Auctioneer Dolores Meissner, one of the four Rural Guides who will be presenting programs on July 4 (photo Uli Rose)
BEHOLD! LAUNCHES LIVING MUSEUM of CONTEMPORARY RURAL LIFE
(NEW LEBANON, N.Y.) – BEHOLD! New Lebanon, the nation’s first living museum of contemporary rural American life, kicks off its first full season on Saturday, July 4. BEHOLD! New Lebanon (BNL) is a museum-without-walls, unlike any other, offering a variety of guided tours by Rural Guides, locals who introduce visitors to today’s rural America. The July 4 program includes dog training advice and insights; an inside look at Lebanon Valley Speedway; instructions on hand-crafting all-beef sausage (tasting included); auctioneering; and collaging as art.
Soledad Barrio in ‘Antigona’ (photo Chris Bennion)
FLAMENCO DANCE DRAMA ‘ANTIGONA’ at MAHAIWE
(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca will perform their original dance drama, “Antigona,” at the Mahaiwe from Wednesday, July 1, through Sunday, July 5,. This visually arresting adaptation of Sophocles’s “Antigone” merges live music, theatrical spectacle, and dance, bringing the inherent theatricality of Flamenco to bear on this classical tragedy – reigniting the theatrical potential of the Greek chorus as the lyrical and rhythmic heart of the drama.
Hudson Air Radio Theater
LIVE RADIO PLAYS RETURN to PS21
(CHATHAM, N.Y.) – Hudson Air Radio Theater returns to the Tent at PS21 on Friday, July 3 at 8pm and Sunday, July 5, at 2pm with a selection of radio plays by classic American writers including Mark Twain, O. Henry, Dorothy Parker, and Booth Tarkington, performed live by a cast of five actors, renowned pianist Lincoln Mayorga, and sound effects. Actors including Lora Lee Ecobellli, Byron Nilsson, James Occhino, and Nancy Rothman will perform the voices of dozens of characters, while Andrew Joffe directs and creates the foley sound effects.
Bard Summerscape’s ‘Oklahoma,’ with- Amber Gray, Laurey; and Damon Daunno, Curly (photo Cory Weaver)
AVANT-GARDE AMERICANA VERSION of ‘OKLAHOMA!’ at BARD SUMMERSCAPE
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – The Pulitzer Prize-winning classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, “Oklahoma!,” is getting a reboot in an experimental staging in the Fisher Center at Bard College as part of Bard SummerScape, now through July 19. The interactive production in-the-round features new staging, new musical arrangements for a six-piece Americana band by Henry Hewes Award-winner Daniel Kluger, and new choreography by Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award-winner John Heginbotham.
CATCH the Hudson
PERFORMANCE SERIES ‘CATCH’ HEADS to BASILICA HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) CATCH?, a Brooklynbased, Obie Award-winning, nomadic and multidisciplinary performance series, comes to Basilica Hudson on Sunday, July 5, at 6pm. A serious performance framed by a serious party, each CATCH event features an array of artists working across and between disciplines, creating a space for community discovery and exchange. This installment features Gelsey Bell, Malik Gaines and Alexandro Segade, Nick Hallett & Luciana Acuna, Jeff Larson, R.B. Schlather, Ellen Foster, Jason Martin, Jack Magai, and Hana van der Kolk: The Squares, Adrienne Truscott, and others.
WIYOS BRING OLD-TIMEY MUSIC to HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Old-timey trio the Wiyos bring their original blend of music inspired by the early American musical idioms of the 1920s and ’30s, including blues, country, ragtime, gospel, and swing, to Club Helsinki Hudson on Thursday, July 2, at 8pm. The Wiyos are Michael Farkas, Teddy Weber, and “Sauerkraut” Seth Travins. Beloved for their unique blend of early swing jazz, rural folk, old-time blues and Appalachian music, the Hudson Valley-based trio the Wiyos are an intercontinental sensation, having warmed up U.S. audiences on a full 28-day summer tour for Bob Dylan in 2009 and having been featured in the BBC TV programs “Folk America – Hollerers, Stompers and Old-Time Ramblers” and “No Sleep ‘Til Yell.”
Simi Stone
(WOODSTOCK, N.Y.) – An all-star lineup of female talent, including Jane Siberry, Catherine Russell, Amy Helm, Simi Stone, Tracy Bonham, Lindsey Webster, Ruthy Ungar, and Sari Botton join forces for “Calling All Angels,” a benefit concert for Women Empowering Women (WEW), on Thursday, July 2, at 8pm, at Bearsville Theater. The concert will feature female vocalists paired in various duet formats.
Aston Magna artistic director and violinist Daniel Stepner
ASTON MAGNA PRESENTS SCHUBERT’S OCTET for WIND and STRINGS
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y. and GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – “Wind Power,” featuring Schubert’s monumental Octet for winds and strings, the Boccherini Quintet, and duos from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” will be performed this weekend as part of the Aston Magna Music Festival, at Bard College’s Olin Auditorium on Friday, July 3, at 8pm, and at the Daniel Arts Center at Simon’s Rock College on Saturday, July 4, at 6pm. Musicians include Eric Hoeprich, period clarinet; Stephen Hammer, classical oboe; Andrew Schwartz, bassoon; Todd Williams, natural horn, and Daniel Stepner, Baroque violin, and ensemble.
ART & HISTORY EXHIBIT EXAMINES MOHICAN-DUTCH ROOTS of ATHENS
(ATHENS, N.Y.) – “Taking Root: Caniskek and the Meeting of Two Worlds,” an art and history exhibition based on the transfer of Mohican territory called Caniskek to Dutch settlers who renamed it Athens 350 years ago, is on view at the Athens Cultural Center through July 26. The exhibit juxtaposes historical artifacts and excerpts from period journals with contemporary art to tell the tale of colliding worlds, investigating what the world was like here in 1665 as well as the powerful ideas of exploration, settlement, ownership, loss, culture and destiny.