A whole lot of deconstruction of the classics going on this month, along with productions of scripts by familiar homegrown names, from William Inge and David Mamet to Sarah Ruhl. A visit from a master puppeteer and a show about race that’s “recommended for mature audiences” look intriguing.
By Bill Marx
The Real Inspector Hound by Tom [...]

For all the hand-wringing in the media about the death rattle of jazz, what with record stores closing and radio stations losing listeners, Newport reminds you that the art form is alive and well, with a growing audience of people of all ages and races.
By Charles McEnerney, Host + Producer, Well-Rounded Radio
Both the Newport [...]

By Bill Marx
In my other life, as editor of World Books for The World, BBC/PRI’s national radio program dedicated to international news, I write and edit book reviews as well commentaries and interviews. I also host a monthly podcast dedicated to global literature, which is available through ITunes.
The most recent pieces posted on [...]

By Bill Marx
In English, Polish novelist, playwright, short story writer, and brazen, metaphysical gadfly Witold Gombrowicz remains under appreciated, a modernist who was never pulled into the highbrow bandwagon. Part of that neglect is thanks to bad translations that, in some cases, bowdlerized the Polish text or were translated from a French version of the [...]

Poetry’s secret, it seems to me, consists of two ingredients: a love of this world and a curiosity about metaphysics. – Durs Grünbein, The Bars of Atlantis
I resist the idea that books for the beach have to go down as easy as piña coladas. My eccentric and eclectic list of fiction and non-fiction in translation [...]

Working with Bernstein: A Memoir by Jack Gottlieb. Amadeus Press, 370 pages, $24.99.
Reviewed by Caldwell Titcomb
A strong case can be made that the late Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) was the all-round greatest musician our country has produced—virtuoso pianist, composer of both classical and popular music, the most charismatic conductor of his century, acclaimed educator and lecturer, [...]

By J. R. Carroll
June brings a cupful of world jazz. [Updated: See Mose Allison item below]
Photo by Daniel Sheehan
While the eyes of the sporting world may be on the stadiums of South Africa, there will be plenty of international flavor here in New England this month.
Brazilian born but now Seattle-based, pianist/composer/arranger Jovino Santos [...]

By Caldwell Titcomb
May 1: The month kicks off with an unusual concert celebrating the noted tuba player Kenneth Amis, who joins the MIT Wind Ensemble. Amis will play his own “Concerto for Tuba” (2007), along with the premiere of his “Bell-Tone’s Ring,” and pieces by famous European composers. At MIT’s Kresge Auditorium, 48 Massachusetts Avenue, [...]

By Bill Marx
I have neglected to point out the recent postings at my other gig, the online feature World Books at BBC/PRI’s The World. I just completed my April podcast, a departure for the series because I focus on a classic American author rather than a writer in translation.
But this April 21st marks the [...]

By Thomas Samph
Vampire movies, dirty whigs, Wilco beer, peace bombs, Russian retrograde, tappin’ khakis, and sweaty Soviet soirees are just a few reasons why April is a great month for music listeners in Boston. The month starts off with a performance by the illegitimate love child of two musical genres, heavy metal and opera (opposites [...]