The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire and Hudson Valley Cultural Preview
Feb 9-14, 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 …
CRYS MATTHEWS BRINGS SOCIAL-JUSTICE SONGS to THE LINDA
A social justice warrior with her voice and guitar, Crys Matthews has been compared to everyone from Toshi Reagon to Tracy Chapman to Ruthie Foster. Matthews brings her political and personal folksongs, her natural vibrato, and her gifted sense of melody to The Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio, as part of the Women’s Voices Concert Series, hosted by WAMC’s own Wanda Fischer, on Thursday, February 9, at 8pm. (Thu, Feb 9)
WILLIAMS CHAMBER PLAYERS BRING BACH, SHAW, to CHAPIN HALL
The Williams Chamber Players perform works by Bach, Mozart, Caroline Shaw, and Olivier Messiaen in a free concert in Chapin Hall on the Williams College campus in Williamstown, Mass., on Friday, February 10, at 7:30pm. Featured performers including violinist Joanna Kurkowicz and cellist Julian Müller. (Fri, Feb 10)
CONCERT-CABARET to BENEFIT UKRAINE at HUDSON HALL
Composer/pianist Dina Pruzhansky and contralto Vira Slywotzky join forces for a program called This Ukrainian American Life, a concert/cabaret fundraiser for Razom for Ukraine, at Hudson Hall in Hudson, N.Y., on Friday, February 10, at 7pm. The musicians will take the audience on a somewhat autobiographical journey through American and Ukrainian music, bringing together such diverse composers as Mykola Lysenko, Aaron Copland, Amy Beach, Yakiv Stepovy, Cole Porter, Martin Hennessy, Ihor Sonevytsky, and Sheila Silver. The program culminates in an original work by Dina Pruzhansky, set to words of the Ukrainian poet Lesia Ukrainka. (Fri, Feb 10)
BURLESQUE COMES to BENNINGTON
Gypsy Layne Cabaret & Co. has been captivating audiences for over a decade with its playful sexiness, cheeky comedy, tuneful musicality, alluring belly dance, astounding swordplay, and dynamic group numbers. Gypsy Layne brings its bawdy humor, live singing, dynamic dance routines, and sex appeal to the Bennington Performing Arts Center in Bennington, Vt., on Friday, February 10, and Saturday, February 11, at 8pm. (Fri-Sat, Feb 10-11)
BERKSHIRE BACH FEATURES RENÉE ANNE LOUPRETTE
The Berkshire Bach Society presents The Organ Masters-I, featuring Renée Anne Louprette playing the Johnson Organ at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House in Housatonic, Mass., on Saturday, February 11, at 2pm, performing works by Bach and others. (Sat, Feb 11)
SHAKESPEARE & CO. STAGE ‘ROMEO AND JULIET’ for VALENTINE’S DAY
Shakespeare & Company will stage a special Valentine’s presentation of Romeo and Juliet on Saturday, February 11 at 7pm, featuring the cast of the Northeast Regional Tour of Shakespeare and directed by Kevin G. Coleman. I’ll Be Thine, Valentine: Romeo & Juliet will be staged at the Tina Packer Playhouse at Shakespeare & Company’s Lenox, Mass., campus. (Sat, Feb 11)
JENNA NICHOLLS and TAMAR KORN BRING OLD-TIME ROOTS to EGREMONT
Jenna Nicholls brings her old-timey style to the Egremont Barn in South Egremont, Mass., on Saturday, February 11. Whether she’s crooning a jazz standard, belting out a New Orleans-style dirge, or plucking 1920s-style original ballads on her ukulele, Nicholls is giving a vintage genre a new spin with her own lush, nostalgic approach and melodic sensibility. Tamar Korn warms up the crowd for Nicholls with her own pre-rock, acoustic roots music. (Sat, Feb 11)
THE ORCHESTRA NOW PLAYS BERLIOZ at BARD FISHER CENTER
The Orchestra Now (TŌN) kicks off its spring season with a two-night stand at the Bard Fisher Center on Saturday, February 11, at 7pm, and Sunday, February 12, at 2pm, in a concert featuring works by Carl Maria von Weber, Hector Berlioz’s ever-popular Symphonie fantastique, and Adolf von Henselt’s Piano Concerto, featuring Evren Ozel on piano, under the direction of conductor Leon Botstein. (Sat-Sun, Feb 11-12)
STEVE FORBERT BRINGS FOLK-ROCK to CAFFE LENA
Steve Forbert brings his deceptively understated folk-rock to Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Saturday, February 11, at 8pm. A singer-songwriter who worked his way up through Greenwich Village folk clubs while the punk-rock sounds of the Ramones and the like were blasting out of clubs next door, inspiring Forbert’s take-no-prisoners live performance, Forbert still brings his energetic, boyish enthusiasm to every show he plays. (Sat, Feb 11)
JI YOUN LEE INAUGURATES CITV’s GRAND STEINWAY
Concerts in the Village (CITV) celebrates its acquisition of a concert quality Steinway grand piano for Van Buren Hallin Kinderhook, N.Y., on Sunday, February 12, at 3pm, when the Broad Street Orchestra will offer works of Mozart, Kraus and Beethoven, with guest pianist Ji Youn Lee. The program, entitled “Grand Indeed! A Steinway in Van Buren Hall,” will open with Mozart’s iconic Serenade for Strings, Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The dramatic, instrumentally colorful Symphony in C minor of Joseph Martin Kraus follows. The highlight of the evening features pianist Ji Youn Lee joining the orchestra to perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 2. (Sun, Feb 12)
SIMI STONE BRINGS VALENTINE’S DAY SHOW to THE COLONY
Woodstock’s own Simi Stone headlines a Valentine’s Day Supper Club at the Colony in Woodstock on Tuesday, February 14, at 8pm. The self-styled “Mountain Motown” singer-songwriter will be fronting a band including pianist Jeremy Baum and percussionist Manuel Quintana. (Tues, Feb 14)
BOBBY PREVITE BRINGS IMPROV QUARTET to THE AVALON
Bobby Previte’s Art for Now Quartet is in residence at the Avalon Lounge in Catskill, N.Y., performing its new sounds every Sunday at 6pm. Players include saxophonist Keith Pray, trombonist Joe Fiedler, pianist John Esposito, bassist Nick Edwards, and bandleader Bobby Previte on drums. (Sun, Feb 12)
Roll Call: Founding Members
Anonymous
Anonymous
Erik Bruun
Benno Friedman
Richard Koplin
Rhonda Rosenheck