The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire & Hudson Valley Cultural Preview

Jan 12-18, 2024

Jan 09, 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 …

ZAINAB JOHNSON BRINGS UNIQUE COMEDY to MASS MoCA

Stand-up comedian, actor, and writer Zainab Johnson brings her unique point of view, which was shaped growing up as one of thirteen siblings in a Muslim family in Harlem, to Club B10 at MASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday, January 13, at 8pm. Johnson debuted her first one-hour comedy special “Hijabs Off” on Amazon Prime Video and is currently a series regular on the Amazon Original hit series “Upload.” (Sat, Jan 13)

Composer Leilehua Lanzilotti (courtesy artist)

ANNUAL I/O FESTIVAL BRINGS NEW and EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC to WILLIAMSTOWN

The annual I/O FEST based at Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., features numerous concerts and other programs this year, kicking off on Friday, January 12, at 7:30pm, in the ’62 Center with Bent Duo performing works by Sarah Hennies, Matt Wisotsky, and Julius Eastman. Transient Canvas performs works by Matthew Evan Taylor, Mikhail Johnson, Francesca Hellerman and others in the ‘62 Center on Saturday, January 13, at 7:30pm. The I/O Ensemble joins RAWdance for Volcano Listening, featuring music by Hawaiian composer Leilehua Lanzilotti, a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Music, at the Clark in Williamstown on Sunday, January 14, at 3pm, and Matthew Goldand Paul de Jong bring down the curtain on I/O performing their original score live to the haunting silent thriller The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog by Alfred Hitchcock, at the Clark on Thursday, January 18, at 6pm. (Fri-Thu, Jan 12-18)

ANTJE DUVEKOT BRINGS NEW SONGS to THE LINDA

Boston-based German-American new-folk singer-songwriter Antje Duvekot brings a new batch of songs featured on last year’s terrific comeback album, New Wild West, to the Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio, in Albany, N.Y., on Friday, January 12, at 8pm. Duvekot’s confessional folk has garnered her the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition, the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival Best New Folk Award, and a Boston Music Award for Outstanding Folk Act. RIYL Shawn Colvin or Dar Williams. (Fri, Jan 12)

WESLI BRINGS CARIBBEAN SOUNDS to CAFFE LENA

Haitian guitarist and singer Wesli brings his fusion of Evangelical gospel, reggae, Afrobeat, funk, and the diverse roots music of Haiti to Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Sunday, January 14, at 7pm. Born Wesley Louissaint in Port-au-Prince and now based in Montreal, Wesli won the 2019 Juno Award for World Music Album of the Year for Rapadou Kreyol. Wesli’s music boasts multicolored instrumental textures and infectious dance rhythms. (Sun, Jan 14)

Also of note:

Robert Burke Warren’s David Bowie Birthday Bash at Colony Café in Woodstock, N.Y. (Fri, Jan 12-Sat, Jan 13, 8pm)

Albany Symphony plays Mozart and Haydn and premieres new work by Harriet Steinke at Troy [N.Y.] Savings Bank Music Hall (Sat, Jan 13, 7:30pm; Sun, Jan 14, 3pm)

Cantilena Chamber Choir will present its annual Martin Luther King celebration at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox, Mass. (Sun, Jan. 14, 3pm)

Comedian Ilana Glazer brings laughs to UPAC in Kingston, N.Y. (Thu, Jan 18, 8pm)

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Editor, The Rogovoy Report

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