The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire and Hudson Valley Cultural Preview
July 12-20, 2023
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 …
GERMAN COMPANY to PERFORM ISRAELI DANCE at JACOB’S PILLOW
Germany’s Gauthier Dance//Dance Company Theaterhaus Stuttgart returns to Jacob’s Pillow in Becket Mass., with a program featuring the work of Israeli choreographers including Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal, and Hofesh Schechter, as well as works by Nacho Duato and Eric Gauthier, on Wednesday, July 12, through Sunday, July 16. (Wed-Sun, Jul 12-16)
CHRIS BOTTI BRINGS JAZZ and INSTRUMENTAL POP to THE MAHAIWE
Grammy Award-winning trumpeter and composer Chris Botti, who has made his mark in both jazz and instrumental pop music, kicks off his summer tour at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., on Thursday, July 13, at 8pm. Botti has recorded and performed with the likes of Sting, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga, Josh Groban, Yo-Yo Ma, Michael Bublé, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, John Mayer, Andrea Bocelli, Joshua Bell, and Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler. (Thu, Jul 13)
GLOBAL FESTIVAL of KLEZMER and YIDDISH MUSIC in AMHERST
Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music kicks off Thursday, July 13, with a concert by the Grammy Award-winning modern klezmer outfit The Klezmatics, and packs in a dozen concerts, workshops, talks, and films through the following Sunday, July 16, at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Mass. Among the many highlights of the 11thannual Yidstock festival are a concert by clarinetist/composer Sam Sadigursky, performing The Solomon Diaries, his song cycle inspired by Marisa Scheinfeld’s photographs of the crumbling, abandoned Catskills resorts, on Friday, July 14, at 2pm, as well as a Saturday night blowout by David Krakauer’s Mazel Tov Cocktail Party, a kind of global mashup featuring funk, hip-hop, Celtic and dance rhythms from around the world. Other performers include klezmer hip-hop pioneer Socalled, Yiddish vocalist Eleanor Reissa, and world-renowned klezmer clarinetist Merlin Shepherd. (Thu, Jul 13-Sun, Jul 16)
NOISE SALON BRINGS IMPROVISED MUSIC to KINGSTON
Noise Salon: The Climb Series is a new, monthly, curated improvised music event at Green Kill in Kingston, N.Y., hosted by underground musicians Mark Shue and Peter Aaron. A revived version of the Noise Salon series that Shue originated in Brooklyn in 2012, the salon is designed to bring musicians together from various communities and walks of life in order to perform a spontaneous, improvisational collaborative performance as an ensemble. The Noise Salon: The Climb Series, Vol. 5 event will take place at Green Kill on Friday, July 14, at 8pm, and will feature Ryan Jewell, James Richardson, Al Margolis, Erica Quitzow, Tom Law, and Peter Aaron. (Fri, Jul 14)
PIANIST BLKBOK PERFORMS at MASS MoCA
Neo-classical pianist BLKBOK brings his dynamic style of composition and playing to Club B10 at MASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday, July 15, at 8pm. The pianist and former child prodigy was born and raised in Detroit and used his classical training as a springboard through the worlds of pop and hip-hop. In performance, he places his solo compositions into cultural context with spoken word/poetry intros. (Sat, Jul 15)
JUDY COLLINS to SING GREATEST HITS at THE EGG in ALBANY
The legendary Grammy Award-winning folk-pop singer Judy Collins, whose elegant interpretations of songs by the likes of Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, and Randy Newman helped propel those singer-songwriters into the pop pantheon, returns to the Egg in Albany on Saturday, July 15, at 8pm, promising to perform her greatest hits, which also include Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns.” (Sat, Jul 15)
ASTON MAGNA PLAYS CORELLI’S ‘XMAS’ and VIVALDI’s ‘WINTER’
The Aston Magna early music festival attempts to cool off the summer heat with a program of Baroque celebrations including Corelli’s Christmas Concerto and Vivaldi’s Winter - from the Four Seasons cycle - at St James Place in Great Barrington, Mass., on Saturday, July 15, at 6pm. The concert features Grammy Award-nominated British countertenor Ryland Angel. (Sat, Jul 15)
JULES SHEAR BRINGS SOULFUL POP to BYRDCLIFFE THEATER
Soulful singer-songwriter Jules Shear, responsible for hits including Cyndi Lauper’s “All Through the Night” and the Bangles’ “If She Knew What She Wants,” and the subject of Aimee Mann’s “J for Jules” song recorded by ‘Til Tuesday, brings his own considerable talents as a performer to the Byrdcliffe Theater in Woodstock, N.Y., on Saturday, July 15, at 8pm. (Sat, Jul 15)
HUDSON FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA to PLAY JOAN TOWER FANFARE
The 50-piece Hudson Festival Orchestra under the baton of Gwen Gould headlines the annual Hudson in Concert: A Community Celebration, a free event at Henry Hudson Riverfront Park in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday, July 15, at 5pm. The program includes selections from a new musical performed by the Columbia County Youth Theater, an Armenian-influenced jazz number played by Hudson’s Armen Donelian, and a Broadway selection sung by the Hudson Community Choir. Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1, is also on the orchestra’s musical menu. (Sat, Jul 15)
SUSIE IBARRA BRINGS IMMERSIVE MUSIC MEDITATION to PS21
A weekend-long, double-feature at PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., begins on Saturday, July 15, at 7pm, with the world premiere of the ensemble version of composer/percussionist Susie Ibarra’s Four Meditations on Impermanence, an immersive, musical meditation on forests, followed on Sunday, July 16, at 5pm, with the first of PS21’s House Blendseries of innovative concerts this summer, featuring works by Igor Stravinsky, Claude Vivier, and Rebecca Saunders, performed by violinist Miranda Cuckson, pianist Eric Huebner, and clarinetist Adrián Sandí. (Sat-Sun, Jul 15-16)
CLARINETIST ANAT COHEN DUETS with MARCELLO GONCALVES
Grammy Award-nominated clarinetist/saxophonist Anat Cohen teams up with her fellow Grammy nominee, guitarist Marcello Goncalves, for a program of Latin-inflected duets at St James Place in Great Barrington, Mass., on Sunday, July 16, at 4pm, in a concert presented by Jazz and Classics for Change. (Sun, Jul 16)
ESCHER QUARTET PLAYS MOZART, BARTOK, SCHUBERT at MAVERICK
The Escher String Quartet tackles works by Mozart, Bartok, and Schubert at Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, N.Y., on Sunday, July 16, at 4pm. The quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole. (Sun, Jul 16)
RUFUS WAINWRIGHT BRINGS ‘FOLKOCRACY’ TOUR to TOWN CRIER
Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright brings his melodic pop and his operatic vocals to the Towne Crier Cafe in Beacon, N.Y., on Sunday, July 16, at 7:30pm, as part of his Folkocracy tour, named after his new album of folk songs. Wainwright has collaborated with artists including Elton John, Burt Bacharach, Robert Wilson, David Byrne, Boy George, Joni Mitchell, Pet Shop Boys, Jessye Norman, Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Sting, and producer Mark Ronson, and he has written two operas, numerous songs for movies and TV, and is currently working on his first musical. (Sun, Jul 16)
DARLINGSIDE BRINGS HARMONIES to THE CLARK
Darlingside, formed in the early oughts when the band members were students at Williams College, returns to the town of its birth when they bring their literary-minded, baroque folk-pop to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., for a free concert on Wednesday, July 19, at 6pm. (Wed, Jul 19)
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Roll Call: Founding Members
Anne Fredericks
Anonymous (6)
Erik Bruun
Benno Friedman
Richard Koplin
Steve and Helice Picheny
Rhonda Rosenheck
Elisa Spungen and Rob Bildner/Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook
Julie Abraham Stone
Mary Herr Tally