This upcoming cultural highlights in our region include blues, folk, rock, pop, chamber music … plus a whole lot more.
The Suitcase Junket and the brilliant, witty and provocative indie singer-songwriter Carsie Blanton perform a double bill at Club Helsinki Hudson, on Saturday, December 28, at 9 p.m. The Hudson Valley’s own Felice Brothers, our leading Americana outfit in the style of the pioneering group The Band, ring out the old and ring in the new on New Year’s Eve at Helsinki Hudson, helped along by that fair city’s favorite son, the one and only Tommy Stinson, formerly of the Replacements, Soul Asylum, and Guns ‘n Roses, but heard to best effect as his own self.
The West Stockbridge Chamber Players perform their annual Winter Concert at the West Stockbridge Congregational Church on Monday, December 30, at 6 p.m. The performance will feature music by Bruch, Khachaturian, Schumann, and Dohnányi.
Eugene Drucker returns to lead the Berkshire Bach Ensemble in three performances of the complete Brandenburg Concerti for the Berkshire Bach Society’s popular Bach at New Year’s celebration. Concerts take place on Monday, December 30, at 3 p.m. at the Academy of Music (Northampton); Tuesday, December 31, at 6 p.m. at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington; and Wednesday, January 1, at 3pm at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, NY. This is Eugene Drucker’s third season as Music Director for Bach at New Year’s, and his first leading the orchestra in performances of all six Brandenburgs. Drucker, of course is a founding member of the Emerson String Quartet.
Looking ahead to January:
On Saturday, January 4, at 8:30 p.m., the Towne Crier Café in Beacon, N.Y., hosts a tribute to the late, great Rick Danko, bassist and vocalist of The Band, featuring Professor Louie & The Crowmatix with the Woodstock Horns & special guests. If Robbie Robertson was the brains of The Band and Richard Manuel was the soul, Rick Danko was the heart. The show will feature songs from Rick’s extensive catalog both with The Band and from his solo career.
Acclaimed sister folk-pop duo The Nields are at Spencertown Academy in its Roots & Shoots Concert series on Saturday, January 18 at 8 p.m. Nerissa and Katryna are known for their hook-heavy folk-pop tunes and their close sisterly harmonies. They haven’t lost their socio-political consciousness, either – one of their best songs of the past few years is called “Tyrants Always Fall.”
The Williams College Department of Music presents I/O Fest '19, it annual, four-day festival of new music. The festival runs from Thursday, Jan. 16 through Sunday, Jan. 19 at various venues in Williamstown, including the '62 Center on the Williams Campus and at the Clark Art Institute. All events are free and open to the public
Electronic artist/drummer Ian Chang collaborates with visual duo Endless Endless to create a mesmerizing world of integrated sound, light, and projection that responds to Chang’s cathartic drumming in Club B10 at MASS MoCA on Saturday, January 18 at 8 p.m.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of Berkishire Daily and the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.com