Adams Theater presents the award-winning electroacoustic duo ARKAI
Adams— On Friday, July 26th at 7:30 p.m., the Adams Theater will present the award-winning electroacoustic duo ARKAI, who will preview their new album “Crossroads.”
ARKAI has inspired audiences around the world through their genre-defying string music. Graduates of The Juilliard School, their past engagements have included performances at The MET, City Winery, 54 Below, Lincoln Center, Musikfest, Carnegie Hall and more. They recently opened for Oscar and Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste at YPO EDGE hosted in NYC’s Javits Center.
As creative collaborators, ARKAI was commissioned by the Museum of Chinese in America to compose a work for their exhibition “Responses: Asian Americans Resisting the Tides of Racism.” Other commissions include a piece for Silver Lining Ltd’s Impact 5X initiative, a global economic justice project supporting hundreds of small business owners from underserved communities around the world.
ARKAI was selected by the U.S. Department of State and the Association of American Voices to participate in the ‘21-22 American Music Abroad season. Through this program, ARKAI has engaged in exchange programs with underserved audiences around the world with little or no access to American music, demonstrating the power of cultural diplomacy as a tool to bring people together.
The concert is on Friday, July 26th at 7:30 p.m. at the Adams Theater at 27 Park Street in Adams. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Clark Art Institute concludes its July outdoor concert series with a performance by Lakou Mizik
Williamstown— On Wednesday, July 24th at 6 p.m., the Clark Art Institute concludes its July Outdoor Concert Series with a performance by Lakou Mizik.
Lakou Mizik is a multigenerational collective of Haitian musicians united in a mission to spread awareness about traditional Haitian culture. In Haitian Creole, the word lakou carries multiple meanings. It can mean a backyard or a collective place where people gather to play music and dance. It can also be an extended community, or a connection to one’s ancestors. As a band, Lakou Mizik embodies a little of each meaning—bringing music, community, and spiritual connection to backyards (and festivals) across the globe.
Lakou Mizik also incorporates elements of Rara, a form of Carnival music based in Vodou, in which drummers and horn players lead joyous processions through the streets. The group formed in Port-au-Prince in 2010 in response to the combined catastrophes of a devastating earthquake, an epidemic, and a political crisis.
The free concert is on Wednesday, July 24th at 6 p.m. at the reflecting pool lawn at The Clark on South Street in Pittsfield. Bring a picnic and your own seating. More information can be found online.
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Berkshire County Historical Society presents ‘Sea Shanties’ with Alex Harvey and ShinBone Alley
Pittsfield— On Wednesday, July 24th from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m., Berkshire County Historical Society presents ‘Sea Shanties’ with Alex Harvey and ShinBone Alley.
Alex Harvey is an old world folklorist who performs street ballads and songs of the sea in a project he calls ShinBone Alley. At his performances listeners learn to celebrate the haunting intercultural exchange of 18th and 19th century maritime music – whose ingredients travelled from the furthest corners of the globe to be remade and stitched anew by sailors of every shade and shape at port and at sea.
By teaching the audience to join in on most of the tunes in his concerts Harvey and his ShinBone Alley builds bridges of time through communal singing. From Sea Shanties to Broadsheet ballads to Come-All-Ye’s to Last Good Nights to Hard Luck Satires to Lovesick Dirges to Whaling Serenades, this music was meant as the earliest form of group therapy. And so it is again, a sepia-toned balm for our topsy-turvy time.
The concert is on Wednesday, July 24th from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Arrowhead at 780 Holmes Road in Pittsfield. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Shakespeare & Company presents the world premiere of ‘The Islanders’ by Carey Crim
Lenox— From Thursday, July 25th through Sunday, August 25th, Shakespeare & Company presents the world premiere of “The Islanders’” by Carey Crim.
Anna lives an insular life with few friends on an underpopulated island in the Great Lakes, but she likes it that way. Her quiet, controlled world is turned upside down by the arrival of Dutch, a charming but secretive new neighbor. For different reasons, Dutch and Anna have each retreated from mainstream society. Can their connection survive the revelations that must inevitably come with true intimacy?
Director Regge Life said he hopes The Islanders provides a blueprint for anyone who may now be questioning their identity and place in a turbulent world. He asks “Is now the time to retreat to an island of contemplation, or to stand tall right where you are, in the face of uncertainty?”
The show runs from Thursday, July 25th through Sunday, August 25th at Shakespeare & Company’s Tina Packer Playhouse at 70 Kemble Street in Lenox. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Great Barrington Public Theater presents premiere of ‘Night at the Speakeasy,’ an immersive cabaret, featuring NY actor and singer Janelle Farias Sando
Great Barrington— From August 22nd through 25th, Great Barrington Public Theater presents the premiere of ‘Night at the Speakeasy,’ an immersive cabaret, featuring dynamic NY actor and singer Janelle Farias Sando, directed by Wendy Welch.
This premiere production of a unique, live cabaret seats the audience onstage in the re-creation of a Roaring Twenties nightclub. Night at the Speakeasy features the wide-ranging voice and acting skills of Janelle Farias Sando carrying the audience back to the days of bootleg clubs, flappers, dance marathons, zoot suits and freedom through music, song and intemperance.
Audiences will be given a password for entry into an actual, realistic club experience. They become the night-lifers, the club goers in real time and ambience. There will be a bar on stage for the purchase of beer and wine, with Janelle as the club’s resident chanteuse and Hudson Orfe as her piano man.
“We want to capture the air of risk, danger, fun, freedom and decadence of that time,” Welch says. “The songs in our speakeasy won’t stick to rules, normal expectations or to a single form of music. The music will shift times around, be jazzy, clubby, risqué, showy, seductive, always fun and often very funny.”
Performances run from August 22nd through 25th in the McConnell mainstage theater in the Daniel Arts Center at Bard College at Simon’s Rock at 84 Alford Road in Great Barrington. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Dottie’s Coffee Lounge hosts ‘Dinner With Your Dog’
Pittsfield— On Friday July 25th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., Dottie’s Coffee Lounge hosts “Dinner With Your Dog.”
Bring your furbaby to dinner on the patio with their favorite human. $30 gets you and Fido a three-course dinner (additional humans are $15 each). Please use discretion and only bring your dog if they are particularly well behaved and friendly.
The dog-friendly dinner is on Friday July 25th from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Dottie’s Coffee Lounge at 444 North Street in Pittsfield. Reservations are required at 413-443-1792. More information can be found online.
