Joshua M. Bernstein’s passion for craft beers — many from Maine — has provided him with a career based on tasting and writing.
Arts & Entertainment
Classical musicians find themselves happily homeless
Janna Hymes and her Maine Pro Musica orchestra are always on the road, bringing classical music to the far, underserved corners of the state.
In the Arts: Fascinating Shaker show speaks of spirit occupying form
Thomas Merton, the Trappist sage, has written that the Shakers believed their furniture was designed by angels. I note this because I have been rereading his admirable introduction to “Religion in Wood,” the seminal book on the material culture of the Shakers by Edward Deming Andrews and Faith Andrews. My excursion into the 50-old book […]
Classical Beat: Challenging choral work coming to the cathedral
I was happy to hear that the Choral Art Society has programmed R. Murray Schafer’s “Snowforms” for its Christmas in the Cathedral Concerts, Dec. 3 and 4 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland. Schafer, a Canadian composer, writer, musicologist, musical ecologist, calligrapher and all-around Renaissance man, is arguably one of the musical world’s […]
Art Review: Feminism goes pop in entertaining Hallowell show
Contemporary art is usually understood as Western art since World War II. It might seem an arbitrary line in the sand, but Western culture was shaken to the core by the war. New York became the new Paris. Abstract Expressionism roared to life. And the faith in Eurocentric cultural historicism was shattered and replaced by myths […]
Photos of life before Holocaust send author on exploration
LEWISTON — Ann Weiss, who discovered at Auschwitz a cache of photographs from the lives of Jewish victims before they arrived at the death camp, speaks at Bates College at 7 p.m. Monday at the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave. Confiscated from Jews deported to Auschwitz in 1943, the images reflect the memories […]
Society Notebook: It’s a gift
Knowing how to ‘Give Smart’ really gets results, author Thomas Tierney tells those gathered for the ‘Inspiring Philanthropy’ event sponsored by Maine Community Center.
Arts Planner
We have lots of great theater choices in and around Portland. • At Portland Stage, this is the final week of “God of Carnage.” It’s a Tony Award-winning comedy about two sets of parents who are unable to control their own emotions and act out their uncivil tendencies over the course of a very uncomfortable […]
Book Review: What’s left in the end, dark and light
Author Joan Didion takes stock of treasured memories after her daughter’s death in 2005.