Seth Rogovoy

Seth Rogovoy has this preview of the weekend's cultural events

Justin Hayward, vocalist, lead guitarist, and composer for the Moody Blues, brings his Blue World Tour to the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., tonight at 8pm. Hayward and the Moody Blues, progenitors of so-called progressive rock, are known for such classic-rock hits as “Nights in White Satin,” “I Know You’re Out There Somewhere,” and “Tuesday Afternoon.” As a member of the Moody Blues, Hayward is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. (Fri, Jul 19)

Seun Kuti – the son and musical heir of Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti – brings his father’s legendary band, Egypt 80, and his blend of West African genres and American funk and jazz to the Hunter Center at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., tonight at 8pm.

Whether he is conducting his own symphony at Carnegie Hall, collaborating with the likes of Lana Del Rey, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, or Roy Hargrove in the recording studio, writing for and appearing on TV programs or leading a late-night talk show band, in any number of musical styles, including jazz, hip-hop, pop, and classical, five-time Grammy Award winner Jon Batiste is the very incarnation of American music.

The experimental theater company Elevator Repair Service brings its singular approach to the world premiere of its rendition of James Joyce’s Ulysses to kick off this summer’s Bard Summerscape season at the Fisher Center at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., running tonight through Sunday, July 14.

Longtime trio partners Béla Fleck, Edgar Meyer, and Zakir Hussain bring their quartet, now featuring Indian flutist Rakesh Chaurasia, to UPAC in Kingston, N.Y., tonight at 8pm. Drawing upon banjo legend Fleck’s roots-music background, bassist Edgar Meyer’s Western classical training, and tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain’s mastery of Indian classical music, the quartet plays an intriguing global fusion, where raga meets funk at a barn dance. (Fri, Jun 14)

Grammy Award-nominated cellist Seth Parker Woods joins the Next Festival of Emerging Artists for a program featuring three world premieres commissioned by the Festival and two other exciting works of 21st-century music at PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., tonight at 7:30pm. Woods has established his reputation as a versatile artist and innovator across multiple genres, having collaborated and worked with musicians and composers including Louis Andriessen, Elliott Carter, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Lou Reed, Shirley Bassey, and Rachael Yamagata. (Fri, Jun 7)

Margot Leverett, one of the greatest living exponents of klezmer clarinet, will be joined by her trio for a free concert, open to the public, at the Chatham Synagogue in Chatham, N.Y., tonight at 7:45pm. A founding member of the Grammy Award-winning modern klezmer group the Klezmatics, a cofounder of the all-women klezmer supergroup Mikveh, and the leader of Margot Leverett and the Klezmer Mountain Boys, Leverett has been performing klezmer – the festive music based in the sounds of Eastern-European Jewish wedding bands of the 19th century — for more than 40 years. (Fri, May 31)

The Hudson Valley-based Slambovian Circus of Dreams brings its unique style of glam-folk to Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., tonight at 8. Veering into progressive rock territory, at times the group sounds like what would have happened if Bob Dylan sang with David Bowie’s voice. The group has also been compared to Pink Floyd, Incredible String Band, and the Waterboys. (Fri, May 24)

Singer-songwriters Lyle Lovett and Lisa Loeb will share their gifts of well-crafted original compositions and casual storytelling in two duo concerts in the greater region, at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., tonight at 8, and at UPAC in Kingston, N.Y., on Saturday at 8 p.m.