Hudson Valley-based world music outfit Rosza brings its blend of music from Eastern Europe, including Gypsy, Hungarian, Balkan, and klezmer, to the Down County Social Club (DCSC), beneath the Stagecoach Tavern at Race Brook Lodge, in Sheffield, Mass., tonight at 8pm. The group’s music is colored by the distinctive vocals of Katalin Pazmandi. (Fri, Dec 1)
The Grammy Award-winning group The Klezmatics bookends our region with their Happy Joyous Hanukkah program, featuring their versions of Woody Guthrie’s trove of Hanukkah songs plus selections from their own repertoire of modern klezmer and Yiddish music, at the 8th Step at Proctors in Schenectady, N.Y., on Saturday at 7:30pm, and at the Falcon in Marlboro, N.Y., on Sunday, at 7:30pm. In 1942, Woody Guthrie moved to Brooklyn for a time, and through his mother-in-law -- the renowned Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt -- Guthrie was deeply inspired to write songs that came directly out of this unlikely relationship, both personal and political; he clearly identified the Jewish struggle with that of his fellow Okies and other oppressed and disenfranchised peoples. (Sat, Dec 2; Sun, Dec 3)
Singer-songwriter Leslie Mendelson brings her singular brand of folk-rock to WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio The Linda on Saturday at 8pm. The Brooklyn-based, Grammy Award-nominated artist connects the dots between 1970s-style confessional songwriting, jazz-influenced vocals (think Norah Jones), roots music, and Nick Cave-style gloom-rock. As an example of her versatility and appeal, Mendelson has collaborated with Jackson Browne and warmed up crowds for the Who. (Sat, Dec 2)
The Close Encounters with Music chamber series brings its Nocturne: Night and Dreams program -- featuring Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Beethoven’s “Moonlight” Sonata -- to the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., on Sunday at 4pm. Among the performers are Italian pianist Fabio Bidini and baritone John Viscardi, in a program that will also include works by Schumann, Debussy, Fauré, Gounod, and Leonard Bernstein. (Sun, Dec 3)
Singer-songwriter Stephen Sanchez brings his nostalgic neo-rockabilly and his four-octave vocal range to the Hunter Center at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., on Sunday at 8pm. The California-based Sanchez variously recalls the likes of Roy Orbison, Buddy Holly, and the Everly Brothers, peppering his numbers with roots-music accents, whistling, and impossible vocal leaps. (Sun, Dec 3)
ALSO OF NOTE:
Phil Kline’s walking symphony Unsilent Night returns to North Adams, Mass. tonight at 6pm
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company brings modern dance to The Egg in Albany, N.Y. on Saturday night at 8pm (Sat, Dec 2, at 8pm)
Cantilena Chamber Choir brings its Christmas at Trinity program to Trinity Church in Lenox, Mass. on Sunday at 3pm. (Sun, Dec 3, 3pm)
Indigo Girls bring their harmonies and their patented brand of folk-rock to Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, N.Y., on Tuesday at 7:30pm. (Tue, Dec 5, 7:30pm)
Conor McPherson’s Tony Award-winning musical Girl from the North Country, based on songs by Bob Dylan, runs at Proctors in Schenectady, N.Y., for almost a week, beginning Tuesday, December 5 and running through Sunday, December 10. I saw the show when it premiered at the Public Theater in New York City in fall 2018, and I thought it was a rare case of a third party taking Dylan’s material and transforming it into something new yet faithful in spirit to the work of the Nobel Prize winner. (Tue-Sun, Dec 5-10)
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.