The cultural highlights in our region this weekend include a site-specific sound installation, chamber music, Celtic music, folk-pop, Beethoven … plus a whole lot more…
MASS MoCA in North Adams continues its Auditory After Hours series giving visitors
a chance to engage with art while listening to a bespoke experience curated by cutting-edge musicians on Saturday night at 7, 7:30, and 8, when the LA-based experimental hip-hop trio Clipping dives into its archive to create a darkly atmospheric gallery soundtrack with material from an abandoned audiobook score. Entitled “The Depths,” this new chapter is intended to immerse the listener in a cold, Atlantean soundscape during their nocturnal spelunking of the galleries. Upcoming artists in the series include Sylvan Esso and Kaki King.
On Saturday night via the Mahaiwe Theater in Great Barrington, Mass., at 8, Celtic superduo Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy will stream their holiday variety show, “A Celtic Family Christmas,” from their home to yours. Then on Sunday at 7:30 p.m., the Close Encounters with Music chamber series presents a free virtual concert, “A Night at the Opera,” from the stage of the Mahaiwe to your streaming device via their YouTube channel. Performers will tackle arias from Italian, French and German operas, in their original form as well as transcribed for a piano, violin, cello trio.
On Saturday night at 8, live music will stream from the stage of Club Helsinki in Hudson, NY, when a double-bill of Dust Bowl Faeries and Belle-Skinner -- whose voice has drawn comparisons to the likes of Joni Mitchell, Jeff Buckley, Angel Olsen, and early St. Vincent -- in the first of what is projected to be a monthly virtual series called “Wish You Were Hear.”
This coming Monday, December 14 at 7 p.m., sister folk-pop group The Nields bring their organic harmonies and meditative lyrics from their home studio to your home-streaming setup courtesy of presenter Spencertown Academy of the Arts. The free event featuring Nerissa and Katryna Nields, who are well into their third decade as musical partners, will include selections from their 17 albums, as part of Spencertown’s Roots and Shoots Virtual Concert series.
Next Wednesday, December 16, is Beethoven’s birthday. Had he never died, Beethoven would be turning 250-years-old. To mark the date, brilliant and entertaining lecturer Jeremy Yudkin will discuss the remarkable Beethoven and his legacy via the Lenox Library, streaming at 5:30 p.m.
Next Thursday, December 17, choreographer Emily Johnson presents “Being Future Being,” via Jacob Pillow’s YouTube channel at 7 p.m. Being Future Being contains narrative elements from Johnson’s own family history, a commissioned score sung by a BIPOC community chorus, a soundscape by Diné composer Raven Chacon, and movement, projections, and scenic design that build a visual and aural landscape of Indigenous power. Originally from Alaska and now based in New York, Johnson is of the Yup’ik Nation.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.com
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