‘Don Giovanni’ and Songs by Black Composers End the 2022 BOF Season

Berkshire Opera Festival wraps up its second full season since the COVID-19 pandemic with a fully staged “Don Giovanni,” with Andre Courville as the insatiable seducer, Christian Zaremba as the comic sidekick Leporello, Laura Wilde as Donna Anna and John Cheek as the commendatore.

One of Mozart’s most famous works, “Don Giovanni” is a dark comedy about the titular Don Juan, who mercilessly seduces women as conquests. The story line of a man who would undoubtedly have been quickly canceled in the modern world creates a showcase for beautiful singing.

Berkshire Opera Festival has consistently put on productions with stellar singing and acting, notably in “Rigoletto” and “Don Pasquale.”  The “Rigoletto” got a prolonged standing ovation. The staging of “Don Pasquale,” a comic opera, was both funny and imaginative.

Perhaps because of the social and cultural climate of the past few years, “Don Giovanni” has been featured in several companies’ seasons,  including Tanglewood, which did a staged version last month that was spectacular.

Performances will be on Saturday, Aug. 20, at 1 p.m., Tuesday, Aug. 23, at 7:30 p.m. and Friday, Aug. 26, at 7:30 p.m., at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass.

“Don Giovanni” will be sung in Italian with projected English translations; the Berkshire Opera Festival website also has a summary of the plot. The opera’s running time is approximately three hours and 10 minutes including one intermission.Tickets are from $20 to $120 and can be purchased through the Mahaiwe box office (413-528-0100).

Earlier in the month, on Wednesday, Aug. 10,  at 7:30 p.m. Berkshire Opera Festival will offer a program of art songs by Black composers, an unjustly neglected repertoire. The performers in “High on the Ramparts” are soprano Kearstin Piper Brown and tenor Joshua Blue. The performance will be in the Crane Room at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Mass.

Tickets are free but this concert is expected to sell out, so reservations are required. Go to www.berkshireoperafestival.org.

Latest News

Classifieds - February 26, 2026

Classifieds - February 26, 2026

Help Wanted

PART-TIME CARE-GIVER NEEDED: possibly LIVE-IN. Bright private STUDIO on 10 acres. Queen Bed, En-Suite Bathroom, Kitchenette & Garage. SHARON 407-620-7777.

The Salisbury Association’s Land Trust seeks part-time Land Steward: Responsibilities include monitoring easements and preserves, filing monitoring reports, documenting and reporting violations or encroachments, and recruiting and supervising volunteer monitors. The Steward will also execute preserve and trail stewardship according to Management Plans and manage contractor activity. Up to 10 hours per week, compensation commensurate with experience. Further details and requirements are available on request. To apply: Send cover letter, resume, and references to info@salisburyassociation.org. The Salisbury Association is an equal opportunity employer.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

To save birds, plant for caterpillars

Fireweed attracts the fabulous hummingbird sphinx moth.

Photo provided by Wild Seed Project

You must figure that, as rough as the cold weather has been for us, it’s worse for wildlife. Here, by the banks of the Housatonic, flocks of dark-eyed juncos, song sparrows, tufted titmice and black-capped chickadees have taken up residence in the boxwood — presumably because of its proximity to the breakfast bar. I no longer have a bird feeder after bears destroyed two versions and simply throw chili-flavored birdseed onto the snow twice a day. The tiny creatures from the boxwood are joined by blue jays, cardinals and a solitary flicker.

These birds will soon enough be nesting, and their babies will require a nonstop diet of caterpillars. This source of soft-bodied protein makes up more than 90 percent of native bird chicks’ diets, with each clutch consuming between 6,000 and 9,000 caterpillars before they fledge. That means we need a lot of caterpillars if we want our bird population to survive.

Keep ReadingShow less
Stephanie Haboush Plunkett and the home for American illustration

Stephanie Haboush Plunkett

L. Tomaino
"The field of illustration is very close to my heart"
— Stephanie Plunkett

For more than three decades, Stephanie Haboush Plunkett has worked to elevate illustration as a serious art form. As chief curator and Rockwell Center director at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, she has helped bring national and international attention to an art form long dismissed as merely commercial.

Her commitment to illustration is deeply personal. Plunkett grew up watching her father, Joseph Haboush, an illustrator and graphic designer, work late into the night in his home studio creating art and hand-lettered logos for package designs, toys and licensed-character products for the Walt Disney Co. and other clients.

Keep ReadingShow less
Free film screening and talk on end-of-life care
‘Come See Me in the Good Light’ is nominated for best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards.
Provided

Craig Davis, co-founder and board chair of East Mountain House, an end-of-life care facility in Lakeville, will sponsor a March 5 screening of the documentary “Come See Me in the Good Light” at The Moviehouse in Millerton, followed by a discussion with attendees.

The film, which is nominated for best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards, follows the poet Andrea Gibson and their partner Megan Falley as they are suddenly and unimaginably forced to navigate a terminal illness. The free screening invites audiences to gather not just for a film but for reflection on mortality, healing, connection and the ways communities support one another through difficult life transitions.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.