It's All Here: From Landowska to FUNK Opera

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the death of the great harpsichordist (and Lakeville resident) Wanda Landowska, the Crescendo Music Program of Lakeville will present a harpsichord recital with Canadian artist Geneviève Soly  on Sunday, Aug. 16, 4:30 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lime Rock. The concert will benefit Crescendo programs in the coming season. Soly will play music of Bach, Handel and Christopher Graupner, with spoken comment as well. A reception will follow. Tickets for the complete event (concert and benefit reception) are $75. Concert only (limited availability) $25. Call 860-435-4866, or e-mail sales@CrescendoBerkshires.org, or visit  www.CrescendoBerkshires.org    

    Need some inspiration? The organizers of The Wassaic Project,  a free, multi-disciplinary festival coming to Wassaic Aug. 14-16, say it will “inspire you to be a better person.†That sounds promising, as does the lineup of more than 75 national artists, 25 bands including She Keeps Bees, Sebastian Blanck, Shwa, Mountainhood, Portable Sunsets, Norden Bombsight, Ladybug Stingray, Zeljko McMullen, Cathy, and a FUNK opera presented by SOFTAMERICA. Plus poetry readings by some local talents including Michael Gottlieb, film screenings curated by the Kent Film Festival, performances, and much more. Eve Biddle, Bowie Zunino and Elan Bogarin, the festival’s creators, are all young artists from New York. The programming is cutting-edge, yet predominantly family friendly.  Visitors are welcome to come for the day or camp for the weekend. The grounds at 35 Furnace Bank Road, Wassaic, NY, open at noon, Aug. 14, with performances beginning at 4 p.m. For more: www.wassaicproject.com

   Music Mountain hosted the superb Cuarteto Latinamericano for two concerts last weekend with the virtuoso bandoneon player Daniel Binelli playing the enchanting music of Astor Piazzolla and some of Binelli’s own virile works. Particularly thrilling on the Sunday program was Piazzolla’s ravishingly beautiful “Melonga del Angel.†The musicians created an atmosphere of warmth and intimacy with their playing and their breezy manner with the audience, that rose to its feet with a huge ovation.

   On Aug. 8 those feet can start dancing to the music of Hal McIntyre playing Glenn Miller and other big band favorites, starting at 6:30 p.m. And Sunday at 3 p.m., Alla Aranovskaya and friends, regulars at New York’s Bargemusic, will be joined by two other string players performing music by Schubert, Turina, Mozart and Dvorák.

   For Tanglewood events, please turn to the calendar.

Starting at Tanglewood Aug. 7: five days of contemporary music including some world premieres by Eliot Carter, who turns 101 this year. The following weekend: two great pianists, two great concerti. On Fri. Aug. 14 at 8:30 p.m. Yefim Bronfman plays the impossibly difficult Rachmaninoff 3rd concerto, known affectionately as “Rach 3,†with Michael Tilson Thomas also leading the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5. There is a pre-concert chat with André Previn hosted by Martin Bookspan. Sunday afternoon in an all-Brahms program in memory of Leonard Bernstein, Garrick Ohlsson will play the transcendent Concerto No. 2 with Kurt Masur conducting, on a bill with the Symphony No. 2. And Sunday night at 8, Maestro Previn puts on his jazz hat and jams with bassist David Finck. Tickets and info at tanglewood.org or 888-266-1200.

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