Tina Packer in ‘Women of Will’

(LENOX, Mass.) – Fjords, forests and fairy tales will be conjured up in Nordic Lights: Grieg Revival, an evening of music and readings at Tanglewood’s Ozawa Hall — including works by Edvard Grieg and Henrik Ibsen, featuring special guest narrator Tina Packer, founder and former artistic director of Shakespeare & Company — on Saturday, June 8, 2013, at 6 pm, the final Close Encounters with Music concert of the 2012–2013 season.

Packer will deliver readings from Ibsen’s “Peer Gynt,” the most widely performed Norwegian play, and “A Doll’s House,” which roiled Victorian-era Europe with its frankness and early feminism. “Peer Gynt,” inspired by a fairy tale, blends poetry, social satire and surrealism. Packer will have just completed her much-lauded appearance on Broadway in “Women of Will,” examining the roles of women in Shakespeare.

Violinist Ara Gregorian, known as one of the most versatile musicians of his generation, will perform Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 3. The program for this gala event also includes a sampling of his superb piano works performed by internationally acclaimed pianist Adam Neiman. The evening will also feature baritone Mischa Bouvier, performing Grieg’s lush songs, and cellist Yehuda Hanani, founder and artistic director of Close Encounters with Music.

“The spirit of Northern Lights, the giddiness and lightheadedness of perpetual sunlight after the seemingly eternal winter, will be reflected in the joyfulness of the evening,” says Hanani. “It’s the same sensibility as Ingmar Bergman at his sunniest — the wild strawberries, the trolls, imps, elves, witches, and the symbolism of ‘Peer Gynt’s Solweg: true love at the end of the journey.”

Tickets are $40 and $50.  A limited number of Preferred Patron seating and Gala Reception ticket are available at $125. For more information or to order, visit Close Encounters with Music or call 800.843.0778.