Tanglewood presents ‘An Evening with John Legend’
Lenox— On Sunday, September 3rd at 7 p.m., Tanglewood presents “An Evening with John Legend”.
This special solo performance will feature songs and stories with 12-time GRAMMY winner John Legend. Experience intimate reimaginings of his greatest hits including “All of Me,” “Ordinary People”, and “Tonight”, unexpected stories from Legend’s life and career, and selections from his most recent release LEGEND including “Nervous” and “Wonder Woman”.
The concert is on Sunday, September 3rd at 7 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed at Tanglewood on West Street in Lenox. The gates open at 4 p.m. Lawn tickets are available for $22. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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The Adams Theater presents contemporary dance performance, ‘Ephemera’ by Fern Katz and a community workshop
Adams— On Saturday September 2nd at 7:30 p.m., the Adams Theater presents a contemporary dance performance, “Ephemera” by Fern Katz, the culmination of a month-long residency.
Choreographer and director Fern Katz and her dance company, Fern Katz & Co. have been in residence at the Adams Theater throughout August, culminating in this performance.
Katz, a renowned contemporary dancer and choreographer originally from the Berkshires who has worked with esteemed choreographers such as Olga Rabetskaya and Sharon Fridman, will be re-staging her past works and developing new ones, including “September 2nd, 2023,” an immersive contemporary dance theater piece created for the space at Adams Theater. “September 2nd, 2023” will also feature live original music by Portuguese musician Miguel Sobral Curado.
“It is both performing arts and a collective ritual for reflection upon death, grief, and the search for joy after the fog has lifted,” she said. “Centered on the feelings of what we are left with when we lose something or someone integral to our existence and the gift of emptiness; the space that can be filled up again and again only after everything is completely broken, so we can rebuild anew.”
Prior to the performance, on Thursday, August 31st at 6 p.m., community members are invited to “Improvisation, Dance, Connection, and Party!” a two-hour movement exploration led by Katz, a veteran dance educator. The intention behind this movement process is to offer space for each participant to connect with and expand their inner worlds, to connect with other participants, to find each individual physical capacity, and most importantly, to have fun. Katz will enlist her years of knowledge as an educator and various techniques of movement such as Gaga, Feldenkrais, contemporary, classical dance, and more to create a safe, enriching, and fun environment for workshop participants. The workshop is open to all ages and abilities and is free to attend.
The performance is on Saturday September 2nd at 7:30 p.m. at the Adams Theater on Park Street in Adams. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $25 for priority seating, and $30 for priority seating plus a donation of a ticket to a family in need. Local students age 17 and under can attend at least one Adams Theater show for free with pre-registration. Pre-register by emailing info@adamstheater.org. Tickets and more information can be found online or in person on Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 6 p.m.
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Shakespeare & Company presents a limited three-performance run of a staged reading of ‘Hamlet’ featuring Christopher Lloyd and Finn Wittrock
Lenox— From Friday, September 1st through Sunday, September 3rd, Shakespeare & Company presents a limited three-performance run of a staged reading of “Hamlet” featuring Christopher Lloyd and Finn Wittrock.
Murder, both intentional and accidental, as well as madness, both piteous and pretended, will haunt the Tina Packer Playhouse as Shakespeare & Company for a three-performance-only reading of William Shakespeare’s most memorable tragedy.
This limited run is directed by Shakespeare & Company founding member, Kevin G. Coleman, a two-time Tony Award nominee for Excellence in Education, with Associate Director Ariel Bock, who directed Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise this season at Shakespeare & Company.
The cast also includes Caroline Calkins, Ptah Garvin, Nigel Gore, David Gow, Dana Harrison, L. James, and Zoya Martin.
The limited three-performance run is from Friday, September 1st through Sunday, September 3rd at the Tina Packer Playhouse at Shakespeare & Company on Kemble Street in Lenox. Tickets are $20 to $75. Tickets and more information can be found online or by calling 413-637-3353.
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The Clark Art Institute presents two concerts by the Knights Orchestra celebrating its ‘Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth’ exhibition
Williamstown— Over Labor Day weekend, the Clark Art Institute presents two concerts by the Knights Orchestra celebrating its “Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth” exhibition. The first is an outdoor concert on Saturday, September 2nd at 4 p.m. on the Fernández Terrace by the Clark’s Reflecting Pool. The second is a family concert on Sunday, September 3rd at noon in the Clark’s auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center.
Based in New York City, The Knights are a collective of musicians dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audience and music. Led by an open-minded spirit of camaraderie and collaboration, they seek to engage with contemporary culture through vibrant performances that honor the classical tradition and their passion for musical discovery. Since their founding in 2007, The Knights have toured and recorded with prominent soloists including Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Béla Fleck, Itzhak Perlman, and Gil Shaham, and have performed at Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, and the Vienna Musikverein.
On Saturday, September 2nd at 4 p.m., music written by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg is paired with traditional Nordic folk songs, as well as a work by Munch’s close friend, Frederick Delius. The program also features an original composition by Knights Artistic Director Colin Jacobsen and a newly imagined orchestration of a classical staple, Antonín Dvořák’s “Toward America” quartet for strings. This concert is outdoors. Bring a picnic and your own seating.
On Sunday, September 3rd at noon, music lovers of all ages will delight in a family-friendly concert in an engaging, interactive setting. The Knights perform excerpts from works by Edvard Grieg, Antonín Dvořák and Frederick Delius alongside audience participation activities that highlight musical details and showcase the way instruments can tell a story. This performance provides younger audiences with a fun and engaging introduction to classical music.
Both performances are free, but advance registration is required for the family concert. Registration and more information can be found online.
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The Berkshire Botanical Garden will present “The Garden of Curiosity” art exhibition, featuring works by Ann Getsinger
Stockbridge— From September 1st through November 19th, the Berkshire Botanical Garden will present “The Garden of Curiosity” art exhibition, featuring works by Ann Getsinger.
Primarily consisting of oil paintings, mixed media drawings, and sculptures, the New Marlborough artist presents carefully observed and freely rendered objects in a range of outdoor settings, times of day, seasons, and weather. Oscillating between real and imaginary, each completed work is a fresh invention. Referencing her deep interest in natural history, subjects such as bones, insects, plants, seashells, fruit, leaves, vegetables, or the artist’s signature choice of orange peels, are often centrally placed at or near eye level, and life size to inhabit the scene. Her work is lyrical, sensual, suggestive, scientific, romantic, conceptual, poetic, and ecological.
“Creating visual art is the closest I’ve ever come to having my life make any sense at all. It’s both indulgent and essential,” Getsinger says. “It’s about balancing freedom and discipline in order to explore this temporary existence, to consider the meaning and sensuality of nature and my personal connection to it. I’m always challenged to go deeper.”
The exhibit runs from September 1st through November 19th at Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Leonhardt Galleries on West Stockbridge Road in Stockbridge. Hours for Berkshire Botanical Garden’s Leonhardt Galleries are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. The opening reception is Friday, September 1st, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. More information can be found online.
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The David M. Hunt Library presents “This Must Be the Place: Artists’ Impressions of Home”, a large group art exhibition
Falls Village— Through September 22nd, the David M. Hunt Library presents “This Must Be the Place: Artists’ Impressions of Home”, a large group art exhibition collecting personal, quirky, and nostalgic images from over 40 local artists in painting, photography, mixed-media, sculpture, and video.
Garth Kobal, who has been organizing Hunt Library’s group exhibitions since 2011, said “by nature, this exhibition is upfront and personal, and revealing. The only thing more personal than the home is family, and both are intertwined and inseparable. Home and family look very different from person to person, and it shifts as our needs change over a lifetime. Wherever we go, we find new homes and new families. I have several times, each one as valuable and memorable as the last.”
The artists include Marsha Altemus, Sue Arnholter, Lori Barker, Pamela Berkeley, Janet Andre Block, Rebecca Bloomfield, Mary Anne Carley, Robert Cronin, Sergei Fedorjaczenko, Zoe Fedorjaczenko, Ingrid Freidenbergs, Emily Fuller, Richard Griggs, John Hodgson, Shaari Horowitz, Theresa Kenny, Garth Kobal, Terre Lefferts, Joan Macfarlane, Danielle Mailer, Patty Mullins, David Noonan, Peter Steiner, Tilly Strauss, Judith Wyer, and Lilly Woodworth.
The exhibit runs through September 22nd at the David M. Hunt Library on Main Street in Falls Village. There will be a celebratory outdoor reception for the artists on Saturday Sept 2nd from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. This event is free and open to all including families with children. The exhibition will be on display during library hours. More information can be found online or by calling 860-824-7424.
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The Eclipse Mill Gallery will host ‘Pause’, a two-person exhibit featuring the work of artists Melanie Mowinski and Debi Pendell
North Adams— From September 1st through the 30th, the Eclipse Mill Gallery will host “Pause”, a two-person exhibit featuring the work of MCLA Professor of Art Melanie Mowinski and artist Debi Pendell.
Mowinski and Pendell have wanted to collaborate for years, and finally decided to pause their other work to make it happen. Within the exhibit, the artists ask us to pause time and consider something larger than our day-to-day selves and to ponder the deeper ideas of our existence.
Mowinski and Pendell consider this idea, as well as “A Book of Hours,” a Christian devotional book used to pray which inspired “A Book of Pauses,” secular version but similar in use, a book to pause and consult for ideas to ponder, contemplate, consider. Pendell says, “First, take a pause, a temporary rest to linger in. Then ponder. Consider deeply and weigh carefully. How often to pause? How long to pause? What to do during a pause? What to ponder?”
The exhibit will run from September 1st through the 30th at the Eclipse Mill Gallery on Union Street in North Adams. The exhibit will be open on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. There will be an opening reception on Saturday, September 9th from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Representatives from the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire will be in attendance to share information about the individual artist grants they award every year. Mowinski and Pendell were the 2023 recipients of this award.
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Spencertown Academy Arts Center 18th annual ‘Festival of Books’
Spencertown— From September 1st through September 4th, the Spencertown Academy Arts Center presents its 18th annual “Festival of Books”.
The Festival features a giant used book sale, two days of discussions with and readings by esteemed authors, and a children’s program. “We are looking forward to author talks by both nationally acclaimed and local stars—you’ll hear from memoirists, historians, writers of long and short fiction, and a cookbook author with an eye on flavor and sustainability,” says Carl Atkins, co-chair of the festival.
Highlights include bestselling author Eleanor Henderson discussing her memoir, “Everything I Have Is Yours: A Marriage”, which was named a New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by Vogue. One of her two novels, Ten Thousands Saints, was named one of the Ten Best Books of the Year by the New York Times and was the basis for the movie adaptation “10,000 Saints” starring Ethan Hawke.
Another highlight is playwright and novelist Wesley Brown, who will be discussing his latest work, “Blue in Green: A Novella”, a timely meditation on the psychological impact of police brutality through the lens of a day in the life of legendary trumpeter Miles Davis. The story opens in August 1959, when Davis was assaulted by a New York City policeman outside Birdland jazz club. The reinvented narrative lets the reader listen in on Davis’s tempestuous relationship with his wife Frances Taylor, an acclaimed dancer, and the voices of Lena Horne, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Eartha Kitt, and others.
Winners of the Academy’s 2023 Young Writers’ Contest will read from their winning fiction and non-fiction entries. The contest encourages creative writing among students in grades 9-12 in Columbia County and Berkshire County.
The Festival of Books children’s program will feature a meet and greet with Lyle the Crocodile. In Bernard Waber’s classic books, the Pimm family found the lovable reptile in their tub when they moved into a Victorian house in New York City. Kids will be able to have their pictures taken with the costumed character, get crafty with art activities, and listen to the Lyle’s books read by storyteller Ann Gainer.
At the heart of the Festival is a giant book sale, one of the biggest in the region, featuring more than 15,000 gently used books offered at affordable prices.
The festival is from September 1st through September 4th at the Spencertown Academy Arts Center on Route 203 in Spencertown. Admission is free to all festival events except for the members early preview of the book sale. Books will be available for purchase and signing. Snacks and beverages will be available for purchase including the Academy’s signature “To-Die-For, No-Alarm Vegetarian Chili.” More information can be found online.
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The Mount and Straw Dog Writers Guild announce the 2024 ‘Writers Residency for Emerging Writers’
Lenox— The Mount, Edith Wharton’s Home, is once again collaborating with Western Massachusetts’ Straw Dog Writers Guild to offer a unique residency experience for nine emerging writers.
Genres include poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and plays. Residencies will be for one week and include lodging at a neighboring inn, a workspace at The Mount, breakfast, lunch, and a $500 stipend. The residencies run weekly from March 3rd through March 17th. Three writers will be selected for each week. Applications will open on September 1st and are limited to the first 270 submissions. The application and more information can be found online.
Jacqeline Sheehan, author and president of SDWG, adds, “The collaboration between Straw Dog Writers Guild and The Mount is designed to support emerging writers as they begin their writing careers. This residency has already made a huge difference as writers begin their journey. I can imagine Edith Wharton nodding her approval as her home fills with writers.”
Applications open on September 1st and will close when 270 applications have been submitted. The $25 application fee will be waived for financial hardship and for members of The Mount and Straw Dog. Submissions are reviewed anonymously and ranked based on the following criteria: quality of writing, originality of voice, the potential for growth as a writer, and strength of the statement of purpose. For additional information about the residency, please email Patricia Pin at PPin@edithwharton.org.
