The Fisher Center presents ‘Stephanie Blythe Sings Brahms’ with The Orchestra Now
Annandale-On-Hudson— On Saturday, February 3rd at 7 p.m. and Sunday, February 4th at 3 p.m., The Fisher Center presents ‘Stephanie Blythe Sings Brahms’ with The Orchestra Now (TŌN) conducted by Leon Botstein.
Award-winning mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, artistic director of Bard Conservatory’s Graduate Vocal Arts Program, joins TŌN for an all-Brahms concert to perform his profound and dramatic Alto Rhapsody. Based on a Goethe poem, Alto Rhapsody was composed as a wedding gift for the daughter of Robert and Clara Schumann, for whom Brahms once carried a torch. The program also includes the sweeping cantata Rinaldo, inspired by another Goethe poem about a knight who has been enchanted by a cunning sorceress. The program concludes with Brahms’ masterful First Symphony, which the composer toiled over for 14 years before its debut performance.
A renowned opera singer and recitalist, mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe is one of the most highly respected and critically acclaimed artists of her generation. Her repertoire ranges from Handel to Wagner, German lieder to contemporary and classic American song. Ms. Blythe has performed on many of the world’s great stages, such as Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Paris National Opera and San Francisco, Chicago Lyric and Seattle Operas. Ms. Blythe was named Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year in 2009, received an Opera News Award in 2007 and won the Tucker Award in 1999. She is the Artistic Director of the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar at the Crane School of Music, and was appointed Artistic Director of the Graduate Vocal Arts Program at Bard College in the fall of 2019.
The program also features tenor Joshua Blue and the Bard Festival Chorale with James Bagwell directing.
The live concert is on Saturday, February 3rd at 7 p.m. and Sunday, February 4th at 3 p.m. at the Fisher Center’s Sosnoff Theater on Manor Avenue in Annandale-On-Hudson, N.Y. Tickets start at $15. There is also a pay-as-you-wish livestream option. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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BIFF presents a new winter monthly series with Howie Arkans highlighting auteur directors
Lenox— Beginning on Saturday, January 27th, Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) presents a new winter monthly series with Howie Arkans highlighting auteur directors, a fun way to get through the winter with BIFF!
The concept of the auteur – the filmmaker as an artist and author of his or her works – began in Paris in the late 1950s to 1960s, where filmmakers and critics reacted to the industrialization of filmmaking in the United States and Europe. The French word “auteur” literally translates to the English “author.” Within the context of cinema, the word auteur is used to describe a director who exerts a high level of control across all aspects of a film. Auteur directors generally have a distinctive style from film to film and often fill other roles besides directing including writing, editing, and sometimes acting in their own films.
BIFF is proud to present the second series of American auteur film directors beginning in January. Howie Arkans will once again curate a series of discussions each month followed by a film by the auteur. The series is called “Cinematic Adolescence: Coming of Age Films by Auteurs” and will highlight the work of John Sayles, John Waters, Greta Gerwig, and Taiki Waititi. The series will be held Saturdays at 3 p.m. at the Duffin Theater in Lenox as follows:
- Saturday, January 27 at 3 p.m. – John Sayles’ “Baby It’s You”
- Saturday, February 24 at 3 p.m. – John Waters’ “Hairspray”
- Saturday, March 23 at 3 p.m. – Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird”
- Saturday, April 20 at 3 p.m. – Taiki Waititi’s “Jojo Rabbit”
Howard Arkans has had a keen interest in film since his grandmother took him to see “The Jazz Singer” remake in 1952. He has taught “Tuesday at the Movies” for OLLI at BCC for the last 14 winters , and he has been a “reel” friend of BIFF for many years. Arkans will introduce the film and lead a post-show discussion and Q&A.
The series begins on Saturday, January 27 at 3 p.m. at the Duffin Theater on East Street in Lenox. Tickets are $15, or $50 for the entire series. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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The OLLI Distinguished Speakers Series presents Bill McKibben on climate and justice
Pittsfield— On Wednesday, January 31st at 7 p.m., the OLLI Distinguished Speakers Series presents Bill McKibben for a virtual talk on climate and justice.
Bill McKibben is founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice. His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages. He’s gone on to write 20 books, and his work appears regularly in periodicals from the New Yorker to Rolling Stone. He serves as the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he has won the Gandhi Peace Prize as well as honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the alternative Nobel, in the Swedish Parliament. Foreign Policy named him to its inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers.
Bill McKibben helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign, which has organized protests on every continent, including Antarctica, for climate action. He played a leading role in launching the opposition to big oil pipeline projects like Keystone XL, and the fossil fuel divestment campaign, which has become the biggest anti-corporate campaign in history, with endowments worth more than $40 trillion stepping back from oil, gas and coal. He stepped down as board chair of 350 in 2015, and left the board and stepped down from his volunteer role as senior adviser in 2020, accepting emeritus status. In 2014, biologists credited his career by naming a new species of woodland gnat—Megophthalmidia mckibbeni–in his honor.
The virtual talk is on Wednesday, January 31st at 7 p.m. on Zoom. Admission is $15, $10 for members, and free for students, staff, and faculty from BCC, MCLA, Simon’s Rock, and Williams; youth 17 and under, and those holding WIC, EBT/SNAP, or ConnectorCare cards. Pre-registration is required. Registration and more information can be found online or by calling 413-236-2190.
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The Crandell Theatre presents ‘Poor Things’
Chatham— This weekend, January 26th though the 28th, The Crandell Theatre presents “Poor Things” (R | 141 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance.)
Based on the Kafka-esque 1992 novel by Alasdair Gray and reimagined by the wildly inventive Yorgos Lanthimos, “Poor Things” is the saga of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman living in a Steampunk version of Victorian London. After killing herself and being crudely resurrected by scientist Dr. Godwin “God” Baxter (Willem Dafoe), she runs off with a debauched lawyer (Mark Ruffalo) on an odyssey of self-discovery and sexual liberation. Gothic, raunchy and delightfully weird, it plays as if Mary Shelley, on acid, wrote a feminist bildungsroman/sex comedy.
Stone won a Golden Globe for her performance and just picked up an Oscar nomination, one of 11 for the film, including Best Picture and Best Director. Stone is thrilling to watch as Bella matures, although Ruffalo (nominated for Best Supporting Actor) and Dafoe sometimes steal the show.
The screenings are this weekend January 26th though the 28th at The Crandell Theatre on Main Street in Chatham. Tickets are $11, $8 for members, and $7 for children. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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MASS MoCA free day
North Adams— On Saturday, January 27th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., admission to MASS MoCA is free!
Free Day is MASS MoCA’s annual community celebration. There will be thematic museum tours, ASL tours, a silkscreen demo, a scavenger hunt, art-making in Kidspace, “Firebird” installation viewings throughout the day, a meet and greet with community organizers, and more, all free of charge. MASS MoCA’s very own staff, community members, and local artists will pop-up in the freight elevator with a number of short sets throughout the day.
The following exhibitions will be on view: “Like Magic,” “Elle Pérez: Intimacies,” “Joseph Grigely: In What Way Wham?,” “EJ Hill: Break Run Helix,” and James Turrell: Into the Light.”
Free Day is on Saturday, January 27th from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at MASS MoCA on MASS MoCA Way in North Adams. More information can be found online.
