Mr Sun
MR SUN BRINGS BLUEGRASS ALL-STAR TEAM to HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Already a quartet featuring four stars of the contemporary bluegrass scene, Mr Sun augments its lineup when it performs with special guest Tony Trischka, perhaps the most influential banjoist in the world, at Club Helsinki Hudson on Thursday, November 19, at 8pm. Led by legendary fiddler Darol Anger, a founding member of both the David Grisman Quintet and the classical-bluegrass fusion outfit, the Turtle Island String Quartet, Mr Sun is the living embodiment of bluegrass history stretching from Bill Monroe to today’s most progressive sounds, which are in large part unimaginable without the path laid out by Trischka and Anger, who are also bandmates in Psychograss.
Debo Band (photo Pete Lee)
DEBO BAND BRINGS ETHIOPIAN POP-FUNK to BARD
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – The Boston-based Debo Band, which specializes in a blend of 1960s-era Ethiopian pop music, soul, funk, and Eastern European brass band sounds, performs in the Fisher Center at Bard College on Thursday, November 19, 2015, at 8pm. There will be a preconcert talk at 7pm. Since its inception in 2006, Debo has won raves for its groundbreaking take on the golden age of Ethiopian music, incorporating traditional scales and vocal styles alongside American soul and funk rhythms, with instrumentation reminiscent of Eastern European brass bands.
Outdoor Pool, the Vegetarian
ABANDONED CATSKILLS RESORTS FEATURED in PHOTOGRAPHY SHOW at VALLEY VARIETY
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – “Echoes of the Borscht Belt,” a poignant series of photographs by Marisa Scheinfeld, featuring haunting contemporary images of the former thriving resort hotels in the Catskill Mountains region now abandoned, ghostly, and caught in a state of entropy and decay, goes on view at Valley Variety this weekend and will remain on view through the end of the year. There will be a ticketed artist talk and reception with the photographer on Saturday, December 12, from 5:30 to 8:30pm.
Benjamin Bowman, concertmaster for American Ballet Theatre, and pianist Peter Longworth (photo by Tara McMullen)
CANADIAN VIOLIN-PIANO DUO to PLAY WORKS by ELGAR, SIBELIUS and KAROL SZYMANOWSKI at OPERA HOUSE
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – American-Canadian violinist Benjamin Bowman and Toronto-based pianist Peter Longworth will offer a program featuring Karol Szymanowski’s “Mythes: Three Poems for Violin and Piano,” Edward Elgar’s Violin Sonata, and Jean Sibelius’s Four Pieces for Violin and Piano, at the Hudson Opera House as part of Classics on Hudson’s second season on Saturday, November 21, at 7pm. All three works on the program were written during the First World War, and the second half of the program features Elgar’s Violin Sonata composed in 1918 as the war drew to a close.
Walkabout (Past the Pond) by David Konigsberg
‘RADICAL INVENTIONS’ EXHIBIT OPENS at CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – “Radical Inventions,” a group show featuring the work of five artists, opens at Carrie Haddad Gallery this weekend, with a reception for the artists on Sunday, November 22, from 2 to 4pm, open to the public. Painters David Konigsberg, of Hudson, and Ralph Stout will show recent work alongside gallery favorites of fellow artist Shawn Snow. Multi-media constructions by Stephen King will also be featured with large abstract works by architect turned visual artist Juan Garcia Nunez.
Sean Chen (photo Carolyn Cruz/ The Cliburn)
HUDSON VALLEY PHILHARMONIC TOASTS WMHT with WORKS by BARTOK, RAVEL, and SIBELIUS at BARDAVON
(POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.) – The Hudson Valley Philharmonic will pay tribute to Hudson Valley public radio station WMHT on its 25th anniversary with a concert at the Bardavon on Saturday, November 21, at 8pm, featuring works by Bartok, Ravel, and Sibelius, featuring Van Cliburn International Piano Competition winner Sean Chen performing Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G Major. The program also includes Bartok’s Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, and Symphony No. 1, Op. 39, E minor, by Sibelius.
David Jacobs-Strain (photo Tara Laidlaw)
DAVID JACOBS-STRAIN BRINGS ORIGINAL BLUES-ROOTS to HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Roots-blues musician David Jacobs-Strain will bring his singular modern take on rootsy blues to Club Helsinki Hudson on Friday, November 20, at 9pm. A highly percussive guitarist and slide wizard, David Jacobs-Strain buries himself inside a song and seemingly channels decades more life than he could possibly have experienced and miles beyond what he must have seen growing up in Eugene, Ore. But what comes out sounds like a modern version of Mississippi Fred McDowell, Lightnin’ Hopkins or Skip James mixed in with a little Michael Hedges or Kelly Joe Phelps. He favors modal blues and his playing often takes the music back to its African roots. His live show moves from humorous, subversive blues, to delicate balladry, and then swings back to swampy rock and roll.