The Classical Beat: Tanglewood Concludes, South Mountain Up Next

By Stephen DanknerSpecial to iBerkshires
03:15PM / Wednesday, August 20, 2025Print Story | Email Story

Tanglewood brings to a close its magnificently curated, presented and performed 2025 classical music summer festival season on Sunday, Aug. 24 with the Boston Symphony performing Beethoven's immortal Symphony No. 9 ('Choral') in the Shed. Prior to that, there will be a celebration of the Boston Pops' maestro Keith Lockhart, who has attained a remarkable 30 years with the beloved orchestra; Francis Poulenc's incandescent choral masterwork "Gloria," performed by the BSO and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, will be paired with Gustav Holst's resplendent multi-movement tone poem, "The Planets." Following these spectacular performances, and with the culminating "Ninth," the classical season ends. Read on for the details, including the following, end-of-season Popular Artists appearances in the Shed.

Friday, Aug. 22, 8:00 p.m.: in the Shed: The Keith Lockhart 30th Anniversary Concert, which brings special guests Lynn Ahrens, Jason Danieley, Ben Folds, Mandy Gonzalez, Bernadette Peters, Ryan Miller, John Pizzarelli, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Time for Three, to celebrate the unforgettable moments Keith has brought to the orchestra and the community since 1995. Video tributes and archival film, interspersed during the concert, promise a memorable night of music making with Keith and his guests.
Saturday, Aug. 23, 8:00 p.m. in the Shed: Maestro Kazuki Yamada, Music Director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, leads a program of Gustav Holst's iconic suite, "The Planets." The program opens with Poulenc's emotionally moving "Gloria," with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and soprano soloist Raquel Gonza?lez in her BSO debut.
Sunday, Aug. 24, 2:30 in the Shed: For the BSO's final performance of the season, esteemed conductor and 1958 TMC alumnus Zubin Mehta makes his BSO debut and returns to the Shed for the first time since 2001 to conduct Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with soloists Federica Lombardi, Isabel Signoret, Pene Pati, and Ryan Speedo Green and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. The Symphony is paired with the world premiere of "Words and Prayers of My Fathers," a BSO commission for choir composed by Composer Chair Carlos Simon, conducted by James Burton.

Popular Artists in the Shed

Thursday, Aug. 28, 8:00 in the Shed: "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!," NPR's popular news quiz program, returns live with host Peter Sagal, judge-scorekeeper Bill Kurtis, and award-winning actor Paul Giamatti as celebrity guest. Nominated for an Academy Award in 2023 for his lead role in "The Holdovers," Giamatti can currently be seen in Season 7 of Netflix's "Black Mirror" and will star opposite Julianne Moore in the forthcoming feature film "No One Cares."
Saturday, Aug. 30, 7:00 p.m. in the Shed: Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band behind "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird," makes its Tanglewood debut. With a catalog of over 60 albums, billions of streams, tens of millions of records sold, and the introduction of Hell House whiskey, Lynyrd Skynyrd remains a cultural icon that appeals to all generations.
Sunday, Aug. 31, 7:00 p.m. in the Shed: Thirteen-time GRAMMY winner Bonnie Raitt returns to close the summer season. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000, Raitt was also named one of Rolling Stone's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and "100 Greatest Singers of All Time."

(Please note that John Legend's concert on Sept. 5 has been canceled due to unforeseen circumstances. Refunds have been issued for tickets purchased through bso.org, tanglewood.org and the Box Office.)

For tickets to all Tanglewood events, call (888) 266-1200, or go online at tanglewood.org.

Summer's end doesn't imply classical music will be absent in the Berkshires; far from it. A long-lived, major "player" in the area, South Mountain Concerts starts up soon after Labor Day with top-drawer chamber music in Pittsfield.

South Mountain Concerts presents five chamber music programs

Founded in 1918, South Mountain Concerts presents some of the world's leading chamber music ensembles and soloists during the fall in its beautiful, classically designed and purpose-built concert hall, located at 730 South Street, Pittsfield.

Programs for 2025 South Mountain Chamber Music Concerts

Sunday, Sept. 7: Wu Han, piano; David Finckel, cello; Stella Chen, Bella Hristova, violins; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola. Mozart – Duo for violin and viola; Mendelssohn – String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 2; Dvorak – Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81.
Sunday, Sept. 14: Calidore String Quartet with Matthew Lipman, viola: Haydn – String Quartet, in D Major Op. 76, No. 5; Mozart – String Quintet in C Major, K. 515; Mendelssohn – String Quintet in B-flat Major, Op. 87.
Sunday, Sept. 21: Dover String Quartet: Haydn – String Quartet in D Major, Op. 20, No. 4; Dvorak – String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96; Mendelssohn – String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80.
Sunday, Sept. 28: Escher String Quartet: Mozart – String Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 428; Alexander Zemlinsky – String Quartet No. 4, Op. 25; Dvorak – String Quartet in G Major, Op. 106.
Sunday, Oct. 5: String Sextet – Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: Strauss – Sextet for Strings, "Capriccio," Op. 85; Brahms – Sextet in C Major, Op. 36: Dvorak – Sextet in A Major, Op. 48.

Concerts are at 3:00 p.m. For tickets, call (413) 442-2106, or online at SouthMountainConcerts.org.

To my readers I bid a fond farewell until June, 2026, when I hope to return to preview the musical offerings at Tanglewood, Taconic Music, Sevenars and other venues in the Berkshires and southern Vermont. Keep on listening, and even more important, attend performances. Music only lives when it is performed.

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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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