Former Gov. Deval Patrick leads Independence Day celebration at Shakespeare & Company
Lenox — Shakespeare & Company invites the Berkshire community to its annual Fourth of July celebration. The family-friendly celebration will begin at 1:45 p.m. with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the upgraded accessibility features at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. A community barbecue (a la carte pricing) will begin at 2 p.m. Company musicians will perform live music at 2:45 p.m. and, at 3 p.m., the Declaration of Independence will be read by former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, State Senator Benjamin Downing (D-Pittsfield), Massachusetts State Representative William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D-Lenox), and broadcast journalist Ted Koppel.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (413) 637-1199.
–E.E.
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‘Haydn Behind Beethoven’ with Jeremy Yudkin
Pittsfield – The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) will present music professor Jeremy Yudkin as part of its Distinguished Speakers series on Saturday, July 2, at 10:30 a.m. in the K-111 lecture hall of Berkshire Community College’s Koussevitsky Arts Center. Yudkin’s lecture, titled “Haydn Behind Beethoven,” will explore the music of the young Beethoven and trace the hidden connections between his work and that of his illustrious forebears.
Professor Jeremy Yudkin is a professor of music at Boston University and a visiting professor of music at Oxford University. He has also taught at Harvard University, and the Ecole Normale Supérieure and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, France. Dr. Yudkin received his B.A. and M.A. in classics and modern languages from Cambridge University in England and his Ph.D in historical musicology from Stanford University.
Admission to the lecture is $10 for OLLI members, $15 for non-members, and free to BCC staff and students and youth 17 and under. For more information or to reserve tickets, contact OLLI at (413) 236-2190 or olli@berkshirecc.edu.
–E.E.
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Swing dance nights at Race Brook Lodge
Sheffield — Race Brook Lodge will host two swing dance nights in July: the Friday, July 1, event will feature a live performance from One Straw Revolution; and Hot Club of Saratoga will provide musical accompaniment on Friday, July 29.
All those interested in swing dancing, from beginners to experienced dancers, are welcome to attend. Both evenings will include a beginning lesson at 8 p.m. before the music and dancing start at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 each. For more information call Race Brook Lodge at (413) 229-2916.
–E.E.
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Stockbridge Cemetery walk
Stockbridge — On Saturday, July 2, at 4 p.m., volunteers from the Stockbridge Library‘s Procter Museum & Archives will present a walk at the Stockbridge Cemetery entitled “The Stockbridge Library: From Market Basket to Building and Beyond.”
Stockbridge’s first library was a private lending association with books delivered to members by market basket. Two hundred and twenty-five years later, the Stockbridge Library is a beautifully renovated building open to all citizens, offering access to collections across the state.
The walk will gather at the cemetery gate on Main Street (Route 102), Stockbridge. Parking is available across the street from the gate at the old Town Hall. A $5 donation is suggested. For more information, call the Library at (413) 298-5501.
–E.E.
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Artist Gary Finelli to exhibit work
Chatham, N.Y. — Artist and Hudson High School art teacher Gary Finelli will exhibit his artwork at Camphill Ghent’s Joan Allen Art Gallery at Camphill Ghent Sunday, July 3, through Sunday, July 31. An opening reception and talk with the artist will take place Sunday, July 3, from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Born and raised in Rhode Island, Gary Finelli attended the University of Wisconsin-Superior and received his B.F.A. in 1973. He went on to earn a master’s degree in art therapy from New York University and worked as a therapist in New York City for more than 15 years. He has been an art teacher at Hudson High School for 19 years. Finelli has exhibited at numerous galleries in New York, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. He has illustrated two books and has had political cartoons published for a local newspaper in Duluth, Minnesota.
For more information, call Camphill Ghent at (518) 392-2760.
–E.E.
