Nona Hendryx and the Mamafunk Band close out the summer season at the Spiegeltent at Bard’s Fisher Center in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday at 8pm, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the mega worldwide hit by Hendryx’s former band, Labelle. (Sat, Aug 17)
Soul-rock singer-songwriter Simi Stone brings her all-star band and her self-styled “Mountain Motown” music to the Colony Cafe in Woodstock, N.Y., on Saturday at 8pm. (Sat, Aug 17)
The Festival of New Jewish Plays, an immersive experience celebrating the depth and diversity of Jewish theatre, takes place at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass., today and Saturday. The festival includes Out of Character , on Saturday at 7pm, a solo comedy written and performed by Tony Award winner Ari’el Stachel -- best known for his role in The Band’s Visit. (Thu-Sat, Aug 15-17)
House Blend, PS21’s annual series of classical and contemporary chamber music, takes place beginning Sunday and running through Wednesday, August 21, in Chatham, N.Y. The series features four adventurous programs, including Conor Hanick playing Brahms; violinist Miranda Cuckson and pianist Conor Hanick playing Xenakis, Bach, Ives, and Copland (Tues, Aug 20, 8pm); and Bonnie Whiting performing Wang Lu’s Stages for solo speaking/singing percussionist and Frederic Rzewski’s To the Earth, for speaking percussionist and four flower pots. (Sun-Wed, Aug 18-21)
The annual Bard Music Festival at the Fisher Center at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., concludes on Sunday at 3pm, with a performance of La Damnation de Faust, Berlioz’s adaptation of Goethe’s Faust, the classic tale of the scholar who sells his soul to the devil. (Sun, Aug 18)
The curtain comes down on the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival’s season with Bach Again, an evening dedicated to the timeless works of Johann Sebastian Bach, on Tuesday, August 20, at 7pm, in Cooperstown, N.Y. Violinist Rachell Ellen Wong will join cellist Wolfram Koessel, harpsichordist Bradley Brookshire, and flutist Linda Chesis to sample a cross-section of the composer’s varied instrumental sonatas, including the monumental Chaconne in d minor and the Trio Sonata from The Musical Offering. (Tue, Aug 20)
Also of note:
New York-based flamenco artists Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca perform in the Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Mass., today through Sunday. The program features their newest work, Searching for Goya, inspired by the transformative art of Spanish romantic painter Francisco de Goya.
The BSO performs Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with violinist Midori at Tanglewood tonight at 8pm.
Blues guitarist and singer-songwriter Emanuel Casablanca performs at Park Theater in Hudson, N.Y., tonight at 8pm.
Voloz Collective brings The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much to the Adams Theater in Adams, Mass., on Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2pm. The play is described as “a Hitchcock-meets-Spaghetti-Western intercontinental, inter-genre, cinematic caper of accusations, accidents and accents.”
The Brubeck Brothers Quartet, vocalist Samirah Evans, and guitarist Luke Franco headline the third annual Bousquet Jazz Festival in Pittsfield, Mass., on Saturday from 4 to 8pm.
Boston-based Jean Appolon Expressions brings its fusion of modern technique and Haitian folkloric dance to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., on Saturday at 4pm.
The Wildwoods, a folk/Americana trio based in Lincoln, Neb., bring their rootsy sound, wistful fiddle, and close vocal harmonies to the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y., on Saturday at 7pm.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
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