ArtsAhimsa benefit concert at Church on the Hill
Lenox — On Wednesday August 26, at 8 p.m., the faculty of ArtsAhimsa Music Festival at Belvoir Terrace will celebrate John Cheney’s 18 years as Music Director at Church on the Hill. Performers will include faculty musicians from the ArtsAhimsa Music Festival at Belvoir Terrace, some of today’s leading chamber music artists: Laura Jean Goldberg, Martin Perry, Laura Bossert, Jordan Hendy, Kate Goldstein, Stephen Starkman, Lisa Heffter, Lynn Nowels, Guy Fishman, Victoria Mushkatkol, Amy Lieberman, Bing Liu, Moshe Knoll, and the Neave Trio.
The program will include Bach’s “Laudamus” from the Mass in B Minor; Haydn’s Trio in D Major Hob XV No. 16, first movement; Piazzolla’s “Otono Porteno;” selections from Copland’s “Appalachian Spring;” Glinka’s “Waltz-Fantasy;” and Mendelssohn’s Octet opus 20, first movement.
There is a suggested donation of $20. The concert will benefit ArtsAhimsa Music for Peace and Berkshire Music School scholarships.
–E.E.
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“Curiosities Under Glass: a Victorian Obsession” at Ventfort Hall
Lenox — Author John Whitenight will discuss why Victorians displayed items such as taxidermy specimens, seashell works, and wax flowers under glass domes in a talk entitled “Curiosities Under Glass: A Victorian Obsession” at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum on Tuesday, August 25, at 4 p.m. He will also be on hand to autograph copies of his new book at an accompanying Victorian tea.
Whitenight will explore a unique segment of the Victorian decorative arts and how it grew. Since 1973 Whitenight has collected over 200 domed displays. Always a collector of Victoriana, he has a degree in art education and a masters equivalent in decorative arts-related studies.
Tickets for the Tea & Talk are $22 in advance and $27 the day of the event. Reservations are recommended as seating is limited. For information or reservations call Ventfort Hall at (413) 637-3206 or email info@gildedage.org
–E.E.
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Bernard Drew to speak about Berkshire waterpowered industry
Monterey — Historian and author Bernard Drew will present local stories from his new book about how waterpower shaped Berkshire towns and the industries that grew from it at a talk on Saturday, August 29 at 10 a.m. Drew’s program is part of the Bidwell House Museum History Talks series.
Using the Monterey location of the talk to illustrate the early water-powered industry, Drew will discuss how Monterey’s first saw mill site was a bust and how Lake Garfield became a reserve water source for a factory complex in Derby, Conn., among other curiosities of the town’s early industries.
Bernard A. Drew has lived in Great Barrington since 1977. He is a newspaper editor and columnist and the author of local Berkshire histories including books about Great Barrington, Monument Mountain, Lake Buel, Beartown, and the Knox Trail.
This Bidwell House Museum History Talk will be held at Monterey Town Hall, 435 Main Road, Monterey. The talk will begin in the town hall, and participants are then invited to walk to nearby sites. There is a suggested contribution of $15 for the general public and $10 for members of the museum. Call the Bidwell House at (413) 528-6888 for more information.
–E.E.
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Ellen Kaplan to portray doomed artist Charlotte Salomon
Pittsfield — On Thursday, August 27, at 10:45 a.m., actress and Smith College acting professor Ellen Kaplan will present “Charlotte Salomon: Painting a Life,” a one-woman show about a German-Jewish artist who died tragically at Auschwitz at age 26. This performance is a Connecting With Community program at Congregation Knesset Israel.
Salomon was born in 1917 in Berlin to a family of cultivated, highly assimilated German Jews. Though she felt the pull of despair, Charlotte found an outlet in her painting. Her work was saved from destruction when she put her paintings in a suitcase and begged a friend to hide it. Because she was pregnant when she arrived at Auschwitz, she was immediately put to death. Her work was rediscovered decades later in France and is now housed in an Amsterdam museum.
For more information see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires at (413) 442-4360 x10.
–E.E.
