The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire & Hudson Valley Cultural Preview

Jul 17-24, 2024

Jul 16, 2024

With so much going on culturally speaking in our greater Berkshires/Hudson Valley region, this is my highly selective, curated snapshot of some of the most promising upcoming events …

Yuja Wang (photo Norbert Kniat/courtesy artist)

YUJA WANG BRINGS PIANO ARTISTRY to TANGLEWOOD

Yuja Wang performs a solo piano recital of Shostakovich preludes, Barber’s Piano Sonata, and Chopin’s Four Ballades, in Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass., on Wednesday, July 17, at 8pm. Wang recently demonstrated her skill and charisma in a marathon performance of the works of Rachmaninoff at Carnegie Hall, including performances of all four of his concertos, plus the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, all in one afternoon. Yuja Wang’s international breakthrough came in 2007, when she replaced Martha Argerich as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. (Wed, Jul 17)

MIRÓ QUARTET in WOODSTOCK and COOPERSTOWN

The acclaimed Miró Quartet bookends our region with two concerts this weekend. The Grammy Award-nominated ensemble will play mostly contemporary works by Pulitzer Prize-winning composers Caroline Shaw, George Walker, and Kevin Puts, with something by Franz Joseph Haydn thrown into the mix, in Voices from Home at The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, N.Y., as part of the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival, on Thursday, July 18 at 7pm. The Miró Quartet will perform a program of works by Debussy, Ginastera, and Beethoven at Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, N.Y., on Sunday, July 21, at 4pm. (Thu, Jul 18; Sun, Jul 21)

JUSTIN HAYWARD BRINGS MOODY BLUES HITS to MAHAIWE

Justin Hayward, vocalist, lead guitarist, and composer for the Moody Blues, brings his Blue World Tour to the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., on Friday, July 19, 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)

BECK to PERFORM WITH BOSTON POPS at TANGLEWOOD

Alt-rock innovator Beck and his band will join forces with the Boston Pops for an orchestral concert at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass., on Tuesday, July 23, at 7pm. Singer-songwriter Beck’s genre-defying blend of rock, soul, folk, pop, funk, hip-hop and psychedelia was so unprecedented when he burst on the scene in 1994 that the “alternative rock” category was practically coined just for him. On recent albums, he has explored using orchestral arrangements for background accompaniment. The multiple Grammy Award-winner is one of the most exciting live performers in popular music. (Tue, Jul 23)

REGINA SPEKTOR BRINGS ORIGINAL FOLK-POP to THE EGG

Singer-songwriter Regina Spektor brings her original folk-pop songs to the Egg in Albany, N.Y., on Wednesday, July 24, at 8pm. Born in Moscow and raised in the Bronx, Spektor combines her powerful, classically trained piano playing, her vocal dynamism, and her gift for haunting melodies and literate lyrics with a brilliant sense of humor, making her a dazzling songwriter and performer. You might know Spektor from “You’ve Got Time,” her theme song to the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black. (Wed, Jul 24)

Also of note:

Haitian-American vocalist, flutist, and composer Natalie Joachim performs an eclectic style of music incorporating her ancestral roots blended with indie-pop, rock, and new classical that has garnered her a Grammy Award nomination for Best World Music album. She brings her trio to the Clark in Williamstown, Mass., on Wednesday, July 17, at 8pm.

The Tanglewood Music Fellows will offer a free, community performance of “Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight: A Cantata of Lamentation for Mezzo-Soprano, Violin, Cello and Piano,” a chamber piece based on a 1914 poem by Vachel Lindsay, at Chesterwood in Stockbridge, Mass., on Wednesday, July 17, at 5:30pm.

Politically charged English singer-songwriter Billy Bragg brings his Roaring Forty USA Tour – marking the fortieth anniversary of his debut album -- to Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, N.Y., on Friday, July 19, at 8pm.

Wabanaki bassist, composer, and songwriter Mali Obomsawin brings her ensemble to the Spiegeltent at Bard’s Fisher Center in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., on Friday, July 19, at 8pm.

Rizo brings her funky, soulful cabaret act, which ranges from Edith Piaf-like chanteuse to Freddie Mercury-like rock bombast, to the Ancram Center for the Arts in Ancramdale, N.Y., on Saturday, July 20, at 8pm.

Aston Magna presents its Side-By-Side-By-Side program, featuring music by Schubert and Chopin performed by three pianists, at St. James Place in Great Barrington, Mass., on Saturday, July 20, at 6pm.

Folk-rock singer-songwriter and humorist Loudon Wainwright III performs at the Colony Cafe in Woodstock, N.Y., on Saturday, July 20, at 6pm.

Psychedelic Americana ensemble The Slambovian Circus of Dreams -- whose stated influences include Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Pink Floyd’s Syd Barrett, Tom Petty, and the Waterboys -- performs a free concert at the Athens Cultural Center in Athens, N.Y., on Saturday, July 20, at 5pm.

Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams headline an all-day roots-music festival featuring Hot Tuna, Jackie Greene, Secret Sisters, and Connor Kennedy, with special guests Cindy Cashdollar, Jim Weider, and Brian Mitchell, at Arrowood Farms in Accord, N.Y., on Saturday, July 20, from 2pm to 9:30pm.

King Django brings his unique blend of ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, R&B, and soul -- with hints of jazz, swing, klezmer, punk, hip-hop, and electronica -- to Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield, Mass., on Sunday, July 21, at 8pm.

Sam Sadigursky brings his Solomon Diaries to the Hurleyville Performing Arts Centre in Hurleyville, N.Y., on Sunday, July 21, at 3pm. Clarinetist Sadigursky, a member of the Philip Glass Ensemble, will be joined by Nathan Koci on accordion to perform his music inspired by the Borscht Belt that blends klezmer, jazz, American folk, and Middle Eastern rhythms. The concert is part of an all-afternoon Happening in Hurleyville, commemorating the dedication of a historic marker paying tribute to Hurleyville’s Borscht Belt era, including the legendary Mel Brooks, who began his comedic career at age 14 at Hurleyville’s Butler Lodge.

William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors takes over Shakespeare & Company’s outdoor mainstage in Lenox, Mass., now through Sunday, August 18.

The Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., concludes its July Outdoor Concert Series with a performance by Lakou Mizik, a multigenerational collective of Haitian musicians, in a free concert on Wednesday, July 24, at 6pm, at the Clark’s Reflecting Pool Lawn.

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The Rogovoy Report