Tuesday, November 5, 2024

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

BITS & BYTES: ‘Les Contes d’Hoffman’ at The Clark and The Mahaiwe; Riley Mulherkar at Hudson Hall; Jody King Camarra at New Marlborough Town Library; Art Omi Pavilions groundbreaking; Oktoberfest at Bousquet Mountain; ‘Misty Blues Residency and Supper Club’ at Dotties

The Clark Art Institute and the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center present The Metropolitan Opera’s broadcast of “Les Contes d’Hoffman,” the first installment of the 2024–25 season of The Met: Live in HD.

Clark Art Institute and Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center present The Metropolitan Opera’s broadcast of ‘Les Contes d’Hoffman’

Williamstown and Great Barrington— On Saturday, October 5th at 1 p.m. (The Clark) and Sunday, October 6th at 1 p.m. (The Mahaiwe,) the Clark Art Institute and the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center present The Metropolitan Opera’s broadcast of “Les Contes d’Hoffman,” the first installment of the 2024–25 season of The Met: Live in HD, an award-winning series of live, high-definition cinema simulcasts features the full live performance along with backstage interviews and commentary. 

Offenbach’s fantastical opera stars French tenor Benjamin Bernheim in the title role of the tormented poet. Joining Bernheim is American soprano Erin Morley as Olympia, South African soprano Pretty Yende as Antonia, and French mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine as Giulietta to complete Hoffmann’s trio of lovers. Marco Armiliato conducts Bartlett Sher’s evocative production, which also features American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn as the Four Villains and Russian mezzo-soprano Vasilisa Berzhanskaya in her company debut as Nicklausse.

The broadcasts are on Saturday, October 5th at 1 p.m. at The Clark on South Street in Williamstown, and on Sunday, October 6th at 1 p.m. at The Mahaiwe on Castle Street in Great Barrington. Tickets and more information can be found online: The ClarkThe Mahaiwe.

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Hudson Hall presents Riley Mulherkar as part of the 2024 Hudson Jazz Festival

Hudson, N.Y. — On Saturday, October 5th at 7 p.m., Hudson Hall presents Riley Mulherkar as part of the 2024 Hudson Jazz Festival.

Riley Mulherkar is on the brink of stardom. Just this year, the young trumpeter has been recognized as a one of Downbeat magazine’s “25 for The Future”; his debut album ranked as one of the “20 Best Albums of 2024 (So Far)” by the Boston Globe. With a hybrid sound that pays tribute to the oldest jazz traditions with 1960s jazz funk grooves and a style that is “folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” (NPR Music,) catch Mulherkar’s intimate Hudson Jazz Festival debut before he goes stratospheric.

Riley Mulherkar. Courtesy Hudson Hall.

The concert is on Saturday, October 5th at 7 p.m., Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House on Warren Street in Hudson, N.Y. Tickets and more information can be found online. 

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New Marlborough Town Library presents ‘Intuitive Collage Group Exhibit’ featuring Jody King Camarra and students

Mill River— From October 1st to the 29th, the New Marlborough Town Library presents ‘Intuitive Collage Group Exhibit’ featuring Jody King Camarra.

The featured artists include Charles Baum, Celia Kahn, Caryn King, Is Marcus, Kate Magram, Susan Plummer, Kathy Rose, and Jody King Camarra.

‘September Faces.’ Courtesy New Marlborough Town Library.

The exhibit runs from October 1st to the 29th at the New Marlborough Town Library at 1 Mill River Great Barrington Road in Mill River. There is an opening reception on Sunday, October 6th from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. More information can be found online. 

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Art Omi Pavilions groundbreaking ceremony

Chatham, N.Y.— On Saturday, October 5th at 2 p.m., Art Omi presents a groundbreaking ceremony for Art Omi Pavilions. 

The ceremony serves to celebrate the initiation of an innovative new arts campus and express gratitude to the local community for their support of the project.

Art Omi Pavilions is a multi-phase project that will realize 18 exhibition pavilions across a 190-acre site. The pavilions will include permanent, standalone exhibition spaces dedicated to the legacies of distinguished artists and private collectors, as well as two venues for rotating exhibitions, providing lively and ongoing cultural context; and a visitor center to orient viewers on the site, provide museological services, and expand the robust education program of Art Omi in Ghent, N.Y.

This trailblazing new relationship between artists, collectors, architects and Art Omi offers participants institutionally supported opportunities to create the way their legacy is understood by the public. In the current art market, late-career artists are at constant risk of losing control of their oeuvre with few ways to guarantee that a life’s work will not end up sequestered in the storage units of major institutions. Art Omi Pavilions offers artists and private collectors an alternative to the standard model of institutional acquisition, a chance to control how their work lives on. 

Early rendering of the Visitors Center, Courtesy BKSK Architects.

Art Omi Pavilions is conceived to be carbon neutral in operation, with a combination of renewable inputs and efficiency measures designed to offset 100% of the anticipated energy usage on site. The landscape design actively preserves a wide greenbelt and viewshed while maintaining sweeping views of the Catskills and Taconic ridge, rehabilitating forest areas to optimize carbon sequestration, and continuing a historic agriculture lease to a nearby cattle farmer for grazing land.

The ceremony is on Saturday, October 5th at 2 p.m. at Art Omi Pavilions located at 3105 NY Route 66 in Chatham, N.Y. The whole community is invited! More information can be found online. 

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Oktoberfest at Bousquet Mountain

Pittsfield— On Saturday, October 5th from noon to 5 p.m., celebrate Oktoberfest at Bousquet Mountain.

Oktoberfest is a rich tradition from Munich, Germany with local brews, traditional food, and plenty of festivities. Sample from local craft beers, sway to the rhythm of some great music, savor the taste of sausage and pretzels, show off your stein-holding strength, test your pretzel-tossing precision, and strut your stuff in the lederhosen contest. There will be live music by Jack Waldheim. 

‘Oktoberfest.’ Courtesy Bousquet Mountain.

The festival is on Saturday, October 5th from noon to 5 p.m. at Bousquet Mountain, located at 101 Dan Fox Drive in Pittsfield. Tickets and more information can be found online.

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Dottie’s Coffee Lounge presents ‘Misty Blues Residency and Supper Club’ every Friday night in October

Pittsfield— Every Friday night in October, Dottie’s Coffee Lounge presents ‘Misty Blues Residency and Supper Club.”

2019 International Blues Challenge finalist, Misty Blues, is fronted by lead singer/band founder Gina Coleman has played original and traditional blues with hints of jazz, soul, funk and tent revival gospel since 1999. The band has recorded with Eric Gales, Charles Neville and Joe Louis Walker, and opened for contemporary blues artists like Tab Benoit, James Montgomery, John Primer, Roomful Of Blues, Albert Cummings, and Michael Powers. Misty Blues performs extensively throughout New England and has toured the continental U.S., Canada, and the UK. The band has been nominated for a few Independent Blues Music Awards and their original recordings have broad international airplay.

In the summer of 1999 Gina Coleman was performing in the Williamstown Theatre Festival production of A Raisin In The Sun. That production featured the acting of Ruben Santiago Hudson, Viola Davis, Kimberly Elise and Gloria Foster. Coleman was cast as a gospel singer. Nearing the end of the show’s run, Ruben Santiago Hudson told her that her voice was well suited for the blues and urged her to take that next musical direction. Coleman heeded his advance, and after a quarter of a century, Misty Blues has stood the test of time.

Misty Blues. Courtesy Dottie’s.

The event is every Friday night in October. Dinner service begins at 6 p.m. with live music from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Enjoy dinner or sit at the bar and enjoy the warm surroundings. Reservations are required for the dinner. For reservations, call 413-443-1792. More information can be found online.

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