Clark Art Institute presents composer and multi-instrumentalist William Parker and dancer-poet Patricia Nicholson for an outdoor concert on the Moltz Terrace
Williamstown— On Sunday, June 29th at 5 p.m., Clark Art Institute, in collaboration with Belltower Records, presents composer and multi-instrumentalist William Parker and dancer-poet Patricia Nicholson for an outdoor concert on the Moltz Terrace.
You’re invited to an evening of visionary improvisation as Parker and Nicholson present a duo adaptation of “Hope Cries for Justice,” an urgent call for justice and to create a world rooted in hope and equity. William Parker, a prolific bassist, composer, and educator, has dedicated his life to the concept of Universal Tonality, blending improvisation, composition, and social consciousness. Patricia Nicholson, a dancer, poet, and organizer, integrates movement, music, and activism into performances that illuminate and inspire, creating experiences that foster community and collective expression.
The free performance is on Sunday, June 29th at 5 p.m. on the Moltz Terrace at the Clark Art Institute, located at 225 South Street in Williamstown. Guests are welcome to bring seating and a picnic. Rain moves the concert inside. More information can be found online.
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Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center presents country rock legends Pure Prairie League
Great Barrington— On Thursday, July 3rd at 8 p.m., Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center presents country rock legends Pure Prairie League.
From their beginnings in mid-60’s Ohio as a group of friends playing cover tunes to the present-day, Pure Prairie League continues to embellish the rich 50-plus year history of one of Country-Rock’s pioneering forces. Their eponymous first album — featuring the Norman Rockwell Saturday Evening Post cover that introduced fans to their trademark cowpoke “Sad Luke” –was met with critical acclaim. Their second effort, the multi-platinum “Bustin’ Out” brought us the Craig Fuller-penned classic “Amie,” along with other gems of the genre. With “Two Lane Highway,” nine more albums, and countless shows, their legacy has been forged and enriched. Now in their sixth decade, Pure Prairie League continues to lead the way for the new generation of country rockers such as Keith Urban, Nickel Creek, Wilco, Counting Crows and so many others that cite Pure Prairie League as a major influence. Now, with the release of their new album “Back On Track,” they bring it all back home with a dozen new songs that complete the circle begun in 1970 and continues to this day.
The concert is on Thursday, July 3rd at 8 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, located at 14 Castle Street in Great Barrington. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Music Mountain presents the Euclid Quartet to perform the U.S. premiere of Hugo Kauder’s ‘String Sextet’
Falls Village, Conn.— On Sunday, June 29th at 3 p.m., Music Mountain presents the Euclid Quartet to perform the U.S. premiere of Hugo Kauder’s “String Sextet.”
The Euclid Quartet with George Meyer, viola and Leo Singer, cello, will perform Hugo Kauder’s “String Sextet” for the first time since its premiere in Vienna in 1925. Composers Jacob Burnette and Karl Warner digitized the autograph for the 100th anniversary of the premiere at Music Mountain, its United States premiere.
Hugo Kauder had to leave his beloved Vienna under the Nazi regime and started a new musical life in New York in 1940. In 1945, Kauder was invited as composer in residence to the Summer Music Institute at Black Mountain College, the same year Music Mountain’s Gordon String Quartet was appointed quartet in residence there, performing two of Kauder’s string quartets.
The program continues with Tchaikovsky’s “Souvenir de Florence,” an audience favorite, and Haydn’s “String Quartet in D Minor Opus 76/2 Quinten.”
The concert is on Sunday, June 29th at 3 p.m. at Music Mountain, located at 225 Music Mountain Road in Falls Village, Conn. There will be a pre-show talk at 2 p.m. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Shakespeare & Company presents the return of ‘Shake It Up: A Shakespeare Cabaret’
Lenox— From July 1st through the 6th, Shakespeare & Company presents the return of “Shake It Up: A Shakespeare Cabaret” with new text and music.
“Shake It Up: A Shakespeare Cabaret” is a mash-up of modern music and Shakespeare verse co-created by Artistic Director Allyn Burrows and Jacob Ming-Trent. It brings actors and musicians together on a stage transformed into the Elephant Lounge, a nod to a pub referenced in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night”: “In the south suburbs, at the Elephant, is best to lodge… To the Elephant!” Burrows noted that the Elephant first materialized in the Berkshires in the 1990s, when Shakespeare & Company was based at The Mount. “We opened it as the Elephant Pub at The Mount when we performed ‘Twelfth Night’ in 1991,” he explained. “For Shake It Up, it has morphed into something more like the great New York City clubs of yesteryear, like CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City: a place for folks to come and hear great live music, and in this case, Shakespeare.”
The show features Jacob Ming-Trent, currently appearing in Broadway’s production of
Gypsy” as MC; Elliot Norton Award-winner Jennifer Apple; Gregory Boover; Raya Malcolm; Merlin McCormick, and Naire Poole, joined by a live band that includes acclaimed folk-rock musician Johnny Irion, jazz musician Benny ‘Fingers’ Kohn, and others. “Shakespeare and rock ‘n’ roll have been part of the fabric and lifeblood of popular culture for a long time,” said Burrows. “Mashing them together yielded fun and fascinating results, so we’re eager to keep digging.”
The performances run from July 1st through the 6th at Shakespeare & Company’s Tina Packer Playhouse, located at 70 Kemble Street in Lenox. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Jewish Federation of the Berkshires presents ‘Tai Chi and Kabbalah: Agile Aging In Pursuit of Methuselah’ with Dr. Joel Friedman at Knesset Israel
Pittsfield— On Thursday, July 3rd at 10:45 a.m., the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires, as part of their ‘Connecting With Community’ series, presents “Tai Chi and Kabbalah: Agile Aging In Pursuit of Methuselah” with Dr. Joel Friedman at Knesset Israel.
Dr. Joel Friedman is a research scientist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine who has also been studying the theological and mystical underpinnings of Judaism. His lens is uniquely influenced by the synergy of his science/medical background, his 40 years of training and teaching Taoist based Chinese internal martial/healing arts, and a passion for Jewish learning. Join Friedman for mind body exercises centered on the combination of the Jewish mystical Kabbalistic tradition and the Chinese healing arts (including tai chi) for longevity and health.
The event is on Thursday, July 3rd at 10:45 a.m. at Knesset Israel, located at 16 Colt Road in Pittsfield. Following the program, we will continue the conversation with a home-cooked lunch around our community table. Advance lunch reservations are required on the day before the program (Wednesday) and can be made by calling 413-442-2200 before 9 a.m. All are welcome.
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Future Lab(s) Gallery presents ‘Structure and Fluidity,’ the works of Joanna Gabler and Marjorie Kaye
North Adams— From July 4th through the 27th, Future Lab(s) Gallery presents “Structure and Fluidity,” the works of Joanna Gabler and Marjorie Kaye.
In this exhibition, the artists find a meeting point in seemingly opposite disciplines. Both artists peer into the mysteries of the unknown, giving form to the nebulous energies of intuitive reception. There is a point, an apex in the space between Gabler and Kaye’s work, a place where the opposition of technique meets the similarity of intent. Both artists investigate and approach the dichotomy between structure and fluidity. “Art is and always will be sacred and the secret gate between the invisible and visible,” said Gabler.
Joanna Gabler works instinctively, partnering with the chance flow of paint across the surface. She employs decision making as to its direction, coaxing the composition with flexible intent. With a focus on color, she calls her technique “structured flow.”
Marjorie Kaye builds sequences, adding to a primary shape, with each successive form getting larger and more complex, mirroring growth from cellular beginnings to complex formation, manifesting similarly to an explosion of a geode. The commonality of momentum is what drives each work and results from the exploration of the one before it. They are one continuous piece, accessible fractals. Details emerge from one basic pattern into a vast array of shapes. It is a net that captures and comprises the structure of the material universe, as well as that which can only be sensed.
The exhibit is on view from July 4th through the 27th at Future Lab(s) Gallery, located at 43 Eagle Street in North Adams. There is an opening reception on Friday, July 4th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and closing reception on Sunday, July 27th from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. More information can be found online.
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Ventfort Hall presents ‘Fun & Games in the Gilded Age,’ a tea and talk with historian Louise Levy
Lenox— On Tuesday, July 1st at 4 p.m., Ventfort Hall presents “Fun & Games in the Gilded Age,” a tea and talk with historian Louise Levy, an afternoon of community and camaraderie inspired by objects in the Ventfort Hall Museum collection.
What did people do for entertainment in the age before TV and cell phones? Take a look, literally, through the lens of time at stereographs, sports, and parlor games enjoyed by families like the Morgans as well as their working class neighbors.
Louise Levy is a graduate of Syracuse University with a BA in Art History. She worked as a tour guide at Chesterwood in Stockbridge for 15 years, giving tours and specialty talks ranging from cemetery symbolism to the civil rights movement. She joined the staff at Ventfort Hall over two years ago where she gives lectures on American art and history.
The event is on Tuesday, July 1st at 4 p.m. at Ventfort Hall, located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox. Instead of our traditional afternoon tea, a dessert tea will follow along with an ice cream social. Reservations and more information can be found online.
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Berkshire County Historical Society presents ‘Marriage and Memory: Weddings in Berkshire County Through the Centuries’ at Arrowhead
Pittsfield— From July 4th through September 29th, Berkshire County Historical Society presents “Marriage and Memory: Weddings in Berkshire County Through the Centuries” at Arrowhead.
This exhibition presents a variety of items relating to wedding attire from 1776 through 1979. Who were the individuals who wore them? What were their stories? And, how did their lives overlap with events in Berkshire history?
The exhibit is on view from July 4th through September 29th at Arrowhead, located at 780 Holmes Road in Pittsfield. Admission is free. More information can be found online.
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Summer Splendors Market at Ventfort Hall
Lenox— On Sunday, June 29th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., you’re invited to the Summer Splendors Market at Ventfort Hall.
This event takes Ventfort Hall’s Winter Wonders Market to the next level. The indoor/outdoor marketplace will feature local growers and artisans, including Attainment Designs, Barb Walks in the Woods, Brittina’s Treasures, FLETCH, Joanne Conti Jewelry, Kate Oakes, Leslie Wheeler, Odd Bird Farm, Robert Oakes, Xingcat, Cousins Maine Lobster food truck, and more.
The event is on Sunday, June 29th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Ventfort Hall, located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox. Admission to the market is free; a suggested $5 donation towards maintenance of the mansion is appreciated. More information can be found online.
