Drama and Melodrama—The Schumanns

Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA, United States

The ever-fascinating and intimate triangle – Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms – will be brought to new light with seldom-heard works that highlight the musical cross-references and spiritual bond that united them. Predating accompaniment to silent film by decades, Robert’s melodrama, Schön Hedwig is a forerunner to soap-opera sentimentality with a happy ending. […]

Vivace Chamber Orchestra: Tchaikovsky, Grieg, Boccherini, Barber

Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA, United States

Composed by Tchaikovsky to counter a bout of insomnia and melancholy, Serenade for Strings immediately cheered him up, and he reported “feeling well, invigorated and content” - as gratified listeners have over the years. Few composers have possessed the ability to reflect emotions within their music as well as Tchaikovsky, and the Serenade channels solemnity […]

6 Unaccompanied Bach Suites for Cello with Colin Carr & Yehuda Hanani

Saint James Place 352 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA, United States

THIS PERFORMANCE IS SOLD OUT. Two leading Bach interpreters embark on a journey while traversing his Six Suites, the apogee of the cello repertoire. Filled with mystery and beauty, blasted through with rapture, every note is a bold statement. Music that first flowed from the composer’s quill in the early 1700’s, it belongs to no […]

“Rite of Spring”—Rachmaninoff/Stravinsky

Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA, United States

Two monumental works, two Russian ex-pats of the same aristocratic background - and two divergent extremes. One a master of nostalgia and a formidable pianist, follows in the footsteps of Chopin. The other, a trailblazer, scandalizer and collaborator of Picasso delights in breaking old molds - though harking back to traditional Russian folk material - […]