Purcell Made Contemporary And a Blazing Stravinsky Concerto

Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown is presenting Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas†for the first time, and it is well worth rising early on Sunday to catch one of the remaining 11:30 a.m. performances on Aug. 16 or 23.

   With minimal staging by renowned director Jonathan Miller, this is a contemporary drama, with characters and chorus in hip street clothes, snapping digital photos and chatting on their cells. Dido is radiantly sung by Tamara Mumford, with David Adam Moore a sturdy Aeneas. Anthony Roth Costanzo’s Sorceress is a wicked Cockney and fills the theater with his rich countertenor. Michael Beattie conducted from the harpsichord.

   Also this season at Glimmerglass: Rossini’s “La Cenerentola,†Verdi’s “La Traviata†and “The Consul,†which won composer/librettist Gian-Carlo Menotti the Pulitzer Prize in 1950.

   Artistic director Michael MacLeod urged continued public support for the Young American Artists program, in which emerging singers work alongside guest artists like Melissa Citro (as Magda) and Joyce Castle (her mother-in-law). Citro, onstage for the better part of two hours, never flagged in intensity. The tragic beauty of her second-act aria brought tears to my eyes.

   Just a few miles south of Glimmerglass, the town of Cooperstown is a fascinating place, rich with architectural delights and museums. The drive from Lakeville is under three hours, and that includes a stop in the historical spa town of Sharon Springs.

   It was a joy to hear soprano Dawn Upshaw and pianist Gilbert Kalish in their recital at the Norfolk Festival, Saturday. Especially moving were Upshaw’s renderings of Ives’ “Songs My Mother Taught Me†and John Harbison’s Mirabai songs, while Kalish, always a superb accompanist, took center stage with a deeply felt reading of “The Alcotts†from Ives’ “Concord†Sonata.

   I got to experience Tanglewood anew last week through the eyes of two visiting Romanian students. They loved the sheer beauty of the grounds and the rich sound of the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra. The all-Stravinsky program included a rare concert performance of the complete ballet “Pulcinella†conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. Pianist Peter Serkin blazed through the Concerto for Piano and Winds.

   This weekend brings more great pianists and concertos to Tanglewood. This Friday, Aug. 14 at 8:30 p.m., Yefim Bronfman will play the impossibly difficult Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3, with Michael Tilson Thomas also conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Shostakovich’s 5th.

   Sunday it’s all Brahms at the 3 p.m. concert 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 that night at 8, André Previn puts on his jazz hat and jams with bassist David Finck. Go to www.tanglewood.org or call 888-266-1200.

   Early music specialist Gary Thor Wedow will lead the Berkshire Choral Festival chorus and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in Bach’s monumental “St. Matthew Passion†to conclude the festival’s concert season on Saturday, Aug. 15 at 8 p.m. at the Berkshire School in Sheffield, MA. Call 413-229-1999.

   And, finally, I will be playing  my piano score for the 1909 Griffith film “A Corner in Wheat†at the Wassaic Arts Festival, Friday, Aug. 14,  at 8 p.m.