It's Opera Time

The Berkshire Opera Company, now in its 23rd season, is moving into its new home, the refurbished Colonial Theater, Pittsfield, MA, with a fully staged production of Giacomo Puccini’s (1858-1924) popular opera, “La Bohème.†This perennial favorite will be given five performances: Aug. 17-26.   

Kathleen Kelly will conduct the BOC orchestra and chorus; soprano Maureen O’Flynn will sing the part of Mimi; Sari Gruber, the part of Musetta; and tenor John Bellemer, the part of Rodolfo.

The opera will be sung in Italian with English super titles. Ticket prices range from $40 to $90. Students with identification, $20. For tickets and information, call 413-997-4444. The Colonial Theater in Pittsfield is located at 111 South St.

And there’s more opera. James Levine will conduct the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a concert performance of Bela Bartok’s “Blue Beard’s Castle†at Tanglewood, Friday, Aug. 17, 8:30 p.m. A preconcert performance by members of the orchestra at Ozawa Hall begins at 6 p.m. and is free for ticket holders of the evening concert in the Koussevitzky Shed.

Levine will also conduct the Saturday program, Aug. 18, at 8:30 p.m., with Hector Berlioz’s “La Damnation de Faust.†The cast includes mezzo-soprano Yvonne Naef, tenor Marcello Giordani, bass-baritone Jose Van Dam, and bass Patrick Carfizzi, along with the Children’s Chorus of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. For tickets and information, call 888-266-1200.

The master series at Norfolk, at the Battell-Stoeckel Estate, at routes 44 and 272, concludes Saturday, Aug. 18, 8 p.m., with a choral concert by the Norfolk Festival Chorus and Chamber Orchestra conducted by Simon Carrington. For tickets, call 860-542-3000 or go to www.yale.edu/norfolk.

At Music Mountain in Falls Village, CT, the Bergonzi String Quartet, mezzo-soprano Estelle Magowan and pianist Ted Taylor, will perform an all-Brahms program, Sunday, Aug. 19, at 3 p.m. The concert will include the String Quartet in C-minor, Op. 51, No. 1; “Songs for Mezzo, Viola and Piano,†Op. 81; and the Piano Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 26.

Tickets are $25 at the door, $22 when purchased in advance, students $12, no charge for children ages 5 to 11. Call 860-824-7126 for tickets and information.

Weekend two of Bard’s Elgar festival, Aug. 17-19, features music by Elgar,  Fauré, Bridge, Parry, Smyth and Quilter, at 8 p.m., with a preconcert talk to begin at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 to $45.

Saturday,  Aug. 18, at 8 p.m., the American Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leon Botstein, will perform an all-Elgar program with a preconcert talk by Christopher H. Gibbs, beginning at 7 p.m.

There will be a combined orchestral/choral concert to include Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius†on Sunday, Aug. 19 at 5:30 p.m., with a preconcert talk beginning at 4:30 p.m. For tickets, call 845-758-7900 or go to www.fishercenter.bard.edu.