Violinist Joshua Bell, pianist Alessio Bax at Mahaiwe
Great Barrington — Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center will present a concert by world-renowned violinist Joshua Bell and pianist Alessio Bax on Friday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m. The recital will honor longtime Mahaiwe supporters Ursula and Walter Cliff of South Egremont.
Born in Bloomington, Indiana in 1967, Joshua Bell received his first violin at age 4 and, at 12, began studying with Josef Gingold at Indiana University. At 14 Bell performed with Riccardo Muti and the Philadelphia Orchestra and, at 17, made his Carnegie Hall debut. An exclusive Sony Classical artist, Bell has recorded more than 40 CDs garnering Grammy, Mercury, Gramophone, and Echo Klassik awards since his first LP recording at age 18 on the Decca label. His Brahms recording was released last month, featuring the Academy of St Martin in the Fields (of which Bell has been the music director since 2011), Steven Isserlis, and Jeremy Denk.
Leeds and Hamamatsu International Piano Competition and 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant winner Alessio Bax has appeared as a soloist with more than 100 orchestras including the London and Royal philharmonic orchestras.
The recital program will include Beethoven’s Sonata in A Major for Violin and Piano, Op. 12, No. 2, Brahms’ Sonatensatz: Scherzo C minor for Violin and Piano, Brahms’ Sonata No. 3 for Violin and Piano in D minor, Op. 108, Ysaÿe’s Violin Sonata No.3 in D minor, Op. 27, Debussy’s Sonata in G minor for Violin and Piano, L140, and Sarasate’s Carmen Fantasy for Violin and Piano, Op. 25. The program is subject to change.
This event will benefit the Mahaiwe’s year-round arts and education programs. Tickets are $65 to $250. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call the Mahaiwe box office at (413) 528-0100.
–E.E.
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Area flu clinics scheduled
Great Barrington — Fairview Hospital, in collaboration with the Medical Reserve Corps and the Berkshire Public Health Alliance, will offer community flu clinics on Tuesday, Oct. 25, from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Farmington River Regional School in Otis and Thursday, Oct. 27, from 3 to 7 p.m. at Mt. Everett Regional High School in Sheffield.
The clinics are open to the public and all ages are welcome. There is no charge for the vaccination, but participants are asked to bring their insurance cards to allow for appropriate billing. Participants are also asked to wear short-sleeved shirts. In response to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations, nasal mist will not be available. For more information, call the Hospital at (413) 528-8600.
–E.E.
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Berkshire Museum film screening with artist Robert Hite
Pittsfield — A film screening and artist talk will be presented Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m. at the Berkshire Museum in conjunction with the exhibition “Living on Earth: The Work of Robert Hite,” a dual exhibition of the work of artist Robert Hite on view the Berkshire Museum and Hancock Shaker Village through Sunday, Oct. 30. The screening will be the Berkshire premier of two films about Hite’s work, both directed by award-winning filmmaker Okin Khan: “Little Corn” follows Hite during a trip to Central America in the winter of 2015 to photograph and film rural houses along the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua, and “Living on Earth” is a documentary portraying Hite and his preparations for his exhibitions at Hancock Shaker Village and Berkshire Museum. A question-and-answer session with the artist will follow the films.
Hite was born in 1956 and grew up outside of Bowling Green, Virginia. He attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, and the Corcoran School in Washington, D.C., and studied ink brush painting in Malaysia. He worked as a studio assistant for the Washington Color School painter Leon Berkowitz, and enjoyed success in the 1980s and early 1990s as an abstract landscape artist. In 1997, Hite and his family moved to Esopus, New York, where he converted an 1840s Methodist church into his home and studio. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2014.
Tickets are $7.50 for the general public and $5 for members of the Berkshire Museum and Hancock Shaker Village. For more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call the Museum at (413) 443-7171.
–E.E.
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Club Helsinki Hudson to welcome Elizabeth Cook
Hudson, N.Y. — Country outlaw Elizabeth Cook will bring a critically acclaimed batch of new songs from her new album, “Exodus of Venus,” to Club Helsinki Hudson on Wednesday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m. Nashville-based roots music singer/songwriter Derek Hoke will warm up the crowd for Cook.
Cook is a fixture of Nashville’s singer/songwriter circles. She has performed at the Grand Ole Opry more than 400 times, hosts her own show on Sirius XM’s Outlaw Country station, and has worked with everyone from Jason Isbell to Steve Earle to John Prine. NPR Music deemed Cook a “treasure” of the Americana scene, and “Exodus of Venus” appeared on Rolling Stone Country‘s list of the most anticipated albums of 2016. Cook’s first album since 2010, “Exodus of Venus” is a cathartic, defiant response to overcoming deaths, a divorce, and personal hardships. It bears the imprint of Southern rock influences as well as Muscle Shoals R&B.
For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call the Club at (518) 828-4800.
–E.E.
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Artist reception with painter Morris Bennett
Pittsfield — The Office of Cultural Development has announced an artist reception with painter Morris Bennett on Friday, Oct. 28, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts. Bennett’s exhibition, “Visual Poetry of Suburban Pittsfield,” is on display at the Lichtenstein through Saturday, Oct. 29. All paintings are taken from views found within the city limits of Pittsfield and the intent of the exhibit is to demonstrate the fact that one’s neighborhood can be as suitable a subject matter for paintings as any of the more classic views of the Berkshires. Said Bennett, “It is my hope that experiencing this show will increase appreciation of one’s immediate environment; however, viewers are cautioned against attempting to identify specific places, because, in many cases, I have exercised considerable ‘artistic license’ for the sake of creating an interesting painting rather than a literal rendering of the scene.”
For more information, contact the Office at (413) 499-9348 or cultural@pittsfieldch.com.
–E.E.
