Legendary American composer David Amram, a genre-defying icon whose seven-decade career has earned him “rock star” status in the classical music world, will be celebrated on the occasion of his 95th birthday with a Beat Generation-inspired program featuring the Musicians of Ma’alwyck in the Taylor Auditorium at SUNY Schenectady tonight at 7pm. Amram himself will take part in the concert. Known for his boundless creativity and collaborations with artists from Leonard Bernstein to Jack Kerouac, David Amram’s music bridges classical, jazz, folk, and world traditions with effortless flair. (Fri, Nov 21)
The Lemonheads, fronted by rock singer-songwriter Evan Dando, bring old favorites and new songs from Love Chant, their first album of original material in nearly two decades, to Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, N.Y., tonight at 7pm. The record, which features collaborators like J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr) and Juliana Hatfield, captures Dando’s classic melodic songcraft with a heavier, more psychedelic sound and a maturity informed by his recent life and sobriety. (Fri, Nov 21)
Keyboardist John Medeski and Mike Rivard’s Club d’Elf bring down the curtain at Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield, Mass., with their mesmerizing synthesis of Moroccan traditional music and electronic, dubbed-out funk on Monday at 8pm. Club d’Elf’s live performances are highly improvisational, utilizing a revolving cast of musicians to create a hypnotic, genre-defying experience. The concert will be the last official performance at Race Brook Lodge. (Mon, Nov 24)
Also of note:
Dance theater company Pilobolus brings its full-bodied, censor-unfriendly program PiloboLust to the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., tonight, with two shows at 6pm and 8:30pm.
Dance duo Baye & Asa present their blend of hip-hop and African dance with contemporary dance and theatrical storytelling in Venable Theatre at MCLA in North Adams, Mass., tonight at 7pm. The free program includes their piece Suck It Up, which explores the violent fallout of male insecurity and entitlement through dynamic choreography and visceral physicality, and a screening of the award-winning short dance film Second Seed, which confronts the myths of white victimhood presented in D.W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation.
Experimental composer Jonny Rodgers aka Cindertalk brings his Melichromes program, featuring saxophonist Idit Shner and violinist Todd Reynolds, to Studio 9 in North Adams, Mass., on Saturday at 7pm. Rodgers’s work with tuned glass and alternate tuning systems creates a tender, future-leaning music that projects an otherworldly sensibility.
Internationally acclaimed countertenor Nicholas Tamagna performs a solo recital of Baroque opera arias in a concert to benefit early music outfit Crescendo at Trinity Church in Lakeville, Conn., on Saturday at 4pm. The program will feature works by Purcell, Handel, and Vivaldi, among others. A quintet of BSO musicians will perform works by Ives and Beach in the Linde Center at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass., on Sunday at 3pm.
Welsh pianist Llŷr Williams will perform works by Schumann, Shostakovich, Rachmaninoff, and Franck in Union College’s Memorial Chapel in Schenectady, N.Y., on Sunday at 3pm, as part of the Capital Region Classical series. Williams has performed with all the major UK orchestras, enjoying a particularly longstanding relationship with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Roots music trio Eloise & Co. brings its blend of French bal folk, Celtic reels, waltzes, and lively Québecois tunes to the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge, N.Y., on Sunday at 3pm. The trio consists of fiddler Becky Tracy, accordionist Rachel Bell, and pianist Rachel Aucoin.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
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