The cultural highlights in the greater region this weekend include numerous museum exhibition and gallery openings, folk-rock concerts, chamber music, an adaptation of a theatrical classic, and a whole lot more.
Folk-rock trio the Lone Bellow brings its rootsy take on Americana music to MASS MoCA in North Adams, for the annual Memorial Day weekend kickoff concert on Saturday at 8pm. Arc Iris, a chamber-pop group led by singer-songwriter-guitarist Jocie Adams, formerly of the Low Anthem, warms up the crowd for the Lone Bellow. Be sure to get there on time to hear the opening act – Arc Iris may just steal the show from the headliners. Also at MASS MoCA this weekend, three new exhibitions of contemporary photography open with a reception on Saturday from 5 to 6:30pm.
A new exhibition of East Asian art opens at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield this weekend. Immortal Present: Art and East Asia features the Berkshire Museum’s historic collection of Asian art and showcases works by a number of significant contemporary artists with ties to Asia. The exhibit, curated by Maria Mingalone, Berkshire Museum’s director of interpretation, and noted Asian art scholar Gary Smith, illuminates the rich and diverse legacy of East Asian art, from its origins in the distant past to compelling new works. There’s an opening reception for the exhibition at the museum this evening at 5:30.
Chesterwood’s annual outdoor contemporary sculpture show opens this weekend at the one-time home of Lincoln Memorial sculptor Daniel Chester French in Stockbridge. Boston Sculptors Gallery at Chesterwood 2015, an exhibition featuring site-specific contemporary sculptures by two dozen Boston-area artists, representing a diverse range of media and styles, opens on Saturday and remains on view through October 12.
“Masha’s Seagull,” an exploration of the character of Masha from Anton Chekhov’s original play, “The Seagull” in the form of a one-woman show, gets a three-day run at Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge today through Sunday.
Still/Life, a 3-D rendering of contemporary practices in the Hudson area featuring works by 16 artists, opens in the Back Gallery at Basilica Hudson today from 6 to 10pm. The installation includes an extensive schedule of screenings, performances, talks, workshops, dance, readings, and food events.
Grammy Award-nominated musicians ShmuelAshkenasi and Peter Wiley will perform works by Schubert and Mozart in a program of String Trios with Helena Baillie at the Hudson Opera House on Saturday at 7pm, as part of the Classics on Hudson series. The trio will play Schubert’s B-flat Trio, followed by Mozart’s rarely performed Adagio and Fugues K. 404, written in the style of Johann Sebastian Bach. To complete the evening, the trio will perform the magisterial Divertimento by Mozart K.563.
Grammy Award-winning folk duo Indigo Girls performs Saturday night as part of the SummerSound Live music festival on the grounds of Tanglewood in Lenox this weekend. The two-day festival takes place at a parking lot outside Tanglewood’s main gates, and includes a host of national and regional acts, including Pimps of Joytime, Barefoot Truth, Adam Ezra, Sister Sparrow & the Dirty Birds, Bella’s Bartok, and West End Blend.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of Berkshire Daily and the Rogovoy Report, available online at rogovoyreport.com