Piano duo Soyeon Kate Lee and Ran Dank at the Mahaiwe
Great Barrington — Close Encounters With Music will present the husband-and-wife piano duo of Ran Dank and Soyeon Kate Lee in “’Dually’ Noted: Music for Four Hands” on Saturday, December 12 at 6 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. Doubling the sonorities and dazzle of the piano, and turning the solitary recital into an eloquent dialogue, this duo piano evening will feature a panoply of styles together and separately. In the spirit of the holiday, the program will include Beethoven’s ever-popular “Moonlight Sonata” and a bravura arrangement of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite,” plus Debussy’s “Preludes,” Barber’s “Souvenirs,” Mozart’s “Four Hand Variations in G Major K. 501,” and Scriabin’s mystical “Fantasy in B minor.”
Tickets for the event are $45 (orchestra and mezzanine) and $25 (balcony) and are available, along with more information, from the Berkshire Edge calendar and the Mahaiwe box office by calling (413) 528-0100.
–E.E.
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Berkshire Country Day School capital campaign launch
Lenox — Berkshire Country Day School (BCD) will hold a cocktail party on Friday, December 11, from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the school to celebrate “Fulfilling the Promise: The Capital Campaign for BCD.”
Hosted by Honorary Campaign Co-Chairs Kim and James Taylor, the party will celebrate the first formal capital campaign for the school in almost two decades. December 11 marks the start of the final phase of the campaign, which is raising funds for both facilities and the school’s endowment (and in particular the Endowment for Faculty Salaries).
The impetus for the Campaign came from the late Kevin Hirt ’06, whose favorite class was library. Kevin suffered from neuroblastoma and, when he discovered he would not survive, asked his parents to donate his college fund money to BCD to support the expansion of the school’s library. His parents agreed and promised to help raise the balance of the funds needed. Thanks to their shared dream and the generosity of many community members, BCD is poised to “Fulfill the Promise” to Kevin and his family with the construction of the Kevin Hirt Library and Learning Commons, which will transform BCD’s programs and teaching practices.
The event program will include a video about the campaign followed by a surprise presentation. There will be an open bar, hors d’oeuvres and dessert by Mezze Catering, and musical entertainment with BCD faculty member Jon Suters (guitar), Roger Suters (bass), Charlie Tokarz (woodwinds), and Rob Putnam (piano and vocals). The celebration will also feature an announcement about the creation of a new music and performance room in Furey Hall, making this the most dramatic upgrade to BCD’s historic campus in almost two decades.
The adults-only event is open to the BCD community with a reservation. There is no fee for admission. For further details or to RSVP, contact Jessica Provenz in the Development Office at (413) 637-0755 x144 or jprovenz@berkshirecountryday.org.
–E.E.
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Writer Pankaj Challa to read at The Mount
Lenox — Berkshire Waldorf High School’s Fall 2015 Stone Court Writer-in-Residence Pankaj Challa will read from his work on Sunday, December 13 at 3 p.m. at The Mount. Admission is free.
During his residency in the Berkshires, Dr. Challa has been working on a novel and a collection of short stories based on his dissertation, “The Happiness of Wandering Beings,” about love, livelihood, and identity in the new India.
Dr. Challa was born and raised in India, obtained a degree in electrical engineering, and then entered the creative writing program at the University of Southern Mississippi where he earned his Ph.D. His fiction has appeared in the journals Crazyhorse, Saint Ann’s Review, and Rosebud, and his nonfiction and screenplays have appeared in Grassroots Writing Research Journal and Millennium. Challa has served as a guest fiction editor for Crazyhorse, and is the recipient of several other writing fellowships.
Now in its second year, the Stone Court Writer-In-Residence program offers two 12-week residencies each year that provide time, freedom, and support for emerging writers to concentrate on creative work. The program focuses on bringing diverse American voices, particularly those from other regions of the United States, to the Berkshires and also builds in time for the visiting writer to lead a creative writing masterclass at the Berkshire Waldorf High School and offer community readings of his or her work.
Dr. Challa’s Berkshire Waldorf High School students will read from their work at the school on Wednesday, December 9, at 7 p.m. The reading is free and open to all.
–E.E.
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Stockbridge churches offer “Blue Advent” program
Stockbridge — St. Paul’s Church and the First Congregational Church are offering an Advent outreach program focused on the challenges that the Christmas season brings to many who feel a disconnect with the popular view of the season. “Blue Advent explores how the Christmas season is not perfect and how people can cope with their own feelings.
“While Advent and Christmas are focused on joy, for those who have recently suffered a loss or are lonely or who feel overwhelmed by holiday expectations, the season can be difficult,” said the Rev. Sam Smith, Priest-in-Charge at St. Paul’s.
Blue Advent is a series of prayer-filled gatherings that include reflection, singing, and prayer related to the challenges that Christmas can present. Sessions will take place Thursday, December 10 at First Congregational Church and Thursday, December 17 at St. Paul’s from 6 p.m. – 6:45 p.m. with time for fellowship afterward. All are invited to attend.
–E.E.
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WAM Theatre’s Girls Ensemble performance
Lenox — The public is invited to a free performance by WAM Theatre’s new Girls Ensemble on Friday, December 11 at 7 p.m. in the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare & Company.
Six young women ages 14-20 from Lenox, Lee, Dalton, North Adams, and Pittsfield have been meeting on Saturday afternoons since September to create a new piece of devised theatre under the leadership of WAM teaching artists Amy Brentano and Barby Cardillo.
“WAM has expanded its education program this year with the launch of the Girls Ensemble,” Brentano explained. “Our participants are dancers, writers, actors, and visual artists with an interest in creating theatre from scratch. This year’s pilot program has focused on investigating the gender stereotypes and labels that surround teenage girls, and asking questions around empowerment and self image.”
“The girls have engaged in impassioned discussions as they improvised scenes and wrote monologues,” Cardillo said. “Amy and I have had the pleasure to guide and direct these girls as they created an exciting theatre piece that includes music, dance, and text.”
The performance will run for about an hour and is suitable for ages 10 and up.
–E.E.
