Sarah LaDuke

On Saturday, July 24 at 7p.m., cellist, arranger, and producer Maya Beiser will be joined with a group of all-star cellists in a sold-out concert to perform Maya Beiser x Philip Glass at Hudson Hall in Hudson, New York. 

Drawn from her latest album (which was recorded at Hudson Hall in the winter of 2021), the immersive performance brings together an astounding group of avant-garde cellists to create a multi-layered sound sculpture, exploring and unveiling new dimensions in some of Philip Glass’s most powerful and achingly beautiful works.

Maya’s solo album, "Maya Beiser x Philip Glass," came out on her Islandia Music Records label today!

  The Bard Music Festival has been committed, since its inception, to reviving important but neglected operas. This year’s immersion in “Nadia Boulanger and Her World” presents the first fully staged American production of "King Arthur," the only opera by Boulanger’s compatriot and close contemporary Ernest Chausson.

The production is directed by Louisa Proske and will run for four performances (two of which will also stream online), anchored by the American Symphony Orchestra and Bard Festival Chorale under the leadership of festival founder and co-artistic director Leon Botstein.

Baritone Norman Garrett sings the title role opposite Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke as Guinevere.

Sasha Cooke has been called a “luminous standout” ( New York Times ) and “equal parts poise, radiance and elegant directness” ( Opera News ). She is sought after by the world’s leading orchestras, opera companies, and chamber music ensembles for her versatile repertoire.

  The uplifting spirit of Black roots music will ripple through two weekends this July as part of Bard SummerScape. 

Conceived as a platform to create a creative healing space for a troupe of predominantly BIPOC artists to develop a series of new concerts in collaboration and fellowship with one another, Black Roots Summer will convene a group of over 20 vocalists, musicians, dancers, and creative artists for a two-week residency resulting in three original concerts.

Black Roots Summer is presented as part of SummerScape in association with Electric Root. The events are curated by producer Jono Gasparro and musician Michael Mwenso. Michael and his band Mwenso and the Shakes will perform on 7/23 and 7/24. Genius Mother Mary: A Sonic Retrospective of Mary Lou Williams will be on 7/29 and "The Sound of (Black) Music" will ring out on 7/30 and 7/31.

Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week.

  This Sunday, July 18 at 4 p.m., The Spencertown Academy Arts Center will present beekeeper Sheri Bauer in an online event entitled “SymBeeOtic: Embracing a Life with Bees.” The event is presented in collaboration with the Austerlitz Climate Smart Task Force.

Earlier this week I met Sheri and some of her bees at the Twin Spruce Apiary in Coxsackie, New York.

This summer, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival is presenting a production of “The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington” by James Ijames. The show will run under the tent at Boscobel in Garrison, New York through July 30.

In the play, a recently widowed Martha Washington lies helpless in her Mount Vernon bed, ravaged by illness and cared for by the very slaves that will be free the moment she dies. As she begins to slip away, she falls deep into a fever dream of terrifying theatricality that investigates everything from her family to her historical legacy.

“The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington” is directed at HVShakes by Taylor Reynolds.

Reynolds is a New York-based director and theatremaker from Chicago and one of the Producing Artistic Leaders of OBIE-award winning The Movement Theatre Company in Harlem and she joins.

  The New York City Ballet returns to SPAC this summer - but owing to an abundance of caution related to Covid19, the full company will not grace the SPAC stage this year. Instead, tonight through Saturday, a small group of NYCB dancers and musicians will present “NYCB On and Off Stage,” an intimate, up-close look at selected excerpts from the Company’s extraordinary repertory of ballets. 

This series of educational programs has never before been presented for Saratoga audiences. All shows will be hosted by a NYCB Principal Dancer who will introduce the excerpts and provide insights on each ballet.

Jonathan Stafford is the Artistic Director of New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet and he joins us.

The two organizations have announced and do plan on a full NYCB season at SPAC in summer 2022.

Tori Murden McClure was the first woman - and the first American - to successfully row across the Atlantic Ocean. She succeeded in 1999 after an attempt in 1998 was foiled by a hurricane. Her vessel? A 23 foot rowboat she had built and named the “American Pearl.” The story of her accomplishment has inspired the new musical “Row” - with a book by Daniel Goldstein and music and lyrics by singer-songwriter, Dawn Landes.

The Williamstown Theatre Festival presents the World Premiere Musical “Row” directed by Tyne Rafaeli at The Clark through August 15. Please note, there is limited ticket availability. 

Dawn Landes and Daniel Goldstein join us, followed by Grace McClean, the actor portraying Tori Murden McClure in "Row."

McClean's performances in previous projects have been called “electrifying” by The Huffington Post and “phenomenal” by The New York Times. In addition to performing on Broadway (Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812) and Off, McClean makes time for her band Grace McLean & Them Apples -- and for radio interviews.

“Mexodus” is a new musical work by Brian Quijada and Nygel D. Robinson inspired by the estimated 4,000-10,000 enslaved people in the Southern part of the United States who found new lives in Mexico instead moving to the northern United States.

With the support of New York Stage and Film, Quijada and Robinson started working on “Mexodus” at the the beginning of our recent global pandemic. They have been collaborating while physically separate through technology -- releasing one track per month, with accompanying video of the two artists performing, for twelve months. Track 7 was recorded last February at Vassar’s Modfest.

New York Stage and Film will present “Mexodus” at Vassar College on July 17 at 7 p.m. and at Marist College on July 24 at 3 p.m.

    Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week.

    Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week.

This summer, The Berkshire Theatre Group’s Colonial Concert Series will feature performances from some of the best and boldest talent working on Broadway and on Friday, July 9 at 7 p.m., Carolee Carmello will take the stage under the big tent at The Colonial for a concert entitled “My Outside Voice.”

A three-time Tony Award nominee, Carolee Carmello most recently starred as Dolly Levi in the National Tour of “Hello, Dolly!” - the run of which was cut short when the Covid-19 pandemic shut everything down. Her career includes 14 Broadway musicals: Tuck Everlasting, Finding Neverland, Scandalous, Sister Act, The Addams Family, Mamma Mia!, Lestat, Urinetown, Kiss Me Kate, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Parade, 1776, Falsettos, and City of Angels.

Carmello joins us to talk about Dolly ending early, "Sweeney Todd" at Barrow Street, and performing in concert.

The Berkshire Theatre Groups concert series continues throughout the summer. Norm Lewis will be under the tent tonight and tomorrow, and Krysta Rodriguez will perform on July 10.

    Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week.

This summer, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival will present “The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trail of Miz Martha Washington” by James Ijames and Shakespeare’s “The Tempest.”

Since 1987, HVSF has presented plays in rep under the theatre tent at Boscobel House and Gardens in Garrison, New York. At the close of this season, their revels there will end and the company will move to a new property.

Davis McCallum is the Artistic Director of Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival and he joins us.

Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week.

The acclaimed Donmar Warehouse production “Blindness” is now being presented at the Daryl Roth Theatre in Union Square in New York City through July 25. The special theatrical presentation is based on Nobel Prize-winner Jose Saramago’s dystopian novel of the same name. The adaptation is by Tony Award®-winning playwright Simon Stephens.

In the play - as in the novel - an epidemic of unexplained complete vision loss takes over the city, and the government responds by placing -- and ultimately neglecting -- newly blind citizens in abandoned buildings. But one unaffected woman witnesses and frees one group of newly-blind citizens who have been locked in an empty mental hospital.

No actors are present for the performance, instead, audience members wear headphones and listen to the recorded narration by the actor Juliet Stevenson while surrounded by immersive lighting and atmospheric design.

"Blindness" is directed by Walter Meierjohann with sound design by Ben and Max Ringham, designed by Lizzie Clachan, and lighting design by Jessica Hung Han Yun. 

Juliet Stevenson was awarded the CBE for her work in drama and has received the Laurence Olivier Award for best actress. Her film credits include “Truly Madly Deeply,” “Mona Lisa Smile,” “Being Julia,” and “Bend It Like Beckham.”

Chris Gethard is a stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and podcast host. His new special “Chris Gethard: Half My Life” is available now. Directed by Kate Sweeney and produced by Lexi Tannenholtz, “Chris Gethard: Half My Life” is a hybrid tour documentary and stand-up special shot in a variety of DIY spaces and independent venues all over the country in 2019 - it was released earlier this month by Comedy Dynamics.

Gethard’s previous special “Career Suicide” is on HBO. As an actor, he’s worked on television on "Bored to Death," "Parks and Recreation," "Broad City," "Inside Amy Schumer," "Crashing," "Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens," "Space Force" -- and, truly, a whole lot more. Film credits include "Don’t Think Twice," "The Dictator," and "The Other Guys." "The Chris Gethard Show" - a call-in comedy and variety talk show started as a live show at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (UCB) in New York City, moved to the public-access channel Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN), then to the cable channels Fusion and then truTV. He returned to public access with a stand-up showcase entitled “Chris Gethard Presents.” His podcast “Beautiful/Anonymous” is on the Earwolf network.

In Emma Seligman’s film “Shiva Baby” near college graduate, Danielle, gets paid by her sugar daddy and rushes to meet her parents at a family shiva. Upon arrival, she is accosted by various relatives about her appearance and lack of plans. Danielle's day takes an unexpected turn when her sugar daddy arrives at the shiva with his accomplished wife and their baby. As the day unfolds, Danielle struggles to keep up different versions of herself, fend off pressures from her family and confront her insecurities without completely losing it.

The Woodstock Film Festival will present a solar-powered screening of “Shiva Baby” on June 17 at 9 p.m. at the Bearsville Center's outdoor lawn in collaboration with Oscillation Transia.

Emma Seligman is a Canadian filmmaker and 2017 graduate of NYU. Her short, "Shiva Baby," premiered at South by Southwest Film Festival in 2018. The feature adaptation was selected to screen at South by Southwest Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and OutFest LA, where it won Best US Screenwriting. In 2020, Emma was named one of Variety’s 10 Screenwriters to Watch and one of Filmmaker Mag’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film.

In 2015, Playbill established Playbill.com/Pride, dedicated to Pride coverage and events. Each June, Playbill’s iconic yellow masthead is replaced with a rainbow design in recognition of, and honoring, Pride month.

With diversity, equality, equity, visibility, and inclusion as the principals guiding their programming, this year Playbill Pride will include multiple virtual events and a one-of-a-kind, socially distanced/live concert; all benefiting nonprofits that work for and with the LGBTQIA+ community.

Alex Birsh is the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Playbill -- following in the footsteps of his father and his grandfather.

  Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week.

The Clark Art Institute's exhibition "Claude & François-Xavier Lalanne: Nature Transformed" is the first American museum exhibition of the French artists' work in over forty years. Les Lalanne’s flora and fauna inspired sculptures fill a bright gallery at The Clark -- with a few pieces installed outdoors nearby.

“Nature Transformed” was curated for The Clark by Kathleen M. Morris, Marx Director of Collections and Exhibitions and curator of decorative arts and is scheduled to be on view in Williamstown, Massachusetts through October 31, 2001.

Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week.

   Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week.

Multi-talented theatre creators Ellpetha Tsivicos and Camilo Quiroz-Vazquez will present the world premiere of “Persou,” an experiential festival celebrating Spring at Nancy Manocherian's the cell Theatre in Manhattan Wednesdays through Saturdays through June 5.

“Persou” is directed by Ellpetha Tsivicos and written by Camilo Quiroz-Vazquez, who previously collaborated in August of last year on the immersive, socially-distanced outdoor play Quince - which marked the first live theatre event in NYC during the Covid-19 pandemic. Ellpetha Tsivicos and Camilo Quiroz-Vazques joined Sarah LaDuke on WAMC’s Instagram “A Face for Radio Video Series” to talk about “Quince” and they’re back to speak their new piece.

"Persou" is a participatory experience where audiences will be transported to an ancient ceremony worshipping the Goddess Persefoni at the Temple of Aphrodite in Paphos, Cyprus.

Troy Foundry Theatre will present a new piece entitled “A Deed Without A Name” from May 19-30 in the E. Stewart Jones Hacker Murphy Law Firm parking lot, next to the Trjoan Hotel in Troy, New York.

“A Deed Without a Name” is created by Katie Pedro, curated and devised with Ethan Botwick, Emily Curro and David Girard, and is the first mainstage TFT production of the 2021-22 season. Performed by 3 actors, Morgan Heyward, Angelique Powell and Eliana Anneliscia Rowe, the work investigates memory, reclamation, and consciousness.

We were joined by Katie Pedro and Angelique Powell.

 Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week, giving you a chance to catch up, ponder or reconsider.

Tomorrow, May 11 at 7:30 p.m. Vassar College will host a Zoom performance of “And So We Walked: An Artist’s Journey along the Trail of Tears” created and performed by Cherokee actor and activist DeLanna Studi. 

In this documentary theatre piece, Studi tells the audience about herself, her history, her family - her father is Cherokee and her mother is white - and about the trip she and her father took to find their family’s origins -- to see where her people lived before the United States Government removed approximately 60,000 Native Americans from their homes between 1830 and 1850. 

 Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week, giving you a chance to catch up, ponder or reconsider.

 Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week, giving you a chance to catch up, ponder or reconsider.

 Each weekday morning, WAMC’s President and CEO and Political Observer, Alan Chartock, and Roundtable Host Joe Donahue are joined by various experts, journalists, educators, and commentators to discuss current events. 

On Roundtable Panel: The Week in Review, we feature your favorite panelists discussing the most important issues of the week, giving you a chance to catch up, ponder or reconsider.