The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire & Hudson Valley Cultural Preview
May 3-9, 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 …
NATIONAL RESERVE BRINGS ROOTS-ROCK to EGREMONT BARN
Americana rockers The National Reserve bring their classic, rootsy sounds to the Egremont Barn in South Egremont, Mass., on Friday, May 3, at 7:30pm. The Brooklyn-based outfit’s blend of guitar-driven country-rock, blues, soul, and old-time rock ‘n’ roll should appeal to fans of Little Feat, The Band, Neil Young, the Rolling Stones, and the Allman Brothers Band. (Fri, May 3)
BERKSHIRE CHAMBER PLAYERS PREMIERE NEWLY UNEARTHED LEONARD BERNSTEIN WORK
Berkshire Chamber Players, featuring Yevgeny Kutik and Robyn Quinnett on violins, Marka Gustavsson on viola, Ronald Feldman on cello, and Jonathan Feldman on piano will perform the New England premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s recently unearthed “Music for String Quartet” along with works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Schumann at Stockbridge Congregational Church in Stockbridge, Mass., on Saturday, May 4, at 7pm. (Sat, May 4)
CRESCENDO TACKLES LIGHT OPERA BY GILBERT & SULLIVAN
The award-winning chorus Crescendo concludes its 20th anniversary season with two semi-staged performances of light opera compositions by the famous English duo of Sir W.S. Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan. The program showcases some of their most beloved choral numbers and a few of the most famous solo roles from several of their fourteen operettas, including popular selections from The Mikado, Patience, The Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, Iolanthe, Ruddigore, Princess Ida, and The Gondoliers, loosely tied together by brief narration, plus the complete one-act operetta Trial by Jury. Among the principal soloists are comic baritone Stephen Quint and Austria-based soprano Rebecca Palmer. The program takes place at Trinity Chuch in Lakeville, Conn., on Saturday, May 4, at 6pm, and at St. James Place in Great Barrington, Mass., on Sunday, May 5, at 4pm. (Sat, May 4; Sun, May 5)
LAURA WETZLER BRINGS SONGS of HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE to BERKSHIRE MUSEUM
Singer-songwriter Laura Wetzler brings her Songs of the Lost Communities program to the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Mass., on Sunday, May 5, at 2pm, in a concert presented by the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires. Wetzler’s Holocaust remembrance program features songs created by prewar Jewish communities in Salonica, Monastir, Izmir, Vilna, Warsaw, Krakow, Berdichev, Breslau, Livorno, Djerba, New York City, and elsewhere. Wetzler herself is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor. Following the concert, there will be a candle lighting, prayers, and a moment of silence in memory of those murdered in the Holocaust. (Sun, May 5)
CONSTANT SMILES BRINGS SYNTH-POP to THE CLARK
Indie-pop collective Constant Smiles brings its hypnotic synth-pop to The Clark in Williamstown, Mass., on Sunday, May 5, at 5pm. Formed by Ben Jones in 2009 in Martha’s Vineyard, the eclectic group has released fourteen albums. Its latest release, Kenneth Anger, evokes the eponymous filmmaker with dreamy, 1980s-inspired groove-based numbers that examine how rituals and community can heal feelings of isolation. Singer-songwriter Ava Mirzadegan warms up the crowd for Constant Smiles. (Sun, May 5)
RICKIE LEE JONES BRINGS POP-FOLK BLEND to THE EGG
Two-time Grammy Award-winner Rickie Lee Jones -- best known for her 1979 top 5 hit, “Chuck E.’s in Love” -- brings her unique blend of pop, folk, soul, and jazz to The Egg in Albany, N.Y., on Wednesday, May 8, at 7:30pm. Jones won the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Pieces of Treasure, featuring covers of pre-rock pop standards by the likes of Comden and Green, Harold Arlen, Sammy Cahn, and the Gershwins. (Wed, May 8)
GABRIEL KAHANE and PEKKA KUUSISTO BRING ‘COUNCIL’ DUO to MASS MoCA
American singer-songwriter Gabriel Kahane and Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto bring their newly formed duo collaboration, Council, to Club B10 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., on Thursday, May 9, at 8pm. Kahane and Kuusisto will perform an evening of intimate and sonically varied songs and chamber music, with stories of individual and collective grief, of nostalgia, adolescence, and memory play; and of the joy, wonder, and perplexity of fatherhood in an era of global instability. The program is rounded out with music by, among others, J.S. Bach and Nico Muhly. (Thu, May 9)
Also of note:
Blues singer-guitarist Chris Beard brings his hardcore blues to the Stationery Factory in Dalton, Mass., on Friday, May 3, at 7:30pm. The Berkshire’s own Robin O’Herin will warm up the crowd for Beard.
Berkshire native Evan Lanoue, who grew up listening to the Beatles, John Mayer, and Chris Stapleton and is a triple-threat on acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and keyboards, brings his haunting voice and original tunes to the Lion’s Den at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Mass., on Friday, May 3, at 7pm.
Jazz trumpeter Eddie Henderson leads his quartet at The Clark in Williamstown, Mass., on Saturday, May 4, at 6pm.
Jazz trumpeter Haneef Nelson brings his quartet to the West Stockbridge Historical Society on Saturday, May 4, at 7pm.
Seaside Pumpkins brings its melodious electro-folk-pop to Park Theater in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday, May 4, at 8pm.
Violinist Nikita Boriso-Glebsky joins The Orchestra Now for Joseph Joachim’s Variations for Violin and Orchestra at the Bard Fisher Center in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday, May 4 at 7pm, and Sunday, May 5, at 2pm. The program will also feature works by violinist-composers including Grażyna Bacewicz, Eugène Ysaÿe, and George Enescu.
Chicago-based country-rockers Minor Moon bring their impressionistic sounds and apocalyptic visions to Tourists in North Adams, Mass., on Sunday, May 5, at 8pm.
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Roll Call: Founding Members
Anne Fredericks
Anonymous (7)
Susan Bang
Erik Bruun
Nadine Habousha Cohen
Fred Collins
Fluffforager
Benno Friedman
Amy and Howard Friedner
Jackie and Larry Horn
Richard Koplin
Paul Paradiso
Steve and Helice Picheny
David Rubman
Spencertown Academy Arts Center
Elisa Spungen and Rob Bildner/Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook
Julie Abraham Stone
Mary Herr Tally