PROTESTING THE BARBARIC Ukraine invasion by banning Russian music from orchestral concerts is shortsighted, but replacing the 1812 Overture on July 4th programs is long overdue. Tchaikovsky was born in Russia, but his father’s family came from Ukraine (“Chaika” is the name of a Cossack war boat). He often summered there, and at least 30 of […]
Arts and Culture
Posted inOpinion
A creative imagining of the Emancipation Group statue
IN THE SUMMER of 2021, I wrote an opinion piece for CommonWealth with suggestions on what to do with the city’s Emancipation Group statue, the one showing Abraham Lincoln with arm outstretched over a kneeling enslaved Black American that had been removed from Boston’s Park Square the year before. It was the aftermath of the […]
Posted inOpinion
How arts enrich the state’s civic life
LOCAL ARTS PROVIDE a wellspring for community – energizing residents and enriching civic life. Our regions benefit from the remarkable ways that arts and cultural expression help people engage, connect, and contribute to more equitable, vibrant places. It happens on multiple levels. Merrimack Valley residents join in municipal development through a question that goes to […]
Posted inThe Download
GBH host O’Donovan faces bleak prognosis with ‘poetry and prayers’
It was a moment when memories were made, beautifully, poignantly, publicly. Brian O’Donovan, celebrating the 20thyear of his annual live show “A Christmas Celtic Sojourn,” stood onstage at Boston’s Cutler Majestic Theater with his wife and two of his daughters, along with the rest of the cast. As the audience joined in, they sang the […]
Posted inArts and Culture
GBH host O’Donovan faces bleak prognosis with ‘poetry and prayers’
IT WAS A MOMENT when memories were made, beautifully, poignantly, publicly. Brian O’Donovan, celebrating the 20thyear of his annual live show “A Christmas Celtic Sojourn,” stood onstage at Boston’s Cutler Majestic Theater with his wife and two of his daughters, along with the rest of the cast. As the audience joined in, they sang the […]
Posted inArts and Culture, Opinion
Remembering the genius, kindness of David McCullough
LIKE THE HISTORIC figures that he brought to life – John Adams and Harry Truman to name two – it is hard to wrap our heads around the fact that one of America’s great archivists of the events that shaped this nation has died at the age of 89, just months after his beloved wife […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Finding synergy between artists, innovators, developers
IF YOU THINK of some of the world’s greatest and most productive cities through history – Florence, Paris, Hong Kong, New York, and of course, Boston – there is an underlying quality that makes them flourish. In these cities, innovators and artists have always worked side by side sharing their creative spirit, knowledge, and entrepreneurial […]
Posted inOpinion
Using art to address social issues
First in a series of commentaries on arts in community LeLand Gantt’s performance of Rhapsody in Black was an entry point for people in an overwhelmingly White region to talk about race. This compelling one-man show exploring racism, identity, and self-image was presented virtually in 2021 through a Berkshires community collaboration. Clinton Church Restoration is […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Encore says 999 seats available for fight night
ENCORE BOSTON HARBOR says only 999 tickets are being sold to a mixed martial arts event being held next week in its grand ballroom, which would mean the fight night is in compliance with a state law restricting the number of seats the Everett casino can make available. Theater operators have been raising concerns that […]
Posted inArts and Culture
New Samuel Slater Experience spotlights ‘father of American manufacturing’
AS SAMUEL SLATER traveled from England to the United States in 1789, he voiced his ambitions to revolutionize the US textile industry with knowledge he had gained in England. Yet he also heard the voice of his mentor in his head telling him if he left England, he would be considered “a spy, or worse, […]