The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire & Hudson Valley Cultural Preview
Aug 8-14, 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 …
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO at the MAHAIWE
In 1987, Paul Simon introduced the magical sounds of South African choral and dance group Ladysmith Black Mambazo to the world on his groundbreaking album,Graceland. Since that time, the group on its own has earned a total of 19 Grammy Award nominations and five wins -- the most for any World Music group. While the group has undergone personnel changes since they first gained popularity, including the loss of their leader, Joseph Shabalala, the current outfit carries on the legacy of Shabalala’s unique sounds and styles. Catch them at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass., on Friday, August 9, at 8pm.(Fri, Aug 9)
SANDRA BERNHARD BRINGS NEW CABARET to BARD
Performer, actress, and singer Sandra Bernhard brings her Sandyland Live! program to the Spiegeltent at Bard’s Fisher Center in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., on Friday and Saturday, August 9 and 10, at 8pm. A pioneer of the one-woman show, Bernhard’s unique and raucous blend of cabaret, stand-up, rock ‘n’ roll, and outrageous social commentary has made her one of the most critically acclaimed performers of our time. (Fri-Sat, Aug 9-10)
BARD MUSIC FESTIVAL EXPLORES ‘BERLIOZ AND HIS WORLD’
In eleven themed concert programs, the Bard Music Festival’s 34th season examines Hector Berlioz, the visionary French composer who helped redefine musical Romanticism. The festival, at the Bard Fisher Center in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., kicks off with a concert featuring Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique on Friday, August 9, and runs through Sunday, August 18. (Fri, Aug 9 - Sun, Aug 18)
PROTEST SONGS GET SPOTLIGHT at TANGLEWOOD
Grammy Award-winning tenor Nicholas Phan and jazz and contemporary vocalist Farayi Malek join forces with Palaver Strings for A Change Is Gonna Come (named after the Sam Cooke song from the 1960s), a program of protest songs in Studio E of the Linde Center at Tanglewood in Lenox, Mass., on Saturday, August 10, at 2pm. Arrangements of 1960s classics explore the sonic palette of strings and voice, with nods to the iconic originals as well as today’s cultural landscape, and the sound worlds of film scores, contemporary chamber music, fiddle, gospel, and more. Repertoire includes traditional songs of protest and music inspired by social movements and historical events, including Akenya Seymour’s Fear the Lamb. (Sat, Aug 10)
CAT TYC, ANDREA KLEINE and LAURA VAN DEN BERG to READ at SPOTTY DOG BOOKS
Writers Cat Tyc, Andrea Kleine, and Laura van den Berg will share work around the theme of Animalia: writers and animals, in That Time of Year, a new reading series at Spotty Dog Books in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday, August 10, at 7pm. Cat Tyc is an interdisciplinary writer/artist who has three chapbooks, including I Am Because My Little Dog Knows Me. Laura van den Berg is the author of five works of fiction and a recent Guggenheim and NEA fellow. Her latest novel is State of Paradise. Andrea Kleine is the author of the novels, Calf and Eden. Her feature film, The End Is Not What I Thought It Would Be, is now streaming. (Sat, Aug 10)
TRIBUTE to PETER SCHICKELE at MAVERICK CONCERTS
After Spring Sunset: A Tribute to Peter Schickele, a memorial concert honoring the late composer, takes place at Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, N.Y., on Saturday, August 10, at 6pm. The event celebrates the life and legacy of the multi-Grammy Award-winning composer Peter Schickele, renowned as the creator of P.D.Q. Bach and the public radio program Schickele Mix. The Callisto Quartet will perform Schickele’s Fifth String Quartet, A Year in the Country, and a rarely performed P.D.Q. Bach work, The Moose Quartet. The M Shanghai String Band and surprise guests will perform a captivating “movement” from a Schickele bluegrass concerto. Karla Schickele, Peter’s daughter, will perform intimate, rarely-heard Peter Schickele family songs with her cousin, Nighttrain Schickele, and her son, Emmet Schickele. (Sat, Aug 10)
Also of note:
Modern dance company Parsons Dance returns to Jacob’s Pillow in Becket, Mass., after a 25-year absence. Performances will take place from Wednesday, August 7, through Sunday, August 11.
Singer-songwriter Avi Jacob, whose influences range from gospel to folk to pop, brings his original compositions to Dream Away Lodge in Becket, Mass., on Thursday, August 8, at 7:30pm.
Rootsy singer-songwriter Leon Majcen, the son of Bosnian war refugees, brings his Americana-style catalog of original compositions to our region with concerts at the Colony in Woodstock N.Y., on Thursday, August 8, at 8pm, when he opens for the phenomenal bluesy singer-songwriter Shannon McNally, and again at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y., on Saturday, August 9, at 7pm. Majcen should appeal to fans of Townes Van Zandt, John Prine, and Guy Clark.
Grammy Award-winning banjoist Alison Brown brings her innovative, progressive take on her instrument to the Towne Crier Cafe in Beacon, N.Y., on Friday, August 9, at 8:30pm.
Rome Is Falling, a modern opera composed by American Modern Opera Company member Doug Balliett, will be staged at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., on Saturday, August 10, at 4pm. Rome is Falling is a zany lesson on the absurdity of what can happen when powerful people lose power.
Bousquet in Pittsfield, Mass., plays host to an evening folk festival on Saturday, August 10, from 5 to 10pm, featuring Johnny Irion & U.S. Elevator, Session Americana with Kris Delmhorst, Glori Wilder, and Rounders Revival.
Americana singer-songwriter Nicole Atkins brings her unique blend of soul, Brill Building pop, 1960s psychedelia, and indie-rock to RAD Studio Space, the newest performance space in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday, August 10, at 6pm.
Indie-rock avatars Guided By Voices bring their modern rock and power-pop to Bearsville Theater in Woodstock, N.Y., on Saturday, August 10, at 7pm.
Composer, performer, and media artist Pamela Z brings her voice, live electronics, sampled sound, and video to the Foundry in West Stockbridge, Mass., on Sunday, August 11, at 7pm.
A daylong celebration of the Music Inn, including films, conversations, talks, live music, and panel discussions, takes place at the Triplex in Great Barrington, Mass., on Sunday, August 11, running 1pm to 9pm.
David Ives’s new play, Pamela Palmer, gets its world premiere run at Williamstown Theatre Festival in Williamstown, Mass., now through August 10. The play is said to “put a noir spin on an existential romance.”
William Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors takes over Shakespeare & Company’s outdoor mainstage in Lenox, Mass., now through Sunday, August 18.
The world premiere of The Islanders by Carey Crim runs at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Mass., from Thursday, July 25, through Sunday, August 25.
Night at the Speakeasy, an original production by Great Barrington Public Theater that transports audiences back in time to the Roaring Twenties, featuring Janelle Farias Sando, runs at Simon’s Rock College in Great Barrington, Mass., Thursday through Sunday, August 8-11.
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Roll Call: Founding Members
Anne Fredericks
Anonymous (7)
Susan Bang
Erik Bruun
Nadine Habousha Cohen
Fred Collins
Fluffforager
Benno Friedman
Amy and Howard Friedner
Jackie and Larry Horn
Richard Koplin
Paul Paradiso
Steve and Helice Picheny
David Rubman
Spencertown Academy Arts Center
Elisa Spungen and Rob Bildner/Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook
Julie Abraham Stone
Mary Herr Tally