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Rogovoy Report 3/5/21

The cultural highlights for our region this weekend include a musical installation by Kaki King, orchestral music, an archival concert from 1970, a performance by a living legend of jazz vocals … plus a whole lot more.

MASS MoCA continues its Auditory After Hours series, which gives visitors a chance to engage with art while listening to a bespoke experience curated by cutting-edge musicians, on the next three Saturday nights at 7, 7:30, and 8pm, when a soundscape by the innovative composer and guitarist Kaki King will play in the galleries at the cultural laboratory in North Adams. King’s tap-based style of guitar playing sets her utterly apart from her peers. But King’s all-new, never-before-heard gallery soundscape proves her genius goes far beyond six strings. From ethereal guitar loops to high-voltage drums, King’s soundtrack mesmerizes as it provides a new and intriguing context in which to view the art and installations at MASS MoCA. For more info, visit massmoca.org

The Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., is presenting the virtual play Rhapsody in Black from Monday, March 8 through Sunday, March 14, followed by a community conversation on Zoom on Sunday, March 14, at 7pm. Written and performed by LeLand Gantt and developed at NYC’s Actors Studio with Estelle Parsons, Rhapsody in Black is a one-man show that explores LeLand’s personal journey to understanding and confronting racism in America. Building on the themes of Rhapsody in Black, the March 14 online discussion will explore different points of view regarding the arts as a vehicle for approaching issues of race relations in the 21st century and across generations. Visit mahaiwe.org for more details.

The Orchestra Now presents a free concert livestreamed from the Fisher Center at Bard College in Tivoli, N.Y, on Sunday, March 7, at 2pm. Led by assistant conductor Andrés Rivas, the concert features works by Bruce Montgomery, Andrés Gaos, Victor Herbert, and Ingvar Lidholm. After starting out as a composer of choral and vocal music, English composer Bruce Montgomery wrote a number of TV and film scores for the British comedy series Carry On and authored a series of mystery novels under the pseudonym Edmund Crispin. The Orchestra will perform Montgomery’s Concertino for String Orchestra. American composer and cellist Victor Herbert was primarily known for his many successful Broadway operettas. But he also wrote a collection of seldom-heard orchestral works, including his Romantic five-movement Serenade for String Orchestra. The concert will also feature Music for Strings by Swedish composer Ingvar Lidholm, and the 1934 piece Impresión nocturna from award-winning Spanish composer and violinist Andrés Gaos, whose rarely heard works often have elements of popular music. For more info, visit theorchestranow.org.

This week’s new BSO NOW ONLINE video stream features William Steinberg, BSO Music Director from 1969 through 1972, conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Elgar’s Symphony No. 2, originally recorded in October 1969, and "Mercury" from Holst’s The Planets, originally recorded in October 1970. The concert will be available for viewing through April 3. Each new BSO NOW video launches at www.bso.org/now on Thursdays at noon.

Jazz singer and songwriter Sheila Jordan performs at the Falcon in Marlboro, N.Y, on Sunday at 7.  Jordan pioneered a bebop and scat jazz singing style with an upright bass as the only accompaniment, and at the Falcon she will be backed by bassist Cameron Brown. Charlie Parker used to call Jordan "the singer with the million dollar ears."

Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.com

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.