SECRETS OF THE SKY & SEA will be performed on Thursday, July 24, 2008; 8pm at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. Berkshire Opera leaps out of the box for this presentation, an extraordinary cultural collaborative featuring music by composers ranging from Reynaldo Hahn, W.A. Mozart, and Giacomo Puccini to Stephen Sondheim, Kurt Weill and Irving Berlin. The program traces the universal appeal and immediacy of water and the heavens in an imaginative and entertaining survey of childlike dreams, romantic desires, and untold mysteries. Guests of Brook Farm Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts will enjoy this  unique performance.

The Boston University Tanglewood Institute has announced its series of concerts by the Young Artists Orchestra, Wind Ensemble, and Chorus, which will take place at Ozawa Hall on the grounds of Tanglewood.  For the audience, this is a great opportunity to enjoy the music of students who represent the next generation of  outstanding professional musicians. This Friday at 8:00 pm you can enjoy the Wind Ensemble, and Saturday at 2:30 the Orchestra will perform.  Get tickets at the door for only $11. It’s less than a mile from Brook Farm Inn in Lenox Massachusetts.

If you enjoy craft fairs — and even if you usually don’t — this one’s for you!  The Berkshires Arts Festival is an annual juried arts festival, at the Butternut ski area in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.  There are 175 juried artists, and you’ll find a varied selection of pottery, jewelry, everything you can think of, and all of high quality. It’s always a highlight of the July 4th holiday. Food will be availabile as well. We’re recommending it to all our guests at Brook Farm Inn in Lenox Massachusetts.

Right around the corner from Brook Farm Inn, in Lenox Massachusetts, Shakespeare & Co. will have the annual reading of the Declaration of Independence  on July 4th at 3 PM.This is always an inspiring and powerful event…you can hear the words echo through the centuries, and they are still true.  Admission is free, but you need a ticket, so reserve asap.

A favorite of summer visitors to Brook Farm Inn in Lenox Massachusetts has always been the author lecture series at The Mount, home and gardens of Edith Wharton. Lectures take place on Mondays at 4 PM, starting July 7th, and they’re followed by tea and book-signing. We’re also glad to announce  Wharton on Wednesdays at 5 PM in July and August, which consists of live readings from her works.  Also a wonderful new idea is called Some Enchanted Evenings — wine & hors d’oeuvres on the Mount’s terrace, 5 - 8 PM Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  A great prelude to any summer evening in the Berkshires!

This Sunday,  The Clark will open its new Stone Hill center.  The famous art museum in Williamstown, Massachusetts has a spectacular collection, and is set on 140 acres of beautiful Berkshires scenery.  The new center was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect, Tadao Ando.  In his honor, the community open house on Sunday will offer a barbecue, picnic, and Japanese drumming.  The Clark has always been a favorite destination for Brook Farm Inn visitors, and it’s an easy ride from Lenox.

Ventfort Hall, in Lenox Massachusetts, is one of the Berkshires’ gems.  It’s a mansion and Gilded Age Museum.  Guests can enjoy, in addition to tours and exhibits, lectures and picnics on the porch, and special events.  This weekend we recommend the play, “They Called Me Lizzy…from Slavery to the White House.” See it Friday and Saturday, June 13 and 14. It’s the true life story of ELizabeth Keckly and her rise from slavery to entrepreneurial freedom, then scandal and decline.  She was dressmaker & confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln.  You can walk to Ventfort Hall from Brook Farm Inn!

“Art insiders, the inn crowd, and even the outsider art in-crowd (you following this?) gathered on Saturday night at the fabulous barn at Stonover Farm for an opening of paintings by Curtis Ripley, pottery by Luna Garcia, and still-life photography by Dede Reed.  This is a quotation from Rural Intelligence, a great new website that covers events and attractions in the Berkshires, plus Columbia, Dutchess, and Litchfield Counties. We met Marilyn Bethany, co-editor, at the Stonover event, and you can see our photo –that is Linda and Phil, owners of Brook Farm Inn, Lenox MA — in Marilyn’s article. Here’s a link, so take a look!  http://www.ruralintelligence.com/index.php/parties_section/parties_articles_parties/

Starting tonight, and through June 8, guests of Brook Farm Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts have the opportunity to see “I Am My Own Wife” at Barrington Stage Co. in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.  Vince Gatton is the incredibly talented actor whom we saw last year in “Fully Committed.” In that one-man show, he played more than 30 characters.  In this new play, he’s back with another 3 dozen characters. Barrington Stage has been getting rave reviews for several seasons, and this performance promises to live up to their reputation.

Brook Farm Inn is a short distance from Steepletop, in Austerlitz, NY.  Edna St. Vincent Millay lived there, and the home is still as it was in her day.  The Society sponsors artists-in-residence, and is restoring her gardens, and hopes to make the home into a museum for visitors.  Part of the grounds are available for visitors to walk, although most of the property is usually closed to the public.  However  this Saturday, May 17th, is the first of two Open Days, from 10-4.  In addition to the gardens, Millay’s writing cabin will be open. It should be a great day.  And a great book about the poet is Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford