by Roseann Cane Today one of the most frequently performed operas in the world, La Bohème premiered in 1896 in Turin, conducted by the 28-year-old Arturo Toscanini. Set in Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1830s, it focuses on four young, impoverished bohemian artists, Marcello, a painter (baritone Benjamin Taylor);…
The “innovative, clever and thoroughly professional” (Bachtrack) Berkshire Opera Festival continues its 2023 summer season with a mainstage production of La Bohème on August 26, August 29, and September 1 at The Colonial Theater in Pittsfield, MA. One of the most beloved operatic love stories of all time, La Bohème is based on Henri Murger’s 1851 novel, Scènes de la vie de…
Berkshire Opera Festival opens its 2023 summer season with Breaking the Mold: Baroque, Bel Canto, and Beyond, a concert of arias and ensembles spanning 300 years, on July 22 at Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. The program traverses a vast range of musical eras and styles, from Handel to Heggie. The afternoon’s selections are sung by strong characters who each…
Berkshire Opera Festival presents:TO PARIS WITH LOVE – Opera in the City of Light Sunday, April 16 at 2 pm Saint James Place, 352 Main St., Great Barrington, Massachusetts Paris has inspired more artists to loftier heights of creativity than perhaps any other city. From Puccini to Massenet to Strauss,…
by Barbara Waldinger In the age of Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein, how is a director embarking on a production of one of the many versions of the Don Juan story to approach the lasciviousness of the main character? Beginning in the Middle Ages, across multiple genres and cultures…
On August 20, 23, and 26, Berkshire Opera Festival‘s 2022 season culminates with the summer’s most ambitious undertaking: a new staging by BOF co-founder Jonathon Loy of Mozart’s comedy-tragedy masterpiece DON GIOVANNI at the historic, intimate Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, MA. BOF Artistic Director and co-founder Brian Garman, called a “wizard” with complex scores by Bachtrack, conducts the Berkshire Opera…
The spirited and ambitious Berkshire Opera Festival opens its 2022 summer season with a compelling new production of Jake Heggie‘s intimate THREE DECEMBERS on July 21 and 23 at PS21 in Chatham, NY, conducted by Christopher James Ray and directed by Beth Greenberg. This contemporary American opera is based on Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally’s original script for Some Christmas Letters. It marks BOF’s 2nd Second Stage event, following Tom Cipullo’s…
PS21 announces season lineup, including expanded community programming for residents of Columbia County, U.S. company debuts, world and North American premieres, international artists, and performances of work developed in our growing artists’ residency program. More than 50 events, staged to conform to current safety protocols, in the theater, in our…
