Dewey Hall to offer Master Class with cellist Helen Gillet
SHEFFIELD — Dewey Hall will offer an interactive workshop with international recording artist Helen Gillet on Monday, March 7 at 6 p.m. Learn firsthand how the artist her own distinctive performance vocabulary and genre-bending music by employing various techniques to create rhythms, textures, and harmonic modulations. This workshop is intended for music and performing arts students, but everyone is welcome.
Helen Gillet is a singer-songwriter who explores synthesized sounds, texture, and rhythm using an acoustic cello. She was born in Belgium, raised in Singapore from the ages of 2–11, and routinely shuttled between the homelands of her Belgian father and American mother. Over the years — working in New Orleans with musicians of all stripes, from avant-garde jazz and classical to pop and funk — Gillet has developed a singular polyglot style. The core of her work is solo performance with live looping, layering cello parts and vocal lines.
Tickets are $25. Masks and proof of vaccination are required to attend.
Helen Gillet will perform live at The Foundry in West Stockbridge this Saturday, March 5 at 7:30 p.m. Get tickets here.
—A.K.
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Berkshire Botanical Garden’s annual Bulb Show runs March 3–13
STOCKBRIDGE — Berkshire Botanical Garden’s annual Bulb Show opens today in the Garden’s Fitzpatrick Conservatory. Set to run March 3–13, the show features hundreds of flowering bulbs, from New England springtime favorites to striking, lesser-known varieties hand-picked by the Garden’s horticulturists. Visitors to the greenhouse will see an evolving collection of approximately 1,400 blooming bulbs over a two-week period.
Some of the standouts from last year’s show will be back, including the diminutive Muscari armeniacum ‘Big Smile’ Grape Hyacinth and the enchanting Fritillaria meleagris, or Guinea Hen Flower, with its nodding, bell-shaped blooms in a variety of showy colors and faintly checkered patterns. Alongside these will be some new inclusions: ‘Vincent Van Gogh’, a striking, dark purple tulip with fringed petals; tulips ‘Ivory Floradale,’ ‘Sarah Raven,’ ‘Virichic’, and ‘Apricot Pride’; a trio of new daffodils; and two exquisite dwarf irises, ‘Harmony’ and ‘Pauline,’ with flowers of brilliant blue and deep purple, respectively.
As in previous years, the bulbs will be exhibited amongst the Garden’s collection of succulents housed year-round in the Conservatory. The succulents’ foliage provide a contrasting backdrop for the bright colors of tulips, narcissus, hyacinths, irises, and other springtime bulbs.
The Bulb Show runs from March 3–13, daily from 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Considered the Garden’s gift to the community, admission to the Bulb Show is free.
Upcoming events at the Garden include a new slate of spring and summer classes; Roy Boutard Day on May 1, celebrating the opening of the Garden’s 88th season with free admission and a traditional Mai Bowle reception, children’s activities and Horticulture Certificate Program graduation; the 45th annual Plants and Answers Plant Sale, May 6-7; and Treasures from Our Friends, an online, garden-themed auction starting June 22.
—A.K.
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Bidwell House Museum to offer two virtual events in March
MONTEREY — The Bidwell House Museum will present a virtual event with Dr. Lucianne Lavin, director of research and collections at the Institute for American Indian Studies, on Wednesday, March 9 at 7 p.m. Her talk will focus on the Mohican presence in northwest Connecticut.
Early European documents demonstrate that Mohican tribal homelands extended east and south into what is now Connecticut, with known villages reported in what would become the towns of Salisbury, Sharon, and Canaan. The documentary evidence reveals stable, peaceful social and political relationships between Mohicans and Housatonic Valley tribal communities to their south, particularly the Schaghticoke (aka Scaticook), and this archaeology pushes the Mohican presence back even farther, into deep history.
Dr. Lavin is an anthropologist and archaeologist with more than 50 years of research and field experience in Northeastern archaeology and anthropology. She is a founding member of the state’s Native American Heritage Advisory Council and former editor of the journal of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut, a position she held for 30 years.
On Wednesday, March 23 at 7 p.m., the Museum will offer a screening of Ted Timreck’s documentary film “The Great Falls: Discovery, Destruction and Preservation in a Massachusetts Town.” When the town of Turner’s Falls wanted to expand the runway of their local airport, they discovered a ceremonial stone landscape on a nearby hill that was due to be removed. This surprising discovery and the efforts made to protect it, tell a dramatic story of environmental and cultural preservation. The film is part of the Hidden Landscapes project, an effort by hundreds of professional, Native, and antiquarian researchers to explore the archaeological legacy of Eastern Native Civilization.
The film runs about 80 minutes and will be screened via Zoom. During the screening, there will be three or four quick discussions to answer questions viewers may have.
Since the mid 1970s, Timreck has specialized in portraits of artists for PBS and anthropological programming for the Smithsonian Institution. He holds a research position at the National Museum of Natural History in the Anthropology Department and has worked extensively with Smithsonian scientists documenting field research, producing video and electronic media for the Museum, and independent programming for public and cable television.
—A.K.
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Next Pittsfield Green Drinks to feature Zach Adams of Mass Audubon
PITTSFIELD — Zach Adams, a full-time teacher naturalist for Mass Audubon in the Berkshires, will speak at the March Pittsfield Green Drinks event on Tuesday, March 15 at 6 p.m., via Zoom. He will talk about mindfully and respectfully experiencing nature, how to deepen your experience, and what goes on behind the scenes at some of the Mass Audubon wildlife sanctuaries.
Adams is a lifelong naturalist who has studied throughout the Appalachian and Rocky Mountains. He is a passionate birder, mammal tracker, mushroom collector, and nature poetry reader. Through Mass Audubon, he leads programs at Berkshire County sanctuaries and teaches in local schools.
Pittsfield Green Drinks is an informal gathering on the third Tuesday of each month. These nights are free and open to everyone. Registration is required to join. Pittsfield Green Drinks is sponsored by the Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT). For more information about Pittsfield Green Drinks, contact Chelsey Simmons at chelsey@thebeatnews.org or 413-464-9402.
—A.K.
