The Berkshires

Joyous Spirit: Music for Voice, Strings and Piano, an eclectic program featuring works by Bach, Mozart, Grieg, Verdi, George Gershwin, and Amy Beach, is on tap as the opening concert of Chamber Music on the Hudson’s 2023-2024 season at the Senate Garage in Kingston, N.Y., tonight at 7pm. Orchestrated by Inessa Zaretsky, pianist and artistic director of Chamber Music on the Hudson, the concert will feature members of the Tesla Quartet and Metropolitan Opera soprano Courtney Johnson. (Fri, Oct 6)

American Celtic punk band Dropkick Murphys, two-time Grammy Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning singer and instrumentalist, MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient, and composer of opera, ballet, and film Rhiannon Giddens, Aoife O’Donovan, and Lukas Nelson headline the three-day FreshGrass Festival at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., today through Sunday.

The Band of Heathens bring their unique blend of roots-rock to the Stationery Factory in Dalton, Mass., tonight at 7:30pm, and to Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, N.Y., on Saturday at 8pm. The Austin-based group, formed in 2005, incorporates influences from Americana, country blues, jam-rock, and R&B to create their heartfelt brand of rock ‘n’ roll. (Fri, Sept 15)

Pianist, actor, and playwright Hershey Felder brings his one-man show about Ludwig van Beethoven to the Colonial in Pittsfield, Mass., tonight at 7pm; Saturday at 2pm and 7pm; and Sunday at 2pm. Felder’s performance includes narrative, storytelling, and plenty of Beethoven’s powerful music. (Fri, Sep 8-Sun, Sep 10)

Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist Jason Robert Brown says he will play every song he has ever written in chronological order at Mr. Finn’s Cabaret at Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Mass., tonight at 8pm. Brown’s musicals include Mr. Saturday Night, Parade, 13, The Bridges of Madison County, and The Last Five Years. He will be accompanied by his “excellent pal” and local hero Todd Reynolds on violin and electronics. (Fri, Sep 1)

Danielle Ponder brings her alluring blend of pop, R&B, blues, rock, and moody trip-hop to Courtyard C at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., tonight at 8. Ponder, whose early influences include gospel artists such as Shirley Caesar and the Blind Boys of Alabama and blues shouters including Koko Taylor and Big Mama Thornton, left behind a career as a public defender to pursue her musical dreams, as encapsulated in the title of her debut album, Some of Us Are Brave. (Fri, Aug 18)

New York-based Complexions Contemporary Ballet pays tribute to David Bowie with their evening-length Bowie-inspired work, STAR DUST, featuring a host of Bowie’s greatest hits, in the Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Mass., today through Sunday. Complexions is known for its lively contemporary ballets set to music by the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Metallica, and Lenny Kravitz. (Fri-Sun, Aug 11-13)The Bard Music Festival continues its exploration of the life and work of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, with programs at the Bard Fisher Center today through Sunday. Highlights include The Lark Ascending: British Music for Small Orchestra, featuring works by Vaughan Williams alongside Elgar, Delius, and Gustav Holst, tonight at 8pm, and A New Elizabethan Age?, featuring the American Symphony Orchestra performing works by Sibelius, Elizabeth Maconchy, and William Walton along with two of Vaughan Williams’s late symphonies, on Saturday at 8 p.m. (Fri-Sun, Aug 11-13)

Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Mass., celebrates the 50th anniversary of hip-hop -- the diverse culture and art movement catalyzed in the Bronx in August 1973 -- with a one-of-a-kind program, Hip Hop Across the Pillow, featuring dance artists including Rennie Harris Puremovement American Street Dance Theater, Rokafella and Kwikstep, and d. Sabela grimes, and the Ladies of Hip-Hop, running today through Sunday. (Wed-Sun, Aug 2-6)

The vibrant Berkshire Busk! downtown music and arts festival is back to light up the streets of Great Barrington for its third season. The festival features lively celebrations of music, dance, acrobatics and more every Friday and Saturday night starting at 6:30 PM through Saturday, September 2 (Labor Day Weekend).