The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire & Hudson Valley Cultural Preview

Nov 1-3, 2024

Oct 30, 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 …

TRAILBLAZING SINGER ANOHNI RETURNS to MASS MoCA

Anohni, the trailblazing singer, songwriter, and visual artist, returns to MASS MoCA in North Adams for an intimate concert with pianist Gael Rakotondrabe in the Hunter Center, on Saturday, November 2, at 8:30pm, to celebrate the opening of Jeffrey Gibson’s installation Power Full Because We’re Different. Anohni first played MASS MoCA in 2003 with Antony and the Johnsons; a name change to Anohni came with the release of her first solo album, 2016’s Hopelessness. Anohni’s work across genres examines her relationship to ecocide through the lens of her trans experience. (Sat, Nov 2)

FREDERICK DOUGLASS MUSICAL DRAMA at HUDSON HALL

No Cowards in Our Band, a semi-staged musical drama telling the story of renowned activist and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, created by Anthony Knight, Jr. and Orrin Evans and directed by Michael Hofmann, will be staged at Hudson Hall in Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday, November 2, at 7pm. Actor and artist Masud Olufani stars as Douglass alongside a trio of singers: soprano Nia Drummond, Metropolitan Opera tenor Edward Washington II, and Opera Ebony and Syracuse Opera’s bass Gregory Sheppard. (Sat, Nov 2)

BROOKLYN RIDER BRINGS ECLECTIC MUSICAL MENU to STISSING CENTER

Contemporary string quartet Brooklyn Rider brings its eclectic repertoire of music and influences ranging from late Beethoven to Persian classical music to American roots music to the endlessly varied voices of living composers to the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y., on Sunday, November 3, at 4pm. Their Chalk and Soot program will include four new string quartets inspired by Der Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider), a pre-WWI era collective led by Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky; Schoenberg’s tonality-shattering String Quartet No. 2 with the mesmerizing American soprano Ariadne Greif; and a new song cycle written by Colin Jacobsen, the violinist of the quartet and The Knights ensemble. (Sun, Nov 3)

ROBYN HITCHCOCK BRINGS BRITISH FOLK-ROCK to LEVON HELM STUDIOS

English rock singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock, perhaps best known for leading the 1970s art-rock band The Soft Boys and later The Egyptians, brings his sardonic wit and deep catalog of power-pop and folk-rock to Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, N.Y., on Friday, November 1, at 8pm. Blending folk and psychedelia with a wry British nihilism, Hitchcock describes his songs as “paintings you can listen to.” (Fri, Nov 1)

George Harrison author Seth Rogovoy (photo Franco Vogt)

SETH ROGOVOY to READ FROM and SIGN COPIES of NEW GEORGE HARRISON BOOK at THE CHATHAM BOOKSTORE

Fresh on the heels of the publication of his new book, Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison, Seth Rogovoy will be appearing at several book events in the region, including the Chatham Bookstore in Chatham, N.Y., this coming Sunday, November 3, at 5pm, in conversation with Elena Siyanko, director of PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance). Other upcoming events are at Upstate Films/Orpheum Theatre in Saugerties, N.Y., on Sunday, November 17, at 2pm (in conversation with rock biographer Holly George Warren and author/musician Robert Burke Warren, who will play a few George Harrison tunes); and at the Williams Bookstore in Williamstown, Mass., on Monday, Nov 18, at 4pm, in conversation with filmmaker Stacy Cochran. Beatles expert Kenneth Womack writes in his review for Salon, “Within You Without You accomplishes a rare feat. In a sea of ineffectual biographies devoted to the Beatles’ guitarist, Rogovoy makes a case for Harrison’s most important contribution: the music itself … Rogovoy’s eye towards soberly capturing the history of the Beatles with a welcome dose of critical objectivity makes Within You Without You required reading when it comes to the guitarist. It’s that good.” (Sun, Nov 3; Sun, Nov 17; Mon, Nov 18)

Also of note:

The Goddess Party, a 40-women, Hudson-Valley-based art choir backed by an all-female six-piece rock band, brings its newest performance, “The Parting of the Veils,” featuring an eclectic program featuring original compositions, Bulgarian field songs, punk anthems by the likes of Le Tigre and PJ Harvey, and more to Basilica Hudson in Hudson, N.Y., on Friday, November 1, at 8pm.

Dmitry Wild, The Industry Darlings, and Jane Ormerod headline a “Halloween Spooktacular” evening of music and spoken word at Park Theater in Hudson, N.Y., on Friday, November 1, at 8pm.

The first annual Borscht Belt Film Festival takes place at Shadowland Stages in Ellenville, N.Y., from Friday, November 1, through Sunday, November 3. Films include Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock (2009), which fixes the 1969 festival in a Borscht Belt context (with Ang Lee taking part in a discussion), and The Dancing Man: Peg Leg Bates(1993), David Davidson’s documentary about the legendary one-legged tap dancer who opened a landmark Black Catskills resort, and other films celebrating the rich cultural legacy of the Catskills. Actor Judd Hirsch will also be on hand, joined by Jodi Rudoren, editor-in-chief of The Forward, as they review Hirsch’s performances both iconic and overlooked, focusing on Hollywood’s long and complicated approach to the portrayal of Jews on the silver screen (Friday, November 1, at 4pm).

Chamber group Sō Percussion will perform at the Clark in Williamstown, Mass., on Saturday, November 2, at 7pm.

Drummer Bobby Previte, keyboardist Jamie Saft, and guitarist Knox Chandler bring their Doom Jazz program to The Local in Saugerties, N.Y., on Saturday, November 2, at 8pm.

Flutist Anthony Trionfo and pianist Albert Cano Smit will perform works by Francis Poulenc, Amy Beach, Adrian Dee, Prokofiev, Sebastian Currier, Ian Clarke, Claude Debussy, and others at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y., on Saturday, November 2, at 7pm, presented by Clarion Concerts.

British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor will perform Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition as well as works of Brahmsand Schumann at Union College’s Memorial Chapel in Schenectady, N.Y., on Sunday, November 3, at 3pm, presented by Capital Region Classical.

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The Rogovoy Report