Four-time Tony Award-nominated choreographer and 2016 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award recipient Camille A. Brown brings her company of dancers to Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Mass., this weekend to perform the world premiere of I AM, a work inspired by both the HBO series Lovecraft Country and the rhythms of the movie Drumline. Performances are today through Sunday at 2pm, and Saturday at 8pm. (Fri, Aug 2-Sun, Aug 4)
A veritable who’s who of performers and composers of avant-garde and new-classical music, including Meredith Monk, John Hollenbeck, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, George Crumb, and the Bang on a Can Allstars, will take part in the three-day Bang on a Can LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., today through Saturday. Of special note is Berkshire resident Maya Beiser, who will be performing her dynamic reinvention of the minimalist manifesto, IN C, by Terry Riley, for solo cello and wordless vocals plus two percussionists, on Saturday at 6pm. (Thu-Sat, Aug 1-3)
The Paul Taylor Dance Company returns to PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., tonight and Saturday, at 8pm, to perform three of Taylor’s signature works -- Brandenburgs (1988) and Promethean Fire (2002), both set to the music of J. S. Bach, and Runes (1975), with music by Gerald Busby. (Fri-Sat, Aug 2-3)
New Marlborough resident and MacArthur “Genius” award-winner Taylor Mac and composer/performer Heather Christian will join forces to discuss “Creativity” in a program at the New Marlborough Meeting House in New Marlborough, Mass., on Saturday at 4:30pm. The two will explore their theatrical productions and collaborative ventures and offer a preview of songs from their musical theater work-in-progress, a consideration of Clarence Thomas entitled Clarence, in a Pause. (Sat, Aug 3)
Experimental composer and vocalist Arone Dyer - perhaps best known as one half of the duo Buke and Gase -- brings her stargaze program to the Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield, Mass., on Saturday at 8pm. The performance is a pared-down re-contemplation of the Minimalist-tinged music from her most recent solo album, arone x s t a r g a z e, with multi-instrumentalist Matthew Schrieber. (Sat, Aug 3)
Also of note:
Rootsy singer-songwriter Lance Cowan brings songs from his terrific new album, So Far, So Good, to Studio 9 at Porches Inn in North Adams, Mass., tonight at 7pm. Cowan will be joined by fellow singer-songwriters Rees Shad and Natalia Zukerman. And then Vermont-based Americana band Saints & Liars bring their rootsy, country-rock originals to Studio 9 on Saturday at 7pm.
Berkshire Bach marks the appointment of violinist Eugene Drucker as artistic director with a chamber concert featuring works by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, and Brahms, at Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington, Mass., on Saturday at 5pm.
Aston Magna concludes its summer festival with English Extravaganza, a program featuring violinist Daniel Stepner with instrumental ensemble and vocal quintet performing works by Purcell, John Eccles, and Charles Alison, at St. James Place in Great Barrington, Mass., on Sunday at 3pm.
New York-based Gamelan Yowana Sari are at PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., on Sunday at 4pm.
The event features 20 artists performing traditional Balinese music and dance plus contemporary compositions by Michael Gordon, Kyle Miller, and Evan Ziporyn.
Ukrainian-based Kommuna Lux brings its Eastern European blend of brass-band sounds -- what they call “Odessa Gangsta Folk” -- to the Falcon in Marlboro, N.Y., on Sunday at 7:30pm.
Grammy Award-winning jazz vocalist Catherine Russell brings her hot trio, her powerhouse vocals, and her deep repertoire of jazz and blues classics to the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Tuesday, August 6, at 7pm.
Singer-songwriter Avi Jacob, whose influences range from gospel to folk to pop, brings his original compositions to Dream Away Lodge in Becket, Mass., on Thursday, August 8, at 7:30pm.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
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