Latin with English supertitles).

• Monday, July 17, 8:00 p.m.: Andris Nelsons and Conducting Fellows Agata Zajac and Armand Singh Birk share the podium, leading the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in music of Bacewicz, Kodály, and Mahler.

SPECIAL EVENT: FREE TICKETS TO BERKSHIRE RESIDENTS

Berkshire Day tickets will be available at the Main Gate Box office on Monday, July 17 at 12:00 pm.

Free Shed tickets for the BSO concert on Sunday, July 23, at 2:30 p.m. will be offered in pairs to residents and property owners of Berkshire County. If Shed seats sell out, then lawn tickets will be offered. Please bring identification to establish Berkshire County residency or property ownership (a driver's license, rental lease, utility bill, or tax bill). Other special ticket opportunities include free lawn tickets for visitors under 18, $25 "under 40" tickets, lawn passes for Berkshire residents, and discounts for students, military personnel, and members of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

Tanglewood: Ozawa Hall concerts

• Thursday, July 13, 8:00 p.m.: Classical singer Julia Bullock, who made her Tanglewood debut with the BSO on July 9, is joined by pianist John Arida, in his Tanglewood debut, performing songs by Schubert, Wolf, Weill, Billie Holiday, and Nina Simone.

• Friday, July 14, 6:00 p.m.: Prelude Concert featuring music by Schumann and Mozart performed by members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

• Tanglewood: TMC and TLI Linde Center/Studio E events

• Wednesday, July 12, 1:30 p.m.: TLI Open Vocal Workshop with soprano Erin Morley, who is also a soloist in "Carmina burana" (7/16), and TMC Fellows (joint presentation of TLI and TMC).

• Thursday, July 13, 1:00 p.m.: A TLI In Conversation with Will Liverman, baritone soloist in "Carmina burana" (7/16).

• Saturday, July 15, 6:00 p.m.: Tanglewood Music Center Chamber Music, Prelude Concert, featuring music of Respighi, Michelle Ross, and G. Williams.

• Sunday, July 16, 8:00 p.m.: Tanglewood Music Center Vocal Music, featuring works by Rachmaninoff, Durey, Butterworth, and Guy Ropartz.

For tickets for all Tanglewood/BSO concerts (lawn and Shed seating) and for special events call (617) 266-1200. TDD/TTY: (617) 638-9289. Online: tanglewood.org.

Sevenars Concerts

• Sunday, July 16, 4:00 p.m.: Sevenars Concerts will present the outstanding violist Ronald Gorevic in a performance of the Bach Cello Suites I-IV played on the viola. Mr. Gorevic has recently recorded all six of the Bach Suites for Centaur Records, and this is an exceptional opportunity to experience these profound masterpieces live in a hall that has been likened acoustically to the inside of a Stradivarius stringed instrument.

Mr. Gorevic has been called "a musician first and foremost" by N. Y. Times critic Allen Hughes, and his performance of these Bach masterpieces promises to be a uniquely memorable musical event.

The Sevenars Academy is located at 15 Ireland Street, just off Rt. 112 in South Worthington, Ma. Admission is by donation (suggested $20) and is held at the Academy in the historic village of South Worthington, MA, located at 15 Ireland Street, just off MA Route 112. Phone: (413) 238-5854 (Leave return call phone number). Web: www.sevenars.com. Admission by donation (suggested $20.) Free refreshments will be available.

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BRTA Focuses on a New Run Schedule

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
01:26PM / Wednesday, April 29, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire Regional Transit Authority is still working on maintaining its run schedules after dropping the route realignment proposal.

Last Thursday's meeting was Administrator Kathleen Lambert's first official meeting taking over the reins; retiring director Robert Malnati stayed during a transition period that ended last month.

Lambert is trying to create a schedule that will lessen cancellations. There was a two-hour meeting the week before with the drivers union to negotiate run bids and Lambert is working with the new operating company Keolis, which is taking over from Transdev.

The board spoke about anonymous emails from drivers, which Lambert said she has not seen. iBerkshires was not able to see those letters, but has received some.

"They were lengthy emails from someone describing themselves as concerning BRTA employee, and there was a signed letter from a whole group of employees basically stating their concerns. So, you know, to me, it was a set of whistleblowers, and that, what my understanding is that this really triggers a need for some type of process to review the merits of these whistleblowers, not going to call them accusations, but basically expressions of concern," said member Stephen Bannon.

A letter iBerkshires received spoke of unhappy drivers who were considering quitting because of decisions being made without "input from frontline staff," frustration and falling morale, and the removal of the former general manager shortly after Lambert came in.

Lambert said it's difficult to navigate a new change. She also noted many drivers don't want to do Saturday runs and it has been hard negotiating with drivers on the new runs.

"I would like you all to keep in mind that the process of change is super difficult. Transdev has been here for 20 years, and some of these drivers have never known any other operating company, the way some of the operations have been handled has been archaic," she said. "So getting folks up to speed on how a modern transit system works is going to be painful for them. So I don't want to say that I'm unsympathetic, because I am sympathetic, but I am trying to coax people along with a system that's going to seem very strange to them."

The board spoke about better communication between them and Lambert, citing cooperation will be best moving forward.

"There's just a lot of stuff in the air right now, and there are a lot of fires to put out to make this a coordinated effort. And if we don't keep our communications open and be straightforward, then you get blindsided about how you know the input that you could get from us about your position, and how you know what's going on in your direction, and we get blindsided. And I think that we have to make sure that this is a collaboration," said member Sherry Youngkin.

"Both sides have responsibilities, because in the long run, this advisory board is going to have to make decisions as to how we brought forward and if we've gone forward in a fair and helpful way. And I think that's hopefully what everybody is looking for also."

Transdev and Keolis held a three-day recruiting event interviewing almost 40 candidates and offering jobs to eight, but only three stayed on to start training. Lambert said it was disappointing but she will keep trying to retain more people.

In her first report to the board, she noted that ridership dipped a little over 10 percent, but still remains higher than last year, adding that was because of cancellations of services because of the lack of drivers.

Like the last meeting, some of the advisory board members were torn over the start of the Link413 service, worried that the start of the service took drivers away and the numbers of riders are low.

Lambert, however, said the ridership has doubled from last month.

"As I've spoken before, we have, generally, a six-month adoption for brand-new service before you can really go in and evaluate, are you being successful based on the grant that my predecessor wrote along with the team for PBTA and RTA, we are ahead of schedule, which is pretty good, so I'm hoping that will continue to improve," she said.

Member Renee Wood said the board never approved the service, adding the only thing she could find in the minutes was a vote to accept the equipment. She said it was supposed to be put on the agenda to discuss.

"The Link413 service has been three years in the making. It's been a grant that was accepted and has been working with our partners, PVTA and FRTA, to put into place. So I don't have the entire history of how that process worked, but it's been three years in the making, and did we not understand that once we accept that grant that we were going to put in new service?" Lambert said.

The board discussed if Title VI, the Civil Rights Act, was followed with an accurate review and accurate amount of time for public comment period on the service changes and if its attorney should review if the grant conditions were properly followed.

Lambert said changes had the 60-day comment period included in the proposed route realignment packet, giving the opportunity for the community to respond to that as well but will look into the legality of the situation with their attorney.

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