The cultural highlights for our region this weekend include classical, jazz, folk, avant-garde, drama, musical theater … plus a whole lot more.
Susie Ibarra and Yuka Honda, denizens of downtown New York's creative avant-garde, join forces for "Fragility Etudes," at MASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday at 8. An all-star six-piece ensemble which entwines percussion, voice, piano, violin, viola, and synth delves into the precarious relationship humanity has with the natural world.
On Sunday at 2 pm, pianist Jeewon Park and cellist Edward Arron will perform works for piano and cello by Mendelssohn, Arvo Pärt, and Rachmaninoff, in the auditorium at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., where the duo are co-artistic directors of the Performing Artists in Residence series.
Peter Mulvey, one of the leading lights of the new-folk scene for the past three decades, brings his midwestern balladry and his shimmering, percussive guitar style to HiLo in North Adams, Mass., tonight at 8pm.
Beloved Capitol Region singer-songwriter and naturalist Sean Rowe brings his uniquely observed portraits and story-songs and his booming growl of a voice to the Egremont Barn in South Egremont, Mass., on Saturday at 7:30pm. Warming up the crowd for Rowe is Jenna Nicholls, who updates the music of the 1920s for contemporary audiences.
Close Encounters With Music kicks off its 30th anniversary season of chamber music concerts on Sunday at 4pm at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., with a program called Café Music, featuring contemporary composer Paul Schoenfield's piano trio of the same name. Schoenfield's dazzling, eclectic composition combines elements of classical, jazz, klezmer, and Central European cabaret music. Sunday's program also includes French film composer Claude Bolling’s Suite for Cello and Jazz Trio, works by Gershwin and Beethoven, and a special guest appearance by Grammy Award nominated rapper and human beat machine Christylez Bacon.
The JD Allen Trio will perform a program called A Love Supreme: Celebrating the Legacy of Alice & John Coltrane, on Saturday night at 7 at Hudson Hall in Hudson, N.Y.
Jam-rock guitar hero Charlie Hunter and drummer Scott Amendola join forces for an evening of jazzy, creative music-making at the Falcon in Marlboro, N.Y., on Saturday at 7pm. The two have been playing together on and off since they were bandmates in the Bay Area band T.J. Kirk in the 1990s.
Music Lessons, a play with music and song by Ed Napier, gets a staged dramatic reading at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y., on Sunday at 3pm. Through scenes, stories, and songs, Music Lessons recounts the process of growing up, becoming an artist, and learning to relish the glory of just being alive. The presentation is part of the Local Producer Readers' Theatre, a collaboration between the Stissing Center and Oblong Books.
The award-winning Kander & Ebb musical drama "Cabaret" concludes its run at the Copake Grange in Copake, N.Y. this weekend with performances tonight and Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 3pm. And Eugene O’Neill’s dysfunctional family drama Long Day’s Journey Into Night concludes its run at Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, N.Y., this weekend with performances tonight and Saturday at 7 and Sunday at 2pm.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.com
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