With so much going on culturally speaking in our region, this is my highly selective, curated snapshot of some of the most promising events happening this weekend …
Music at Trinity and the Cantilena Chamber Choir present Music for the Dance, a program combining choral and instrumental chamber music, including works by Piazzolla, Elizondo, Brahms, and Monteverdi, featuring the Palmer Trio, at Trinity Church in Lenox, Mass., on Sunday at 3. (Sun, Oct 16)
The Takács Quartet, which has been performing for nearly half a century, will play works by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, Bartók, and Beethoven on Sunday at 3 p.m. in Union College’s Memorial Chapel, in a presentation by Capital Region Classical. (Sun, Oct 16)
Saugerties Pro Musica presents pianist Eric Siepkes in a solo piano concert performing works by Beethoven, Mozart, Ravel, and Liszt, in a free concert at Saugerties United Methodist Church on Sunday at 3. (Sun, Oct 16)
Ronnie Marmo brings his one-man show, I’m Not a Comedian... I’m Lenny Bruce, to the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., tonight and Saturday at 8. The authorized show chronicles the life and death of the groundbreaking comedian, social satirist, and political martyr. (Fri-Sat, Oct 14-15)
ZZ Top brings their beards and their signature brand of boogie-rock to Albany’s Palace Theatre tonight at 8. They will also be down at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, N.Y., on Tuesday. (Fri, Oct 14; Tue, Oct 18)
Roots musician Jake Blount, a scholar of Black American music who emphasizes the African roots of the banjo and the subtle, yet profound ways African Americans have shaped and defined the amorphous categories of roots music and Americana, performs a benefit concert for the W.E.B. Du Bois Center for Freedom and Democracy, at Dewey Hall in Sheffield, Mass., next Thursday, October 20, at 7 p.m. (Thu, Oct 20)
Al Bilali Soudan, a close-knit Tuareg family ensemble from Timbuktu, bring their fusion of traditional music and electric blues-rock to the Half Moon in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday at 9 p.m. and the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, N.Y., on Sunday at 7 p.m. (Sat-Sun, Oct 15-16)
The Matt Wilson Quartet brings its idiosyncratic style, infectious humor, joyous swing and an indomitable spirit of surprise to the Falcon in Marlboro, N.Y., on Sunday at 7, to perform its “Good Trouble Suite,” dedicated to the late Rep. John Lewis and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (Sun, Oct 16)
Pianist Armen Donelian and bassist Pete Toigo team up for the October Duos series at Gateways Inn in Lenox, Mass., tonight at 6. (Fri, Oct 14)
Singer-songwriters Susan Werner and Erin McKeown, both known for their musical eclecticism, bring their virtuoso talents as singers, songwriters, and instrumentalists to the Colonial in Pittsfield, Mass., tonight at 7:30. (Fri, Oct 14)
Singer-songwriter Lucy Kaplansky brings her finely honed, rootsy folk-pop to Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Saturday at 8. (Sat, Oct 15)
Rootsy singer-songwriter Colbie Caillat, who has won two Grammy Awards and has sold over four million albums, and who reminds me of Shawn Colvin, is at the Egg in Albany tonight at 8. (Fri, Oct 14)
Irish singer, songwriter, award-winning radio host and social activist Tommy Sands brings his political protest music to the Eighth Step at Proctors in Schenectady, N.Y., on Saturday at 7:30. (Sat, Oct 15)
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.com
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