The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire & Hudson Valley Cultural Preview

Sept 5-12, 2024

Sep 05, 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 …

ROGER McGUINN BRINGS FOLK-ROCK to COLONIAL THEATRE

Grammy Award-winning folk-rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Roger McGuinn -- a cofounder of the Byrds and an esteemed solo artist -- brings his phenomenal catalog of stories and classic songs, including “Eight Miles High,” “Chestnut Mare,” “So You Want to Be a Rock and Roll Star” plus his hit covers of Bob Dylan songs including “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” and “My Back Pages” to the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass., on Saturday, September 7, at 7:30pm. (Sat, Sep 7)

(l-r) Clarinetist Tibi Cziger, violinist Itamar Zorman, and pianist Assaff Weisman

ISRAELI CHAMBER PROJECT CLOSES TANNERY POND SEASON

Members of the Israeli Chamber Project bring down the curtain of the Tannery Pond Concert Series at the Darrow School in New Lebanon, N.Y., on Saturday, September 7, at 7:30pm. Presented by Capitol Region Classical, the concert features pianist Assaff Weisman, violinist Itamar Zorman, and clarinetist Tibi Cziger, performing works by Bartók, Khachaturian, Gershwin, Dvořák, Lutosławski, and Ben-Haim. (Sat, Sep 7)

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)

CAT POWER BRINGS FAMED RE-CREATION of BOB DYLAN’s ‘ROYAL ALBERT HALL’ CONCERT to KINGSTON

Late last year, folk-rock singer-songwriter Cat Power recorded a re-creation of Bob Dylan’s legendary May 1966 concert at the Manchester Free Trade Hall -- long known as the “Royal Albert Hall Concert” due to a mislabeled bootleg -- at the actual Royal Albert Hall, where Dylan originally drew the ire of folk purists uncomfortable with his incorporation of rock ‘n’ roll into his musical aesthetic. Covering Bob Dylan songs is always a risk for other artists, but not only did Cat Power aka Chan Marshall succeed, she achieved the nearly impossible -- turning in a highly personal, intimate approach to the concert program, remaining loyal to the sound and spirit of Dylan’s performance while maintaining her own artistic personality and integrity. Now Cat Power is on the road performing the Cat Power Sings Dylan concert program live in its entirety, as she will be doing at UPAC in Kingston, N.Y., on Saturday, September 7, at 8pm. (Sat, Sep 7)

OLDTONE FESTIVAL BRINGS ROOTS MUSIC to HILLSDALE, N.Y.

The annual Oldtone Music Festival features Grammy Award-winning conjunto band Los Texmanaics, the Foghorn String Band, the Deslondes, Sweet Megg, and a dozen other bluegrass, old time, Cajun dance, Western swing, and honky-tonk bands at Cool Whisper Farm in North Hillsdale N.Y., from Thursday, September 5 through Sunday, September 8. (Thu-Sun, Sep 5-8)

Also of note:

Fans of Norah Jones, Amy Winehouse and Fiona Apple won’t want to miss soulful singer-songwriter Glori Wilder when she performs at the Stationery Factory in Dalton, Mass., on Thursday, September 5, at 7pm, and again at the Lion’s Den at the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Mass., on Friday, September 6, at 7pm.

Pianist Ted Rosenthal’s All-Star Sextet will perform a unique “Bernstein & Bop: A Saxophone Colossus” concert, featuring arrangements of classic Leonard Bernstein pieces intertwined with jazz standards, in Studio E at the Linde Center at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass., on Friday, September 6, at 7pm, as part of the 5th annual Lenox Jazz Stroll.

Japanese composer, guitarist, and singer-songwriter Hiroya Tsukamoto brings his Berklee-trained, award-winning fingerpicking style and his “interoceanic” musical blend to the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y., on Friday, September 6, at 7pm.

Political movement art and dance company Baye and Asa perform at Adams Theater in Adams, Mass., on Saturday, September 7, at 7:30pm. The company, directed by Amadi ‘Baye’ Washington and Sam ‘Asa’ Pratt, will perform two thought-provoking pieces: Suck It Up and Second Seed.

Amanda Neill and the Blue Roses bring their soulful, noirish indie-rock to Park Theater in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday, September 7, at 8pm. RIYL Neil Young.

A quartet led by pianist Wu Han and cellist David Finckel will perform works by Beethoven, Schumann, and Smetana at South Mountain Concerts in Pittsfield, Mass., on Sunday, September 8, at 3pm.

Avant-garde percussionist, composer, and sounds artist Tatsuya Nakatani brings his distinctive music centered around his adapted bowed gong, supported by an array of drums, cymbals, and singing bowls, to the Avalon Lounge in Catskill, N.Y., on Sunday, September 8, at 8pm.

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The Rogovoy Report