There are numerous chamber music festivals in the Northeast, with a multitude of live performances by accomplished artists. Here are several concerts that I’m planning to attend this summer.

OLD TOM BOMBADIL. Possibly the least liked character in The Lord of the Rings. A childish figure so disliked by fans of the book that few object to his absence from all adaptations of the story. And yet, there is another way of looking at Bombadil, based only on what appears in the book itself, that paints a very different picture of this figure of fun.

We are so well informed and yet we know so little. Why?

A FEW YEARS AGO, I heard Grigory Sokolov play for the first time. Everything I had ever learned, thought or felt about the piano and performance upon it went up in smoke. Sokolov, although a well-kept secret, is for many the greatest pianist alive today. Youthful celebrities with fast fingers, designer gear, and slick photos pall beside such gigantic artistry.