Handel & Haydn Bicentennial An exhibition of materials from the H+H rich archives is on view at the Boston Public Library’s Copley branch through September 5th
“It’s a legacy that no other arts organization in the country can claim. The Handel & Haydn Society is the nation’s oldest continuously performing arts group and is now celebrating its bicentennial. It was 200 years ago when a group of Boston musicians, desperate to bring the music of Europe to the culturally constricted United States, organized a concert at King’s Chapel on Christmas Day, 1815. Bringing in $496, it was considered a magnificent success and the Society was born. Just as remarkable, H+H has always been mindful of preserving its story and much of the organization’s rich history is now told at a Boston Public Library exhibition featuring original documents, manuscripts and even tickets from the very first concerts.”
Shades of Sound Presented by Boston Ballet, it’s performed at the Boston Opera House through March 29th
“Once again Boston Ballet triumphs with its latest program of contemporary works, Shades of Sound. The first installment, Wayne McGregor’s Chroma, is a riveting showcase for the company’s prowess mastering the piece’s rigorous physicality. With a stark white backdrop and costumes to match the dancers’ skin tones, Chroma is all about the body. Joby Talbot’s score and Jack White’s (yes, of The White Stripes) arrangements make it thrilling. Balanchine’s 1959 piece Episodes serves as a calming interlude before the program closes with Dutch Choreographer Hans van Manen’s comical, Black Cake. Six couples, outfitted in black and sequins, are presumably moving through a high society cocktail party. Couples delight, couples denigrate and couples drink making for a spirited piece.”
Jean-Michel Othoniel: Secret Flower Sculptures On view at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum through September 7th
“Remarkably, in the last 300 hundreds, there has not been one new piece of permanent art installed in the gardens of Versailles. Until now. French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel landed the highly sought-after commission. His inspiration for the Versailles sculpture, to be officially unveiled this spring, struck him during his time as an artist-in-residence at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. While exploring both the museum and Boston at large, he discovered the book, The Art of Describing Dance at the Boston Public Library in which Roger-Auger Feuillet drew out dance choreography for King Louis XIV. That became the impetus for Othoniel’s epic sculpture at Versailles, but you can get a preview at the Gardner without the hefty trans-continental airfare.”
Danny Collins In theaters Friday
“For anyone of a certain age, it has to be one of the most wrenching confrontations—even if it’s just an internal one: have I made the most of my life? It’s a question Al Pacino’s aging Neil Diamond-esque rock star faces in writer-director Dan Fogelman’s (Crazy, Stupid, Love) latest, Danny Collins. In a touchingly nuanced performance, Pacino plays Collins as a man bored and unfulfilled despite the monumental wealth and fame his career has provided him. It’s a situation exacerbated when his manager played by Christopher Plummer manages to unearth an undelivered letter John Lennon once wrote Collins advising him to stay true to his art. It’s reason enough for Collins to blow up his life, move into a New Jersey Hilton and begin to rediscover his artistic worth not to mention his family. Annette Bening, Bobby Cannavale and Jennifer Garner round out the exceptional cast.”
Have you had an interesting encounter with the arts around Boston? » Tell me about it on
Facebook
or
Twitter
.
