The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire & Hudson Valley Cultural Preview

Mar 7-17, 2024

Mar 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 …

ZviDance (photo Ben McKeown/courtesy American Dance Festival)

ZVIDANCE BRINGS NEW WORK to KAATSBAAN

ZviDance brings excerpts of its newest evening-length work, The Field – set to premiere in New York City in two weeks – to the Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in Tivoli, N.Y., on Thursday, March 7, at 6pm. Artistic director/choreographer Zvi Gotheiner, in collaboration with seven dancers, composer Scott Killian, and lighting designer Mark London, created the new piece, which aims to “continue and deepen Gotheiner’s thematic exploration of the collisions between humanity and nature.” (Thu, Mar 7)

CHAMBER GROUP RUCKUS BRINGS 18th CENTURY SCOTTISH DANCE TUNES to THE CLARK

Adventurous early music ensemble Ruckus, a shapeshifting group with a playful approach to classical music, brings its program, The Edinburgh Rollick: Music from the Niel Gow Collections, to The Clark in Williamstown, Mass., on Friday, March 8, at 7pm. Featuring Keir GoGwilt on violin, the concert explores the legacy of Niel Gow, eighteenth-century Scotland’s most celebrated fiddler. Gow’s dance tunes are full of the signature “Scotch snap” and rhythmic drive familiar to lovers of traditional Scottish dance. (Fri, Mar 8)

DAYMÉ AROCENA BRINGS AFRO-CUBAN SOUNDS to MASS MoCA

Vocalist Daymé Arocena brings her award-winning Afro-Cuban sounds to Club B10 at MASS MoCA on Saturday, March 9, at 8pm. Termed Cuba’s “finest young female singer” by The Guardian, Arocena has been frequently compared to the likes of Celia Cruz, Aretha Franklin, La Lupe, and Ella Fitzgerald, drawing inspiration from the intertwining musical legacies of her native Cuba. In 2015, Arocena won a Juno Award – the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy Award - as a member of the jazz band Maqueque performing with Canadian musician Jane Bunnett. (Sat, Mar 9)

ROCK MUSICAL REIMAGINES ‘BEOWULF’ at SPENCERTOWN ACADEMY

Shayfer James and Kate Douglas bring their pop-rock musical, The Ninth Hour: A Beowulf for the Modern Age, to Spencertown Academy Arts Center in Spencertown, N.Y., on Saturday, March 9, at 2pm. Created and performed by James and Douglas, this rock-noir musical is a reimagining of the epic poem “Beowulf” that explores the intricacies of humankind’s relationship with power and violence. (Sat, Mar 9)

Roy Howat (photo Fleur Kilpatrick/courtesy artist)

ROY HOWAT BRINGS the SOUNDS of BELLE ÉPOQUE PARIS to THE CLARK

Pianist and music scholar Roy Howat brings the music of Belle Époque Paris to The Clark in Williamstown, Mass., on Sunday, March 10, at 3pm. Howat explores the rich vein of classical music produced by composers like Debussy, Ravel, Chabrier, and Fauré, especially in relation to the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. (Sun, Mar 10)

Also of note:

The Taj Mahal Quartet and Sona Jobarteh, the world’s first female professional kora virtuoso, are at the Egg in Albany, N.Y., on Thursday, March 7, at 7:30pm.

Rees Shad and the Conversations preview their new album, The Galahad Blues, at the Foundry in West Stockbridge, Mass., on Friday, March 8 at 7:30pm.

TOP DRAWER: Stories of Dysfunction and Redemption from Park Avenue to Havana, a play with music written and performed by Adelaide Mestre, runs at Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, N.Y., Friday-Sunday, March 8-10. From pre-revolutionary Cuba to Manhattan’s Upper East Side and back again, Adelaide Mestre spins an autobiographical tale of family, trauma, triumph, and the search for a lost piano.

The Slocan Ramblers bring their version of Canadian bluegrass to the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y., on Friday, March 8, at 7pm.

The Bard College Conservatory of Music and Graduate Vocal Arts Program bring Jacques Offenbach’s Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld) to the Fisher Center at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., on Friday, March 8, at 8 pm and on Sunday, March 10, at 2pm. The opera will be sung in French with English supertitles, and dialog will be in English.

Every Brilliant Thing, called “the funniest play you will ever see about depression” by The Guardian, will be peformed by Scott Barrow at Park Theater in Hudson, N.Y., for two weekends, Friday-Sunday, March 8-10, and again Friday-Sunday, March 15-17.

Comedian Andy Gross brings his Are You Kidding Me? tour to the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass., on Saturday, March 9, at 7:30pm.

Double bassist and composer Garth Stevenson performs his signature improvised outdoor “forest concert” at Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield, Mass., on Saturday, March 9, at 1pm.

Ronald Barron presents his eighth annual recital of American music for trombone at Richmond Congregational Church in Richmond, Mass., on Sunday, March 10, at 3pm. Joining Barron, a former first trombonist for the BSO, are pianist Larry Wallach and trombonists Allan Burns, Ian Striedter, and Greg Spiridopoulos.

Roots-music ensemble Ollabelle, featuring Amy Helm, celebrates the 20th anniversary of their debut album, Ollabelle, at Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, N.Y., on Sunday, March 10, at 8pm.

Saugerties Pro Musica presents a free concert by the AYA Piano Trio at the Saugerties United Methodist Church in Saugerties, N.Y., on Sunday, March 10, at 3pm. Violinist Angela Sin Ying Chan, pianist Ying Li, and cellist Andres Sanchez got their start at the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The AYA trio will be performing works by Mozart, Jennifer Higdon, Arvo Pärt, and Ravel.

South African-based Ladysmith Black Mambazo return to Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, N.Y., on Tuesday, March 12, at 7:30pm. The Grammy Award-winning vocal ensemble was introduced to the world when they appeared on Paul Simon’s 1987 Graceland album.

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