Arts

Catch a performance or a movie at the Hatch Memorial Shell on the banks of the Charles River in Boston. Or head to a different waterfront venue, the Bank of America Pavilion on Boston Harbor for some of the area's best and biggest shows.The unique open-air Publick Theatre is located on a man-made island in Herter Park near Harvard University. This classical outdoor theater includes the Mainstage, the Shakespeare Workshop, and the Young Company. Maudslay Art Center, located in the Maudslay State Park, features pop, classical, folk, country, swing, and big band concerts set in a natural open-air theater.

In August, outdoor concerts return to the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln where music and art harmonize over the center's 35 acres. Admission includes Sculpture Park exhibits, box dinner, and a concert under the stars. Concerts prevail at the 19,000-seat outdoor amphitheater, the Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts in Mansfield. Both covered and lawn seating are available to see top-name performers. South Shore Music Circus in Cohasset and their sister venue The Cape Cod Melody Tent, has featured world-class entertainment, music, variety, and comedy, an intimate tented theatre-in-the-round, since 1932.

Cape-wide, the concerts at local town bandstands and gazebos saturate the salt air with melodic sounds. For larger performances, visit The Cape Cod Melody Tent in Hyannis which showcases world-class music, variety, and comedy performances in a tented theater-in-the-round.

The beautiful grounds of the Featherstone Center for the Arts, tucked away behind rolling hills in Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, offers Musical Mondays featuring Zydeco and Jazz performances.

There's music island wide on Nantucket including free band concerts Thursdays and Sundays at Children's Beach and Tuesdays events are sponsored by the Nantucket Musical Arts Society. Don't miss the Noonday Concert series every Thursday, sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church on Orange Street.

Massachusetts Symphony Orchestra of Worcester, established in 1951, the symphony performs free at the Institute Park and the East Park Summer Family Concerts, sponsored by Bank of America. Performances are also held at Mechanics Hall in downtown Worcester.

West Springfield Summer Concert Series performs free on the Storrowton Village Green on the grounds of the Eastern States Exposition. Enjoy a variety of entertainment from polka to swing quartets. Take in all that the Springfield Museums have to offer.

Sundays in the Park at the Greenfield Energy Park Concert Series is the social center for outdoor entertainment in downtown Greenfield. Blues, folk, fiddlers, rock, bluegrass, reggae, jazz, and country rounds out the offering. Performances include the Pioneer Valley Symphony, and the Greenfield Military Band.

If it's summertime, so there's music in the air at Tanglewood, the Lenox summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Set among nature's serenity of the Berkshires and replete with pastoral picnic grounds, this orchestral oasis hosts concerts in the Shed, on the lawn, and at Seji Ozawa Hall. Guest headliners and conductors routinely take the stage.

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