The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire & Hudson Valley Cultural Preview

Oct 20-25, 2023

Oct 17, 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 …

The Cast of Rodelinda: (top l-r) Keely Futterer, Sun-Ly Pierce, Karim Sulayman Bottom (l-r) Teresa Buchholz, Douglas Williams, Brennan Hall (courtesy Hudson Hall)

R.B. SCHLATHER BRINGS NEW ‘RODELINDA’ to HUDSON HALL

Visionary stage director R.B. Schlather brings Rodelinda, the first in an ambitious, multi-year series of operas by G.F. Handel, to Hudson Hall, with performances on Friday, October 20, through Sunday, October 29. Commissioned by Hudson Hall, the production features a stellar cast and a re-orchestration performed by early music group Ruckus. Envisioned as an ongoing collaboration to create opera for a new generation, this inaugural production builds on the extraordinary success of Schlather’s sold-out run of Virgil Thompson and Gertrude Stein’s The Mother of Us All at Hudson Hall in 2017, named one of the Best Musical Performances of the Year by the New York Times. In Rodelinda, a woman’s husband is missing, maybe dead. Her life as she knew it has disappeared. Villains invade her home, seeking to profit from her loss. To their surprise, she heroically overcomes her grief, defends her child and her home. After her husband’s dramatic reappearance, the evildoers are expelled, and marital order is restored. They begin again. (Fri-Sun, Oct 20-29)

Larry Chernicoff (courtesy Park Theater)

LARRY CHERNICOFF BRINGS NEW SOUNDS to HUDSON’s PARK THEATER

Hudson Valley composer/musician Larry Chernicoff will bring new music and a new ensemble to the Park Theater in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday, October 21, at 8pm. Chernicoff is an award-winning recording artist, vibraphonist, composer, record producer, and a recipient of a National Endowment on the Arts Jazz Fellowship. His compositions combine jazz and classical elements, composition and improvisation, and unusual instrumental colors. His new seven-piece group, including Don Davis on woodwinds, Eugene Friesen on cello, Evan Jagels on bass, Ben Kono on woodwinds, Chuck Lamb on piano, Brian Melick on percussion, and Tim Moran on woodwinds, will play a new program of his compositions, with no amplifiers or microphones, for an organic, acoustic, unplugged sound. (Sat, Oct 21)

David Amram with Bob Dylan (courtesy David Amram)

DAVID AMRAM MARKS 93^rd BIRTHDAY in CONCERT at the ASHOKAN CENTER

Legendary composer, conductor, and multi-instrumentalist David Amram performs at the Ashokan Center in Olivebridge, N.Y., on Sunday, October 22, at 2pm. Joined by his talented family of musicians, the 93-year-old Amram’s concert will draw upon his eclectic and diverse musical career that found him collaborating with a veritable who's who, including Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Jack Kerouac, Leonard Bernstein, Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller, Pete Seeger, Odetta, Joseph Papp, Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Thelonious Monk, Woody Guthrie, and Sonny Rollins. (Sun, Oct 22)

SAM BUSH BRINGS PATENTED ‘NEWGRASS’ to PITTSFIELD's COLONIAL

2023 Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame inductee and multiple Grammy Award-winner Sam Bush, generally considered the “Father of Newgrass,” brings his innovative, modern approach to bluegrass and his virtuosic skills on the mandolin, fiddle and guitar to the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass., on Wednesday, October 25, at 7:30pm. From his early days playing with New Grass Revival to his work as a solo artist, Bush has always pushed the boundaries of traditional bluegrass, incorporating elements of rock, jazz and even reggae into his music. (Wed, Oct 25)

CHRIS THILE JOINS THE KNIGHTS for NEW and OLD MUSIC at TROY MUSIC HALL

Adventurous modern classical ensemble The Knights join forces with virtuoso mandolinist/singer Chris Thile for a concert of works by Caroline Shaw, Dvorak, Bach, and Thile himself, featured in his “narrative song cycle for extroverted mandolinist and orchestra,” at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, N.Y., on Wednesday, October 25, at 7:30pm. The Knights' co-artistic director Colin Jacobsen will join Thile in a rendition of J.S. Bach’s Allegro from Double Violin Concerto in D Minor. Thile and the Knights will perform at Carnegie Hall the following evening. (Wed, Oct 25)

My Morning Jacket (courtesy Palace Theatre)

MY MORNING JACKET BRINGS MODERN-ROCK to ALBANY’s PALACE

Modern-rock group My Morning Jacket brings its unique blend of roots-rock and soul with experimental and psychedelic touches to the Palace Theatre in Albany, N.Y., on Wednesday, October 25, at 8pm. My Morning Jacket is often grouped with such other innovative, forward-facing rock groups as Radiohead and Wilco. (Wed, Oct 25)

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The Rogovoy Report