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The Classical Beat: Don't Miss Tanglewood, Tannery Pond
By Stephen Dankner, Special to iBerkshires
01:51PM / Wednesday, July 29, 2015
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The Miró String Quartet, one of America’s highest-profile chamber groups, will play at Tannery Ponds in New York.

Tanglewood in Lenox is the place to be this week for brilliant and unforgettable performances. Why go? To experience the symphonic masterworks of Beethoven, Schubert and Shostakovich, while fabulous guest artists such as the masterful pianist Garrick Ohlsson, phenomenal singers Dawn Upshaw and Matthias Goerne, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma will take center stage in the Shed.

Add to this the all-day spectacular audience favorite "Tanglewood on Parade," and you can expect another week of large-scale, not-to-be-missed stellar performances.

For something uniquely different but just as eagerly anticipated, consider attending Tannery Pond Concerts in New Lebanon for a wonderful pairing of Beethoven and Schubert, as the Miró String Quartet offers two of the late, spiritual masterworks of these masters. This concert promises to be uniquely satisfying – intimate and soul searching.

 

At Tanglewood this week

• Thursday, July 30, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: The Knights are a unique chamber orchestra of instrumental colleagues representing a broad spectrum of the New York City freelance performer world who are deeply committed to creating original, engaging musical experiences. Their programming often reflects exceptional thematic and topical concerns, as this program, which honors the 400th anniversary of Miguel de Cervantes landmark novel “Don Quixote” demonstrates.

The music of Boccherini, Ravel, Falla, Paco de Lucía, José de Nebra and Geminiani celebrate the great Spanish author’s achievement: each work pays homage to Cervantes’ genius. Performers include soprano Awet Andemicael, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelson. The performance offers a special and unique delight, in conjunction with this concert/celebration: readings of Nobel Prize-winning Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s poetry, accompanied by group improvisation by the orchestra. This should be fascinating!

• Friday, July 31, 8:30 p.m. in the Shed: The Boston Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Ken-David Masur, and featuring pianist Garrick Ohlsson, will perform Carl Maria von Weber’s dark-hued Overture to the opera “Der Freischütz.” Following, Schubert’s rarely heard Symphony No. 4 in C Minor (‘Tragic’) will be performed. These two early Romanic works make an excellent pairing. To conclude, Beethoven’s magisterial Fifth Piano Concerto (‘Emperor’) will end the concert on an exuberantly heroic note.

• Saturday, Aug. 1, 8:30 p.m. in the Shed: BSO Music Director/maestro Andris Nelsons leads the Orchestra in a program of Beethoven (the high-spirited Triple Concerto for piano, violin and cello,) with featured soloists pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, violinist Renaud Capucon and cellist Gautier Capucon. Dmitry Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony – a post-Mahler-influenced musical panorama on a grand and dramatic scale – will conclude the program.

• Sunday, Aug. 2, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: In a themed program entitled “An Evening of Opera,” conductor Ken-David Masur and joined by soprano Dawn Upshaw, leads the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra (TMCO) in selections from operas by Mozart (‘Idomeneo’,) Benjamin Britten (‘Albert Herring’) and Osvaldo Golijov (‘Ainadamar'). Maestro Masur will conduct the Mozart, and two TMCO Fellows will direct the remaining selections. There will be a pre-concert lecture with Richard Dyer.

• Tuesday, Aug. 4: ‘Tanglewood on Parade’: Here is a rundown of the day’s celebratory activities:

     • 2:30 in Ozawa Hall: Festivities will commence with the TMC Cello Ensemble.

     • 3:30 in Ozawa Hall: TMC Piano Concert

     • 4 in the Shed:  The Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) Young Arts Orchestra and Chorus perform music of Leonard Bernstein, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Poulenc, Rossini and others.

     • 5 in Ozawa Hall:  TMC Vocal Concert

     • 8 p.m. in the Shed: Fanfares celebrating the TMC’s 75th anniversary

     • 8:30 in the Shed: ‘Tanglewood on Parade’ program - Conductors Stephane Denéve, Keith Lockhart and BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons will lead the Boston Symphony, Boston Pops, and the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra in a full evening’s concert – the highlights to include John Williams’ “Just Down West Street …on the left,” and to end the concert, the traditional Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” complete with post-concert fireworks.

Tickets for all Tanglewood events can be purchased online at tanglewood.org, via SymphonyCharge, 888-266-1200 or 888-266-1200, and at the Tanglewood box office located at the main gate, on West Street in Lenox. For further information call 413-637-1600. Please note that all Aug. 4 "Tanglewood on Parade" afternoon events are included in the price of a Tanglewood ticket.

• Wednesday, Aug. 5, 8 p.m. in Ozawa Hall: The magnificent baritone Matthias Goerne, accompanied by collaborative pianist Markus Hinterhäuser, will perform Schubert’s astounding song cycle “Winterreise.” For lovers of German art song (lieder,) this is a standout performance that should not be missed.

 

Concerts at Tannery Pond

Hailed by the New York Times as possessing “explosive vigor and technical finesse,” the Miró String Quartet, one of America’s highest-profile chamber groups, enjoys its place at the top of the international chamber music scene and captivates audiences and critics around the world with its startling intensity, fresh perspective, and mature approach. The Miró Quartet is the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Texas at Austin.

The quartet will be performing Schubert's Quartet in G major, No. 15 and Beethoven's Quartet in C-sharp Minor, No. 14, Op. 131. Both works are supreme and sublime masterpieces, and are among the greatest compositions ever written. Beethoven himself claimed his opus 131 to be his favorite and the most accomplished of his 16 quartets, and Schubert’s 15th is on a par with his own “Winterreise” (see above) and the Symphony No. 8 in B Minor (‘Unfinished’). With such exalted music to cherish, this will be a concert to remember.

The quartet's Tannery Pond appearance is 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 1. Tickets are $30 and $39. Tannery Pond is located on the grounds of Mount Lebanon Shaker Village and Darrow School, New Lebanon, N.Y., one and a half miles east of the town center on Route 20. Tickets are available online.

 

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