The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire & Hudson Valley Cultural Preview

Sept 13-20, 2024

Sep 10, 2024

The Rogovoy Report Cultural Preview will be on hiatus next week. It should return early in the week of September 23.

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 …

CHAMBER MUSIC at NEW MARLBOROUGH MEETING HOUSE

Eugene Drucker, a founding member of the Emerson String Quartet, will be joined by pianist Gili Melamed-Lev and cellist Roberta Cooper for a chamber program entitled “From Mozart to Piazzolla: A Panorama of Musical Expression,” at the Meeting House in New Marlborough, Mass., on Saturday, September 14, at 4:30pm. The award-winning, internationally renowned electroacoustic duo Arkai -- featuring violinist Jonathan Miron and cellist Philip Sheegog -- performs on Saturday, September 21, at 4:30pm. (Sat, Sep 14; Sat, Sep 21)

STEPHANIE CHOU BRINGS ‘COMFORT GIRL’ CHAMBER OPERA to ADAMS

Composer, saxophonist and singer Stephanie Chou brings her 80-minute concert piece/chamber opera Comfort Girl to the Adams Theater on Saturday, September 14, at 7:30pm. The work, performed by a chamber ensemble, is inspired by true stories of Asian women abducted into sexual slavery by the Japanese Army during World War II. Chou’s signature style blends influences from her Chinese heritage with Western jazz and pop to create a bracingly original sound. (Sat, Sep 14)

IRANIAN PLAYWRIGHT GETS WORLD PREMIERE at SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY

Three Tall Persian Women by Awni Abdi-Bahri is enjoying its world premiere run at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass., now through Sunday, October 13. In the play, we see Golnar, a punkish Iranian-American millennial, return home to her mother Nasrin for the anniversary of her father’s passing, where she walks into hordes of family memorabilia that her grandmother Mamani has moved in with her. (now thru Sun, Oct 13)

ENSEMBLE CHAMARRÉ PERFORMS MESSIAEN’s ‘QUARTET for the END of TIME’ in WEST STOCKBRIDGE

Ensemble Chamarré will perform Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time) at West Stockbridge Congregational Church in West Stockbridge, Mass., on Saturday, September 14, at 7pm. The piece was composed during an excruciatingly difficult time while Messiaen was captured and held in a German POW camp during World War II. The Quartet for the End of Time draws its inspiration from the Book of Revelation, birdsong, and the colors of the northern lights. Performers include Catherine Hudgins on clarinet, Kate Wolfe on violin, William Rounds on cello, and Vitas J. Baksys on piano. (Sat, Sep 14)

William F. Buckley Jr. and Noam Chomsky on "Firing Line", April 3, 1969

OPERA EXCERPT ABOUT WILLIAM F. BUCKLEY and NOAM CHOMSKY at HUDSON HALL

Jeffrey Lependorf’s American Terror: An Opera will receive a work-in-progress performance and discussion at Hudson Hall in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday, September 14, at 5pm. American Terror transforms the 1969 “Firing Line” debate between host William F. Buckley, Jr. and guest Noam Chomsky on America’s involvement in the Vietnam war into a chamber opera. Excerpts from the opera will be performed by tenor Jonathan Lawlor and soprano Sarah Nalty, with piano accompaniment by Gabrielė Žemaitytė. Lependorf's chamber opera appropriates and reconfigures music by Haydn and Scriabin. (Sat, Sep 14)

Jana McIntyre (photo Zach Mendez/courtesy artist)

THE ORCHESTRA NOW PERFORMS MAHLER and STRAUSS at BARD FISHER CENTER

The Orchestra Now kicks off its 10th anniversary season in a concert featuring works by Mahler, Schoenberg, and Richard Strauss at the Bard Fisher Center in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday, September 14, at 7pm, and again on Sunday, September 15, at 2pm. Featured vocalist is soprano Jana McIntyre. The concert begins with Gustav Mahler’s mystical Fourth Symphony, features Strauss’s Four Last Songs, and also includes Arnold Schoenberg’s Five Pieces for Orchestra. (Sat, Sep 14; Sun, Sep 15)

Also of note:

Author Francine Prose will read from her latest memoir, 1974: A Personal History, and discuss her work at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in Tivoli, N.Y., on Saturday, September 14, at 7pm.

The Ani Kalayjian Trio will perform works by Beethoven, Casarrubios, Fruhling, and others at Saugerties United Methodist Church in Saugerties, N.Y., on Sunday, September 15, at 3pm, as part of the free Saugerties Pro Musicaseries.

Blonde Redhead, Fruit Bats, Slaughter Beach, Dog, Deer Tick, Laura Stevenson, Daddy Long Legs, and Joan Shelley headline the second annual, three-day Meadowlark Festival of indie, roots, and countercultural music that benefits farmers in the Hudson Valley and nationwide at Stone Ridge Orchards in Stone Ridge, N.Y., from Friday, September 13, through Sunday, September 15.

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