A highly selective preview of cultural events taking place this weekend in the greater Hudson, N.Y. region, including a new-music ensemble; a bevy of NYC-based performance artists; a triple-threat reading; a 100-year-old Futurist puppet show; and the finale of an early music concert series.
So Percussion (photo LiveWellPhoto)
SO PERCUSSION BRINGS CONTEMPORARY RHYTHM & PULSE to PS21
(CHATHAM, N.Y.) – Brooklyn-based new music ensemble So Percussion brings its innovative interpretations of modern classics and collaborative new works to the Tent at PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century on Saturday, July 9, at 8pm. Champions of innovation and curiosity, So Percussion produces its own original music and frequently collaborates with other musicians and performers. They are well known for using original and exotic instruments in performance and on recordings.
So Percussion’s repertoire ranges from music of the 20th century by John Cage, Steve Reich, and Iannis Xenakis, to commissioning and advocating works by contemporary composers such as David Lang, Steve Mackey, and Paul Lansky, to distinctively modern collaborations with artists who work outside the classical concert hall.
Adrienne Truscott (photo Richard Hardcastle)
CATCH PERFORMANCE SERIES VISITS BASILICA
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – The CATCH performance series brings ten cutting-edge acts in a variety of genres to Basilica Hudson for the second summer in a row on Sunday, July 10, at 6pm. Most of the performers are based in New York City and the Hudson Valley, and include innovative creators in theater, dance, music, and other fields.
This year’s performers include Banana Bag & Bodice, celebrated downtown theater company now based in Beacon; Chelsea and Magda, Philly-based performance duo with roots in the Hudson Valley; the NYC-based music/story duo James and Jerome; Beacon-based interactive installation artist Steve Lambert; interdisciplinary West Coast Hudson Valley transplant David Szlasa; dance-maker and music artist Saúl Ulerio; Dan Safer’s NYC and Catskill based trans-disciplinary performance collective, Witness Relocation ; Obie-award winning composer Heather Christian; choreographer Faye Driscoll; and Adrienne Truscott, choreographer, circus acrobat, dancer, writer, and as of late, comedian, among others.
Nick Flynn (photo Dion Ogust)
NICK FLYNN, NELLY REIFLER, and SEAN H. DOYLE to READ at SPOTTY DOG
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Authors and poets including Nick Flynn, Nelly Reifler, and Sean H. Doyle will read from their works at Spotty Dog Books & Ale on Saturday, July 9, at 7pm, as part of Volume, the free monthly reading and music series every second Saturday of the month. The readings will be followed by booksinging and a set by writer/DJ Susie DeFord.
Scene from ‘Demolishing…’ (photo Todd Norwood)
BARD SUMMERSCAPE FEATURES FUTURIST and FUTURISTIC PUPPET THEATRE
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – “Demolishing Everything with Amazing Speed” (1917), four puppet plays by leading Italian Futurist Fortunato Depero, as newly rediscovered, translated, designed, and directed by Obie and Bessie Award-winning artist Dan Hurlin, begins its run at the Bard SummerScape Festival on Thursday, July 7, with the first performance almost a full century after its creation. Hurlin’s production combines traditional bunraku puppetry techniques with state-of-the-art technology – from 3-D printing to sound sampling – and a live score by Tony Award-nominated composer/sound designer Dan Moses Schreier (July 7–17). Presentations take place in the Frank Gehry-designed Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts.
Eric Krasno
ERIC KRASNO BAND to BRING NEW SOUL-ROCK SOUNDS to HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Iconic jam-band guitarist and producer Eric Krasno brings his band and soul-rock jams to Club Helsinki Hudson on Saturday, July 9, at 9pm. Krasno is best known as guitarist for jam-rock avatars Soulive and Lettuce, but releases his first solo album, “Blood from a Stone,” the day before his Helsinki show.
Dust Bowl Faeries (photo Noah Fowler)
DUST BOWL FAERIES to PERFORM at TANG MUSEUM – ON THE ROOF
(SARATOGA, N.Y.) – Ryder Cooley & Dust Bowl Faeries will perform a concert of ethereal gothic folk music on the rooftop of the Tang Museum on Friday, July 8, at 7pm. This free concert is part of the Tang Museum’s UpBeat on the Roof summer music series.
Mezzo-soprano Deborah Rentz-Moore
ASTON MAGNA FESTIVAL CONCLUDES WITH JS BACH at BARD
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – Aston Magna, the nation’s longest-running festival of early music, concludes its 44th season with “J.S. Bach: Sacred and Secular,” at Bard College on Friday, July 8. The concert features virtuoso early music artists performing on authentic period instruments, and a bevy of vocal talent, with Dominique Labelle, soprano; Deborah Rentz-Moore, alto; William Hite and Frank Kelley, tenors; Ulysses Thomas and Jesse Blumberg, baritones, performing with a full Aston Magna baroque ensemble. The program features Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068; Cantata No 12: Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen; and Cantata No. 201: The Contest of Phoebus and Pan.
For the Bard finale, tickets are $35 in advance or $40 at the door. Purchase tickets by phone at (888) 492-1283.