SOUL-POP ARTIST EMILY KING to PLAY at MASS MoCA
Emily King
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Emily King, the Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter whose soulful mix of blues, R&B, and light rock has made her a fixture on the New York City music scene for the past several years, comes to MASS MoCA for an Alt Cabaret performance on Saturday, April 14, 2012, at 8 p.m.
King’s music is anchored by tightly crafted and sophisticated compositions that are reminiscent of songwriters from the 1970s like Stevie Wonder, Minnie Riperton and Phoebe Snow. Her soft, jazzy vocal style and organic soulful songwriting recall Norah Jones and Corinne Bailey Rae.
CANTILENA CHAMBER CHOIR SINGS KARL JENKINS’ SACRED SONGS
Karl Jenkins
(LENOX, Mass.) – The Cantilena Chamber Choir presents Soul & Spirit: Karl Jenkins’ Sacred Songs, a concert for chorus and orchestra, on Sunday, April 15, at 3 p.m. at Trinity Church, Lenox. The concert showcases music by the Welsh composer and musician whose career has straddled the worlds of jazz, rock, and classical music, including a stint as a member of the progressive-rock group Soft Machine.
Karl Jenkins, who is considered to be among the most-performed living composers in the world, made his mark as a composer writing commercial music for Levi’s, British Airways, Renault, Tag Heuer, Pepsi, De Beers and Delta Airlines. For Delta, he wrote the famous song, “Adiemus,” that accompanies jets in flight. “Adiemus” combined classical with ethnic vocal sounds and percussion with an invented language and topped classical and “pop” charts around the world. His Armed Man: A Mass For Peace has been performed nearly 1,000 times in 20 different countries since the CD was released, and his recorded output has resulted in seventeen gold and platinum disc awards.
NEW MASS MOCA EXHIBITION LOOKS at the URBAN ENVIRONMENT
Mary Lum, Untitled 2, 2011, Acrylic on panel (Courtesy the artist and Joseph Carroll and Sons, Boston and Frederiecke Taylor, New York)
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Invisible Cities, opening on Sunday, April 15, 2012, at MASS MoCA, features the work of ten international artists who interpret and re-imagine metropolises both familiar and fantastic. Invisible Cities features works by Lee Bul, Carlos Garaicoa, Liz Glynn, Mary Lum, Emeka Ogboh, and Sopheap Pich, with new commissions by Diana Al-Hadid, Kim Faler, Francesco Simeti, and Miha Strukelj. There is an opening reception for museum members and the artists on Saturday, April 14, 5:30 – 7:30. Members are admitted free; not-yet-members may attend for $10 per person.
Considering the city both from within and without, many of the artists translate the fleeting experience of place through ephemeral materials such as light, soap, and sound. Their works conjure impressions rather than representations of cities, reminding us that any city is as much an idea or experience as an assemblage of asphalt, brick, steel, and glass.
PIANIST to PLAY BACH, CHOPIN, SCHUBERT and ‘[LEONARD] COHEN VARIATIONS’ at WILLIAMS COLLEGE
Simone Dinnerstein (photo Lisa Marie Mazzucco)
(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – Pianist Simone Dinnerstein will perform a solo concert featuring works by Chopin, Brahms, Bach, Schubert, and Daniel Felsenfeld’s Cohen Variations at Chapin Hall on the Williams College campus on Sunday, April 15, 2012, at 3. As part of the music department’s Boesendorfer series, Dinnerstein will play a 97-key, 9-foot, six-inch long, Imperial model Boesendorfer grand, an instrument which vies in the piano world for the title “King of Instruments.” The concert is free and open to the public.
In addition to works from the classical canon, Dinnerstein will perform The Cohen Variations by Daniel Felsenfeld. This intriguing work is a musical translation that explores Leonard Cohen’s song “Suzanne.” In the composer’s words, “’The Cohen Variations’ is a love letter to the song, and to the artist who performs it.”
The performance also will include Nocturne for Piano No.8 in D-flat major, Op. 27 by Friederich Chopin; Intermezzo, Op. 118, No. 2 in A by Johannes Brahms; Partita No. 2 in C minor, BWV 826 by Johann Sebastian Bach; 4 Impromptus D899 op. 90 by Franz Schubert; and Partita No. 1 in B-flat Major, BWV 825 by Bach.
OLD 97S FRONTMAN to PREVIEW UPCOMING SOLO ALBUM at CLUB HELSINKI
Rhett Miller
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Texan Rhett Miller, best known as lead singer/guitarist for alt-country band the Old 97’s, kicks off a national club tour for his new solo album, The Dreamer, at Club Helsinki on Friday, April 13, 2012, at 9pm. Mike and Ruthy warm up the crowd for Miller, who is fresh off his triumphant appearance at the SXSW Music Conference in Austin.
The Dreamer was produced by Miller himself and will be released on his own Maximum Sunshine Records, distributed by The Orchard. The album features guest appearances by singers Rosanne Cash and Rachael Yamagata, as well as additional percussion by Jerry Marotta (Peter Gabriel). The band on the record is Miller’s touring group, the Serial Lady Killers. This is the second release on his label, the first being 2011?s The Interpreter – Live at Largo.
The Dreamer is Miller’s sixth solo record and represents the first time he has ever self-produced. In the past, Miller’s solo efforts were dramatically different from his work with Old 97?s. While the band’s songs are often steeped in Americana and country, the solo records have always been decidedly more rock and pop affairs. The Dreamer finds the Texas-bred, New York-based singer/songwriter marrying his two worlds like never before.