Gene Shalit to Host Alzheimer’s Benefit at Tanglewood

LENOX — Noted film crtic Gene Shalit will be the honorary chairperson of the 4th Annual Alzheimer’s at Tanglewood benefit to he staged in August 3 in Lenox.
Sponsored by the Alzherimer’s Assoc. Massachusetts Chapter, the event is part of the special daylong celebration of Tanglewood on Parade. Shalit, a frequent contributor to the NBC Today show, has interviewed such notables as Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, Harrison Ford, and Meryl Streep. He is also the author of several books on humor as well as an authority on music.

The Alzheimer’s program will begin at 6 p.m. with a hors d’oeuvre reception under the Hawthorne Tent on the Tanglewood grounds. New this year is the Travel, Art & Entertainment Silent Auction, which will feature tropical vacations to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Naples, Fla.; weekend getaways to Boston, Lake Champlain, and the Berkshires; stained glass and ceramic artworks; original sculpture; dinner-and-theater packages; and more. Items may be viewed at www.alzmassT4.org.

Reserved seating in the Shed is available for the 8:30 p.m. concert by the Boston Symphony. Boston Pops, and Tanglewood Music Center Orchestras. Conductors are John Williams, Keith Lockhart, and Christopher Dohnanyi. A fireworks display follows the concert. Convenient parking close to the Tanglewood gate has been reserved for Alzheimer’s at Tanglewood guests.

Since 2000, Alzheimer’s at Tanglewood has raised nearly $100,000 to benefit the Alzheimer’s Assoc. Money raised goes for research and to support services for families and patients in Massachusetts with this progressive, degenerative brain disease.

Early ticket reservations are encouraged. For more information or to reserve seats, call (413) 787-1113 or by E-mailing kathryn.hedgepeth@alz.org.