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Rain washes out Beantown Saturday Jazz

All of Saturday's Beantown Jazz Festival events, which were outdoors, have been canceled. Tonight's concert at the Berklee Performance Center will go on as scheduled.

BSO lets the light shine in at Symphony Hall

Not that the season opener for the Boston Symphony Orchestra wasn't a superb night of music, but the big takeaway was...the windows. Uh-huh. The half-round clerestory windows along the top of the hall's side walls have been uncovered for the first time since World War II blackouts, cleaned off and replaced with acoustic glass. With the twilight sky thus visible, and some attractive lighting of the windows and the statues between them, the overall effect was a surprisingly meaningful opening-up of the space. Gorgeous as Symphony Hall is, with all its wonderful acoustics, the tall and narrow windowless space has sometimes felt a little bit like a mausoleum. The windows make it feel more like a temple, as it should be. For daytime performances, they'll let the sun shine in.

Oh yeah, the music. Wednesday's all-Russian concert marked James Levine's return to the podium after losing a kidney to cancer, and he looked terrific - thinner and more energetic. He still conducted from a chair, but looked happy and in his element, swiveling back and forth to an almost distracting degree as he worked. After the sprightly, at times breakneck opener - Glinka's Overture to "Ruslan and Ludmila" - he actually whipped around in a full 360-degree spin, kid-in-a-candy-store style. I think it's safe to believe that he's fully recovered.

Opening night is always a short program, so the BSO can trolley its moneyed supporters off for a lavish dinner afterward. After the overture, the orchestra brought on soloist Maija Kovalevska to sing the letter scene from Tchiakovsky's "Eugene Onegin." The Latvian soprano's lovely voice was sometimes washed out by the orchestra, at least where I was sitting.  But after that performance, Levine led the band in a terrific performance of Mussorgsky's "Pictures At An Exhibition." You're not going to hear anything too challenging played for the richest (John Henry in da house!) and perhaps oldest crowd of the season. But this familiar piece sounded positively fresh under Levine's baton, from the precise, abrupt changes of tempo and mood to fine tone from the woodwinds and brass.

(A footnote: The BSO put on a thematically appropriate appetizer spread for the opening-night reception. But after extensive sampling of the Russian fare offered - Stuffed cabbage?! - I'm hoping next year's program will be Verdi.)

BSO Photo from Wednesday's performance, by Michael J. Lutch.

First the genius grant, then the ICA

If you were dithering over whether to attend the Tara Donovan show opening Oct. 10 at the ICA Boston, here's fuel for the debate: Donovan today was named one of the 25 recipients of the 2008 MacArthur Foundation "genius grants."

Along with a Harvard neurobiologist, an MIT structural engineer and 22 other bright folks, she gets $500,000 over five years to spend as she pleases. The fellowships are intended to take creative minds on the cusp of greatness and give them the freedom to pursue their work wherever it takes them.

The ICA says this about Donovan's work (below): "With acute awareness of the aesthetic properties of her materials, Donovan explores how mass quantities of everyday items -- tape, plastic cups, toothpicks, buttons -- can transcend the familiar to create stunning, almost otherworldly, sculptural forms." More information: 617-478-3100 or www.icaboston.org.

Tara Donovan, Untitled (Styrofoam Cups), 2003 Styrofoam cups and hot glue
Dimensions variable
Installation view, Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, 2005.
Photo credit: Ace Gallery, Los Angeles, Courtesy PaceWildenstein, New York.

Levine returns, changed

He looks thinner and healthier in the pictures. He says his encounter with cancer has changed him, deepening his outlook on music and life. That's the word from Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director James Levine in advance of his return to the Symphony Hall stage on Wednesday. Levine, who had a kidney removed on July 15, returned to the Metropolitan Opera stage last Thursday night. Read his words to the Globe here, and to the New York Times here.

New faces, new ideas at PEM

The last decade has been a fascinating time for the once-stodgy Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, from a massive building project to a new perspective on what exhibits should be part of the museum ("Painting Summer in New England," Joseph Cornell...). Now things are growing even more interesting with the appointment of the museum's first-ever curator of contemporary art, Trevor Smith (left). The news comes close on the heels of the museum hiring its first full-time curator of photography, Phillip Prodger.

Most recently, Smith was curator-in- residence at the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, and the museum says he "will develop exhibitions and collaborate with other curators to incorporate contemporary art into various exhibitions, public spaces and projects throughout the museum." This ought to be really interesting. Not without grumbling from traditionalists, too, I suspect. Good times! (Above right, Dion Hutana, 1998, Photograph by Hans Neleman, from the exhibit "Body Politics, Maori Tattoo Today.")

Bill T. Jones gets Lincoln on the floor at the ICA

On Oct. 24-26, the ICA will host the Boston premiere of "Another Evening: Serenade/The Proposition," by The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. The performances are part of the company's 25th anniversary season, and the first part of a trilogy on the legacy of Abraham Lincoln.

With an eye on the approaching election - and the upcoming bicentennial of Lincoln's birth - Jones address Lincoln's place in history and the continuing power of the issues he raised. The performances include Lincoln's own words, his contemporaries’ writings and speeches, and other texts, along with video by Janet Wong, an original score blending classical and folk music by Chris Lancaster and Jerome Begin, and text sung by Lisa Komara.

Tickets for the 8 p.m. performances on Oct. 24 and 25th and a 3 p.m. matinee on Oct. 26 are $50 reserved, $40 for members, students, and seniors, and can be purchased at www.icaboston.org or by calling (617) 478-3103.

A wow review for Dennis Lehane

Boston novelist Dennis Lehane started out with a good private-eye series (see "Gone Baby Gone") and topped it with "Mystic River," the best Boston-set thriller since "The Friends of Eddie Coyle." Now, at least according to the New York Times, he's made another huge leap. The paper's review of his new "The Given Day" sees "shades of Doctorow and Dreiser" in this "majestic, fiery epic" about Boston in 1919, with cameos by Babe Ruth and other historical figures. The book comes out Tuesday, and I'm not the only one who is looking forward to reading it.

It's the Glass Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

One of the more unusual signs of fall arrives next week: MIT's Great Glass Pumpkin Patch, on September 26-27 in front of Kresge Auditorium at 48 Massachusetts Avenue. The glass pumpkins were created by students and instructors in MIT's  glassblowing lab, which benefits from the sale of the wildly inventive glass pumpkins (also, gourds and squashes), which range from $20-$200. Pumpkin-making is overseen by glass artist Peter Houk, director of the the MIT Glass Lab. Wild colors, stripes and patterns - not to mention "unusual stems" - are featured on the 1,000 or more pumpkins in the patch. The festivities begin with a preview reception (no sales) on September 26 from 5 to 8 p.m. On September 27, between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., you can buy. For more information--including an illustrated step-by-step description of "How To Make a Pumpkin" click here or call (617) 253-5309.

Concerts! Brian Wilson! Robin Williams! Naked Brothers Band!

The regular concert info drop from Live Nation.

• Nine Inch Nails, at the Verizon Wireless Arena, Nov. 8, $29.50-$39.50, on sale Sept. 19 at noon.
• AC/DC, TD Banknorth Garden, Nov. 9, $92, on sale Friday at 10 a.m.
• Michael Franti & Spearhead, Orpheum Theatre, Nov. 16, $25-$30, on sale Sept. 20 at 10 a.m.
• Brian Wilson, Orpheum, Nov. 19, $35-$59, on sale Saturday at noon.
• Robin Williams, Orpheum, Nov. 24-25, $57-$97, on sale Friday at 10 a.m.
• Nat & Alex Wolff (of the Naked Brothers Band), at Berklee Performance Center, Dec. 7 - 4:30 p.m.! Tickets $25-$50, on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.

Details on ticket sales are at livenation.com.

RiverSing: If it's autumn, this must be Cambridge

Folksingers, chorales, giant puppets and dancing to celebrate the Autumn Solstice. Must be RiverSing 2008, from the fine folks at Revels. The event, subtitled Bridging The Charles With Music and Light, kicks off Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Weeks footbridge over the Charles at DeWolfe Street, just outside Harvard Square. The singing will be led by Revels music director George Emlen, with contributions from folksinger Bill Staines, Revels song leader David Coffin, members of the Mystic Chorale and other local choruses, and saxophonists Stan Strickland and Ken Field. And puppets! Did I mention the free apples from Whole Foods? How autumnal - how Cambridge - is that? The sing concludes at sunset with an LED light show on the underside of the bridge.

Lyrics to Emlen's "River Hymn" and other songs are available by emailing RiverSing08@yahoo.com. There are also pre-sing festivities beginning at 4 p.m. along Winthrop Street in the Square; these include free gelato, kids activity tents and music from Emperor Norton's Stationary Marching Band. Deets and videos of last year's event are available at www.revels.org, the organization's newly rebuilt site.

Here's video of Staines singing "So Sang The River" to get you in the mood...