Women have come from around the country to perform here tonight — in Rites of Passage, musicians, visual artists, writers, healers are creating a ritual and a refuge, and I’m waiting to walk in.
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Nina Simone strikes fire in her music
It’s September 16, 1963, and Nina Simone has come to the 16th Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. She is trying for the first time to write her own song …
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Contemporary composers weave sound at Tanglewood
In many performances this summer, contemporary composers are bringing their work to Tanglewood, wound into concerts with music 200 or 300 years old.
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Iman Habibi shapes new music (July 28 newsletter)
Bright hot Saturday morning — we’re sitting under a hickory and listening to flute music. The Boston Symphony Orchestra is playing Iman Habibi’s ‘Every Tree Speaks.’
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Live music returns to the Berkshires
Low strings move below warm chords and a rhythm like rain. Vicento Garcia is singing ‘Amor Arrayano’ with Yasser Tejeda and his band, Palotré. Live music is returning to the Berkshires, bringing performers from many genres and many places.
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Music’s playing on the lawn at dusk (July 7 newsletter)
Music was playing over a room full of voices — how long since we’ve had enough people in a room to sound loud? When I walked into the opening of Hostile Terrain 94 in MCLA’s Gallery 51, summer seemed finally to be here.
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Here comes the sun (June 2 newsletter)
Take a deep breath everyone. We’re standing on the edge of summer. In another week or two we’ll have sculpture shows opening and outdoor plays in the theaters. Already, live concerts are starting up in the grass.
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Summer is coming in (May 26 newsletter)
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been needing to get out. Spring is new and fresh everywhere. And after a year, live events are stirring again.
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Glenn Kaino invokes protest in light and shadow
Los Angeles musician Deon Jones is singing U2’s Bloody Sunday in a ring of light. A protest in Derry, Northern Ireland, comes together with a protest Selma, Alabama, as international artist Glenn Kaino brings his new work to Mass MoCA.
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Turn Park Art Space welcomes the equinox with light
At the top of the hill, cocoons pulse with light. Natalie Tyer has formed organic shapes as translucent as moth wings at Turn Park, and the glimmer intensifies as someone comes close.
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