Black Legacy Project celebrates 1 year anniversary with events
Sheffield– Music in Common, a Berkshires-founded nonprofit that strengthens, empowers, and connects communities through the universal language of music, celebrates the one year anniversary of the launch of The Black Legacy Project(Black LP) a musical celebration of Black history to advance racial solidarity, equity, and belonging. The Black LP is a national project produced in partnership with community stakeholders at the local level.
As it travels the country, the Black LP brings together Black and White artists and artists of ALL backgrounds to record present day interpretations of songs central to the Black American experience and compose originals relevant to the pressing calls for change of our time. Community roundtable discussions help inform how these songs are interpreted and written. The Black Legacy Project launched in September 2021 in the Berkshires and is traveling to Atlanta, Los Angeles, the Mississippi Delta, Denver, and Boise in 2022 – 2023. Music in Common has partnered with Berkshires-based Outpost to produce a docuseries of the Project.
Since the September 2021 launch, Music in Common has produced ongoing Black Legacy Project programming in the region including a Black LP concert at the Colonial Theatre, a series of film screenings throughout the county, and a week-long course at Berkshire School.
The upcoming anniversary celebration will include concerts, educational programs, and a community roundtable.
On Friday September 23 at 7:30 p.m., a Black LP concert featuring a host of local musicians including Rob Sanzone, Rufus Jones, Bryan House, Glori Wilder, Terry a la Berry, Olivia Davis, Liam Giszter, and Brianna Nicola will take place at the Boland Theater at Berkshire Community College in Pittsfield. The concert will feature the Black Legacy Project songs recorded in the Berkshires which featured nearly three dozen local musicians including Wanda Houston, Billy Keane, Gina Coleman, Matt Cusson, Chantell McFarland, Chris Merendaas and others, as well as songs from other Black LP locations such as the Ozarks and Denver. A screening of the Berkshires episode of the docuseries will kick off the evening and a talk back with Black LP directors and musicians will follow the performance.
The event is free and open to all. Tickets can be reserved at eventbrite.com/e/405652967947. Masks are required.
Other events during the week-long celebration include a Black LP performance at the FreshGrass Festival in North Adams on Saturday September 24 and school programs at Berkshire Community College, DuBois Middle School, and BART. A community roundtable on the theme of “After Sundown” will take place at the Guthrie Center in Housatonic at 7 p.m. on September 21. Interested participants can register at https://www.theblacklegacyproject.org/roundtables.
The Black Legacy Project one year anniversary is sponsored in part by Berkshire Community College. Sponsorship opportunities are still available. For more info and to learn how you can get involved, contact Music in Common Marketing & Development Coordinator, Simone Alyse, at simone@musicincommon.org / 404-458-7982.
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Lenox Apple Squeeze
Lenox— On Saturday September 24, the 41st annual Apple Squeeze will return to Lenox, with free and family-friendly events.
The daytime events, held in downtown Lenox, will last from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. The day will feature food, a kid’s park with hay rides, and music acts presented by Berkshire Busk.
During the evening, events will continue at Apple Tree Inn (10 Richmond Mountain Road) with a bonfire at 5:30 p.m. and musical entertainment by folk/rock artist Johnny Irion.
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Masters National Swimming Local Results
Great Barrington— Five members of the Pacemakers Masters swimming team, headquartered at the Simon’s Rock Kilpatrick Athletic Center, recently represented New England Masters at the Long Course Swimming Championships in Richmond, Virginia.
U.S. Masters Swimming is a national non-profit for adult swimmers. The local program was created in 1990, and the cow barn converted pool at the Marion Fathers community center was used until it closed. At that point, the group moved to the Kilpatrick Center at Simon’s Rock and changed their name to the “Pacemakers” to honor one of the swimmers who had one such apparatus installed.
Dan Epstein, Andy Sforzini, Fred Rudman, and Adam Blank teamed up to set a New England Masters record (2:00.7) placing seventh for the 200 Meter Freestyle Relay in the 240-279 Age Group.
Dan Epstein, 72, of West Stockbridge also placed second in the 50-meter backstroke with a time of 37.59, seventh in the 50-meter freestyle 33.73, and fifth in the 100-meter butterfly at 1:42.82.
Andy Sforzini, 60, placed seventh in the 50-meter freestyle at 28.98, and swam the 50-meter butterfly in 32,41 to place eleventh. He also swam the 50-meter butterfly leg of a medley relay which also set a New England Masters record.
Competing in his individual events, Fred Rudman, 59, swam the 50-meter freestyle (30.93), the 100-meter freestyle (1:09.82) and placed eleventh in the 200-meter freestyle (2:37.07).
The lone female Pacemaker attending the meet, Rozann Kraus, 71, swam the 50-meter freestyle (48.13) to place eleventh.
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BSC stages All of Me
Pittsfield— Barrington Stage Company (BSC) will present the world premiere of Burman New Play Award winner All of Me on the Boyd-Quinson Stage September 21 – October 9. Written by Laura Winters, All of Me is directed by Ashley Brooke Monroe (Assistant Director for Broadway’s Indecent; resident director for Hamilton’s first national tour).
All of Me will feature Madison Ferris (Broadway’s 2017 The Glass Menagerie revival) as Lucy, Danny Gomez (NBC’s “New Amsterdam”) as Alfonso, Alexandra Seal (Showtime’s “Escape at Dannemora”) as Jackie, Leah Hocking (Billy Elliot on Broadway) as Connie, Maggie Bofill (Between Riverside and Crazy Off-Broadway) as Elena and Jack Fellows (One Man, Two Guvnors at St. Louis Rep) as Moose.
Boy meets girl. Boy uses wheelchair, girl uses scooter. Boy and girl use text-to-speech technology to connect to each other and the world around them. Love is holding them together even when the people in their lives want to pull them apart. It’s a romantic coming-of-age story that hasn’t been seen before. All of Me is a hilarious and candid portrayal of disability and class in present-day America.
Pricing for the season is $25–85 for the Boyd-Quinson Stage. Preview performance tickets for musicals are $45 and all other previews are $35. Single tickets can be purchased by calling 413-236-8888 or visiting barringtonstageco.org/Tickets.
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Clark Art Institute hosts meander-themed classical concert
Williamstown—On Sunday, September 24 at 2 p.m., the Clark Art Institute will host a meander-themed classical concert on the Lunder Center’s Moltz Terrace, performed in conjunction with the special exhibition Tauba Auerbach and Yuji Agematsu: Meander. Unlike traditional performances, this concert offers attendees a participatory experience of sound and exploration. From 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., concert-goers will wander the Clark’s campus, encountering musicians and dancers in a unique self-paced experience. This event is free, no registration is required. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.
Five percussionists from the Manhattan School of Music and five dancers from the New Chamber Ballet (New York City) begin the performance on the Lunder Center’s Moltz Terrace. Their presentation, “Sound: Moves: Us” —a compilation of over a dozen short works brought together by Manhattan School of Music Instructor Reiko Füting and choreographed by New Chamber Ballet Founder Miro Magloire—serves as the centerpiece of the concert and lasts approximately one hour.
After enjoying “Sound: Moves: Us,” concert attendees embark on a self-paced walk through a performance as Williams College musicians of the I/O Ensemble—directed by Matthew Gold—activate the Clark’s grounds without a set starting or ending point, processing down from the Lunder Center and playing from on top of Stone Hill. Additionally, saxophonist Travis Laplante plays a unique instrument designed to extend sound outdoors without any amplification. While members of the I/O Ensemble meander across the grounds, Laplante’s sounds will travel sonically, playing off the walls of the Clark.
The roaming nature of the concert is a complement to the Clark’s current exhibition, Tauba Auerbach and Yuji Agematsu: Meander—on view through October 16, 2022—which pairs new work by contemporary artists Tauba Auerbach and Yuji Agematsu, across parallel galleries, under the rubric of the meander as both noun and verb, motif and method.
