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Swan Lake by American Ballet Theater/Photo: Fabrizio FerriDance in New York City, Gypsy in Chicago, Chamber Music on Maryland's Eastern Shore, The Threepenny Opera in Hawaii, and the inaugural season of a new festival in Napa, California
Western Massachusetts
Lenox (June 23-September 3; 888/266-1200; www.bso.org). Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, hosts a weekend celebration July 21-23 for Mozart's 250th anniversary, and kicks off the summer season with a July 4 Americana bash featuring pop country singer LeAnn Rimes. Music director emeritus Seiji Ozawa returns to lead the BSO in a performance of Mahler's Symphony no. 2,
Resurrection, on August 5. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and actor James Earl Jones join composer-conductor John Williams and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra for Film Night, featuring music from
Memoirs of a Geisha and
Star Wars.
Williamstown Theatre Festival (July 5-August 27, 413/597-3400; www.wtfestival.org). The 2006 season includes a main-stage production of the Cole Porter musical
Anything Goes; the U.S. premiere of
Double Double by Rick Elice and artistic director Roger Rees; and
The Opposite of Sex, a new musical based on the movie of the same name, with songs by Douglas J. Cohen.
Becket Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (June 17-August 27; 413/243-0745; www.jacobspillow.org). Nineteen companiesincluding the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Trey McIntyre Project, the Danish Dance Theater, and Israel's Emanuel Gat Dancedraw on classical, modern, and contemporary dance traditions from around the globe, sharing a program that also features films, exhibitions, and lectures.
Lenox Shakespeare & Company (through October 29; 413/637-3353; www.shakespeare.org). All in the Family: artistic director Tina Packer plays Queen Gertrude opposite her real-life husband Dennis Krausnick and her son Jason Asprey in the main-stage production of
Hamlet, July 1-August 27. Also on the boards:
Martha Mitchell Calling, a new play about Richard Nixon's downfall, written by Jodi Rothe and directed by Daniela Varon.
North Adams Bang on a Can (July 11-30, 413/622-2111; www.bangonacan.org; www.massmoca.org). The New York-based contemporary music collective takes up residence at MASS MoCA for its fifth annual Summer Music Festival. Collaborating artists include innovative composer and performer Meredith Monk.
New York City
American Ballet Theatre (through July 15; 212/362-6000; www.abt.org). Recently recognized by the U.S. Congress as "America's National Ballet Company," the ABT brings full-length classics to the Metropolitan Opera stage, among them
Manon,
Giselle,
Swan Lake, and
Romeo and Juliet. June brings the company premiere of Prokofiev's
Cinderella, choreographed by Canadian James Kudelka.
Sylvia, Sir Frederick Ashton's tale of a chaste nymph and her lovelorn shepherd, a hit of the 2005 season, returns on July 3.
New York City Ballet (through June 25; 212/721-6500; www.nycballet.com). This month introduces works from the sixth Diamond Project, commissions of new ballets from seven international choreographers. Alexei Ratmansky, the young artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, sets his dance to music by contemporary Russian composer Leonid Desyatnikov; the Boston Ballet's Jorma Elo stages Baroque scores of Biber and Vivaldi. Rounding out the season is repertoire by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins.
Lincoln Center Festival (July 10-30; 212/362-6000; www.lincolncenter.org). Eclecticism rules here. Singaporean director Ong Keng Sen's
Geisha features Japan's legendary Kabuki performer Gojo Masanosuke, African-American actress Karen Kandel, and a traditional shamisen musician. Modern dance choreographer Mark Morris reinvents the 19th-century balletic warhorse
Sylvia. And theater director Heiner Goebbels offers the U.S. premiere of
Eraritjaritjaka, a multimedia work based on the writings of Elias Canetti. Composer Elliot Goldenthal's
Grendel, an opera based on John Gardner's 1971 novelistic retelling of the Beowulf legend from the eponymous beast's point of view, with a libretto by Julie Taymor and the poet J.D. McClatchy, premieres in New York in a production directed by Taymor.
Mostly Mozart Festival (July 28-August 26; www.lincolncenter.org; 212/362-6000). A must for all music lovers, this festival devoted to Mozart celebrates its 40th anniversary as the world observes the composer's 250th birthday. Strains of the Ottoman Empire waft over this year's fête, with Peter Sellars directing Mozart's unfinished opera
Zaide, about the clash between European slaves and Turkish sultans. Late-night performances by the period-instrument ensemble Concerto Köln and world-music group Sarbande explore the influence of the seraglio on 18th-century European music. Closing nights find music director Louis Langrée leading the festival orchestra in Mozart's three last symphonies, including the
Jupiter.
New York State
Katonah Caramoor International Music Festival (June 24-August 12; 914/232-1253; www.caramoor.org). The programming at this lush estate ranges from the sublime to the sublimely ridiculous, as the brilliant pianist Christopher Taylor performs Messiaen's
Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant Jésus and parodist par excellence Peter Schickele devotes a matinee concert to that decidedly dim 18th-century musical light, P.D.Q. Bach. Caramoor's renowned program of bel canto operas continues with two prime examples of 19th-century vocal virtuosity: Rossini's
Tancredi, in which contralto Ewa Podles, a noted interpreter of the title role, makes her festival debut, and Bellini's
Puritani.
Annandale-on-Hudson Bard SummerScape (June 29-August 20; 845/758-7900; www.bard.edu/fishercenter). Frank Gehry's acclaimed concert hall provides a spectacular venue for innovative fare, such as a rare staging of Robert Schumann's only opera
Genoveva, led by music director Leon Botstein; the Obie-winning, all-woman ensemble Troupe Lava combining acrobatics, dance, and theater in
(w)HOLE History of Life on Earth; and three weekends of concerts and seminars devoted to "Franz Liszt and His World."
Bethel Bethel Woods Center for the Arts (July 1-August; 866/781-2922; www.bethelwoods.us). On July 1, the New York Philharmonic kicks off the inaugural season of the center, which is set on the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. Bethel Woods will also present a two-day a two-day Jazz Festival (July 22-23) directed by Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Dianne Reeves, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young in a Freedom of Speech '06 concert (August 12).
Cooperstown Glimmerglass Opera (July 7-August 29; 607/547-2255; www.glimmerglass.org). Visionary, longtime artistic director Paul Kellogg's last season boasts four new productions, including the world premiere of
The Greater Good, an opera with music by Stephen Hartke and libretto by Philip Littell based on
Boule de Suif, Guy de Maupassant's morality tale of the Franco-Prussian war, and a staging by Renaissance man Jonathan Millerphysician, author, actor, directorof Janácek's masterpiece
Jenufa.
Chautauqua Chautauqua Institution (June 24-August 27; 716/357-6250; www.ciweb.org). A lakeside setting and historic architecture make a dramatic stage for lectures and seminars on such topics such "Russia: A Post-Soviet Identity" (organized with the Brookings Institution) and "Global Climate Change: Securing the Future," with keynote speaker Al Gore. Performances by the festival orchestra and resident opera, dance, and theater companiessee Chekhov's
Cherry Orchard or Mozart's
Magic Flute one night and ABBA or Lyle Lovett the nextenliven the mix.
Maryland Eastern Shore Chamber Music Festival (June 4-18; 410/819-0380; www.musicontheshore.org). Maryland's Chesapeake Bay is the backdrop for six concerts of classical and contemporary music, from Bach to Barber, plus two free "Concert[s] in the Street" (June 4 and 18) by players from the U.S. Navy Saxophone Quartet.
Ravinia, Illinois Ravinia Festival (June 1-September 16; 847/266-5100; www.ravinia.org). Everything's coming up roses at Ravinia this summer, where Patti LuPone and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra present Sondheim's classic musical,
Gypsy, based on the life of legendary stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, and soprano Renée Fleming performs songs from the French repertoire. If those events don't appeal, one of 120 others is sure to: there's jazz, classical music, and musical theater for every taste.
Fort Worth, Texas Mimir Chamber Music Festival (July 3-14; 817/257-7602; www.mimirfestival.org). Guest artists from around the world join members of the string and piano faculty at Texas Christian University for five concerts of chamber music, in repertoire that ranges from Beethoven to Ravel. Audiences can also observe young musicians in master classes.
Santa Fe, New Mexico The Santa Fe Opera (June 30-August 26; 800/280-4654; www.santafeopera.org). Santa Fe presents five new productions, including Mozart's
Magic Flute, with French soprano Natalie Dessay as Pamina, and the American premiere of contemporary British composer Thomas Adès's large-scale work
The Tempest.
Aspen, Colorado Aspen Music Festival (June 21-August 20; 970/925-9042; www.aspenmusicfestival.com). Music director David Zinman celebrates his 70th birthday by conducting Yo-Yo Ma and the festival orchestra in the world premiere of Kevin Puts's Cello Concerto. Ned Rorem's opera
Our Town, based on the play by Thornton Wilder, makes its Western U.S. debut, and two programs of concerts and talks explore the musical underground in Stalinist Russia and the Cold War-era friendship between Shostakovich and Britten.
Vail, Colorado Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival (June 28-August 3; 877/812-5700; www.vailmusicfestival.org). The Rockies are alive with the sound of orchestral, chamber, and contemporary music. On July 2, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra Chorus joins the Rochester Philharmonic, led by Christopher Seaman, in a performance of Mozart's
Requiem. Marin Alsop, music director designate of the Baltimore Symphony, conducts the New York Philharmonic in three programs, including all-Beethoven and all-Russian concerts.
Jackson Hole, Wyoming Grand Teton Music Festival (July 4-August 26; 307/733-1128; www.gtmf.org). The outdoorsy program here has new music director Donald Runnicles leading mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore, two choruses, and the festival orchestra in Mahler's sprawling Symphony no. 3, considered an the composer's Ode to Nature, and Norwegian Arild Remmerit conducting music inspired by Scandinavian landscapes.
Napa Valley Festival del Sole (July 16-23; 707/944-1300; www.festivaldelsole.com). The inaugural program of this wide-ranging jamboreecovering musical, visual, literary, and culinary artsfeatures recitals by sopranos Anne Sofie von Otter and Renée Fleming and violinists Sarah Chang and Nikolaj Znaider. In another eagerly anticipated performance, Carlo Ponti Jr. leads the Russian National Orchestra, with soloists Samuel Ramey and Frederica von Stade.
San Diego La Jolla Music Society SummerFest (August 3-20; 858/459-3728; www.ljms.org). Renowned festival alumni return to join with emerging new talents in celebrating the 20th anniversary of this prestigious chamber music serieswhich offers world premieres by contemporary artists, such as Finnish composer Magnus Lindberg and American jazz pioneer Wayne Shorter, alongside classic repertoiremuch of it presented in the newly restored Fox Theater.
Waimea, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival (July 14-31; 808/256-6100; www.hawaiiperformingartsfestival.org). The second season of this Big Island festival offers a program that includes chamber and vocal music as well as stage works by guest artists, faculty, and students. Included are a recital by soprano Angelina Réaux, a tribute to Leonard Bernstein, and a production of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's
Threepenny Opera.
Canada
Montreal, Canada Montreal Chamber Music Festival (June 9-30; 514/489-7444; www.festivalmontreal.org). Music, myth, and history blend together in the festival's 11th year. Among the highlights: the premiere of
Orpheus on Sappho's Shore, for soprano, tenor, and chamber ensemble, by Luna Pearl Woolf, about an imagined meeting between the mythical poet and the historical one; a noon-to-midnight marathon of six Mozart programs (June 22); and a performance of Beethoven's recently discovered transcription for two pianos of his
Grosse Fugue, op. 13.
Stratford, Ontario Canada Stratford Festival of Canada (through October 29; 800/567-1600; www.stratfordfestival.org). Celebrated Shakespearean actor Colm Feore takes the title role in
Coriolanus, one of the Bard's most violent plays, a tale of ancient-Roman political intrigue that resonates loudly with current times. On the same stage, but striking a merrier note, Lionel Bart's musical
Oliver! will bow at Stratford for the first time. An Australian import provides both mirth and mayhem: Robert Hewett's comedic murder mystery
The Blonde, the Brunette, and the Vengeful Redhead, with seven characters portrayed by a single actress.
-by Leslie Camhi, Katie Holt, Stirling Kelso, Mario Mercado, and Michael Rose.
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