As the coronavirus has necessitated the cancellation of virtually all publicly presented classical music concerts in venues large and small, music lovers in the Berkshires and Southern Vermont have been made bereft of all live music performances. We have had, though, other options: streaming via the Web, YouTube and Facebook videos are legion, and, for opera lovers, Metropolitan Opera hi-def recordings on several regional PBS TV channels have continued past the traditional end-of-season May broadcasts.

Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony’s Berkshire summer festival in Lenox, was forced to cancel its full season but has found a novel way to surmount this misfortune via streaming a wide

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I wish that I were reviewing one of the half-dozen movies certain to be made when this pox upon our house is no more. But until that glorious return to normality has us resuming all the simple joys of life we take for granted, like going to the movies, I'll be retro-reviewing and thereby sharing with you the films that I've come to treasure over the years, most of which can probably be retrieved from one of the movie streaming services. It is my fondest hope that I've barely put a dent into this trove when they let the likes of me back into the

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LENOX, Mass. — Ventfort Hall is opening the museum to the public again as of Thursday, July 16. 

The museum will be open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday through Tuesday, closed Wednesdays.

Self-guided tours are by prepaid reservation only at 11 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. Masks are required and social distancing will be practiced. The mansion is located at 104 Walker St. in Lenox, Mass.

Admission is $18 adults, $17 seniors 65 and over, $10 students with ID and $7 children 5-17. Call 413-637-3206 to reserve a tour.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated by the Massachusetts Cultural Council as an important partner of the Lenox Cultural District, one of the

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshire County Historical Society at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead has appointed two new writers-in-residence for the remainder of this year. 

Robin Catalano will be the summer writer, and Kevin O'Hara will take over in the fall. 

Catalano has an extensive background in writing, having written for magazines, books, blogs, websites and having published more than 75 articles and 1,000 blog posts. Her work has appeared in publications such as Travel +Leisure, the Boston Globe, Gourmet, Travel Awaits, Berkshire Living, and Berkshire HomeStyle. She is also a three-time speaker at the Women in Travel Summit. 

A resident of nearby

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — After being closed for more than four months, the Berkshire Museum will once again welcome visitors through its doors in downtown Pittsfield. 

The museum, which will open in phases, plans to open exclusively to its members for two weeks during its first phase beginning Saturday, Aug. 1, before inviting the whole community in phase 2 starting Monday, Aug. 17. The reopening of the Berkshire Museum comes as part of Phase 3 of the state's four-phase Reopening Massachusetts plan, which began Monday, July 6, as announced on July 2.

The museum intends to meet or exceed all state-mandated health and safety guidelines through each reopening phase. Beginning Aug.

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STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, visited the Norman Rockwell Museum on Friday to announce $72,500 in grants to benefit cultural institutions throughout Berkshire County.

The funds are part of $75 million in grants distributed by the National Endowment for the Humanities from the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act.

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I wish that I were reviewing one of the half-dozen movies certain to be made when this pox upon our house is no more. But until that glorious return to normality has us resuming all the simple joys of life we take for granted, like going to the movies, I'll be retro-reviewing and thereby sharing with you the films that I've come to treasure over the years, most of which can probably be retrieved from one of the movie streaming services. It is my fondest hope that I've barely put a dent into this trove when they let the likes of me back into the

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Theatre Group will produce "Godspell" this summer – the first musical in the United States to be approved by Actors' Equity Association in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The show will be presented outdoors in an open-air tent adjacent to The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, and is scheduled to run Aug. 6 through Sept. 4. Tickets will be available for purchase Tuesday, July 7, at noon. 

"We could not bear the thought of a Berkshire summer without live theater to support our community, so we jumped through every hoop to create a safe way to make this happen," said BTG Board of Trustees Co-President Lee Perlman.

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