Rogovoy Report For December 18, 2015

This weekend’s cultural highlights in our region include Moroccan trance music, a Messiah singalong, a Frank Sinatra tribute, and a community staging of Charles Dickens’s holiday classic, “A Christmas Carol.”

Pop-jazz guitarist and vocalist John Pizzarelli celebrates the centennial of Frank Sinatra’s birthday at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington on Saturday  at 8pm, with “Swing 7 Frank Sinatra Centennial Celebration.” Using greats like Ellington, Cole and Sinatra and the songs of writers such as Rodgers, Gershwin and Jobim as touchstones, Pizzarelli is among the prime contemporary interpreters of the so-called great American songbook, bringing to the work his signature style and brilliant guitar playing.

The 10th annual Berkshire Theatre Group community production of Charles Dickens's “A Christmas Carol,” presented for the fifth time at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield and including 30 talented young Berkshire county actors, many of whom are returning to the Colonial Theatre, and some of whom are performing for the very first time, runs tonight through next Tuesday, December 22.

The annual community Messiah SINGalong in Hudson, N.Y., takes place at the First Presbyterian Church as part of Classics on Hudson’s second season of concerts on Saturday, at 4pm. Directed by Gwen Gould, with an instrumental ensemble and featured soloists, the audience is invited to pick up a score and join the chorus to sing the Christmas portion of Handel’s magnificent oratorio.

Moroccan-dosed dub-jazz collective Club D’Elf, featuring superstar keyboardist John Medeski of Medeski Martin and Wood fame, returns to Club Helsinki Hudson with its funky world-trance grooves on Sunday at 8pm. The brainchild of Boston bassist/composer Mike Rivard, Club d’Elf is a constellation of top musicians from the jazz, DJ, rock and world music scenes of Boston and NYC, who get in the groove and proceed to blow it up. With Rivard and drummer Dean Johnston at the core, guitars, turntables, Fender Rhodes, laptops, horns, tablas and a myriad of exotic instruments flow in and out of the mix. Special guest John Medeski, who has been an “honorary core member” of Club d’Elf from day one, is best known for his work with the genre-defying trio Medeski Martin & Wood. Built upon jazz roots, electronics and rhythmic grooves – not unlike Club d’Elf -- MMW have broken out of the traditional jazz sphere and have shared the bill with groups such as The Roots, Beck, A Tribe Called Quest, Ray Charles, and Phish, frequently appearing in venues unavailable to most jazz artists.

“Radical Inventions,” a group show featuring the work of five artists, is on view at Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson this weekend, and remains on view through December 27. Recent work by painters David Konigsberg of Hudson, and Ralph Stout are displayed alongside gallery favorites of fellow artist Shawn Snow. Multi-media constructions by Stephen King are also featured with large abstract works by architect-turned-visual artist Juan Garcia Nunez.