A highly selective preview of cultural events taking place this weekend in the greater Berkshire region, including a multimedia song cycle; two acoustic guitar wizards; two Berkshire poets take NYC; an American theatrical premiere; a jazz festival; and a whole lot more.
‘Suite for Summer Rain’ by Michael Arthur
PETER SALETT’S MULTIMEDIA SONG CYCLE at MASS MoCA
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Film composer and singer-songwriter Peter Salett performs “Suite for the Summer Rain / Dance of the Yellow Leaf,” a wistful song cycle backed by a full band and string quartet and accompanied by artist Michael Arthur’s evocative, improvised ink illustrations that unfurl alongside the music in Club B10 at MASS MoCA on Saturday, October 8, at 8pm.
Nicholson Baker
NICHOLSON BAKER & SIMON WINCHESTER in CONVERSATION at MUSIC & MORE
(NEW MARLBOROUGH, Mass.) – Prize-winning authors Nicholson Baker and Simon Winchester will appear in conversation to discuss writing and their work as part of the Music & More Series at the Historic Meeting House on Saturday, October 8, at 4:30pm. A wine and cheese reception will follow in the Meeting House Gallery. This event concludes the 25th anniversary season of the Music & More series.
Taylor Mali
BERKSHIRE POETS TAYLOR MALI & CRISTIN O’KEEFE APTOWICZ TEAM UP for NYC READING
(NEW YORK, N.Y.) – Former Berkshire resident Taylor Mali and Amy Clampitt Fellow Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz will be holding a reading together on Thursday, October 6, at 8 pm (doors 7:30) at The Sheen Center, at 18 Bleecker St., in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, as part of its “2: The Art of the Duo” series. The reading will take place in the Sheen Center’s Loreto Theater, a restored, 19th-century, neoclassical proscenium house. The two veteran performance poets will go back and forth, poem for poem, in celebration of their longtime friendship.
Grant Gordy and Ross Martin
ACOUSTIC GUITAR WIZARDS CELEBRATE NEW CD at HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Acoustic guitar wizards Grant Gordy and Ross Martin celebrate the release of their new duo recording, “Year of the Dog,” at Club Helsinki Hudson on Friday, October 7, at 9pm. The Hudson Valley’s own The Lucky Three will warm up the crowd for the musically dazzling and creative duo.
Melissa Reardon
WORKS by MOZART and SCHUBERT in LEAF PEEPERS ‘CLASSICALLY ROMANTIC’ PROGRAM
(COPAKE, N.Y.) – Works by Mozart and Schubert will be featured in the “Classically Romantic” program for string trio and flute at Our Lady of Hope Church on Saturday, October 8, at 7:30 pm, as part of the Leaf Peeper Concert Series presented by Clarion Concerts. “Classically Romantic” brings together Raman Ramakrishnan, cello; Melissa Reardon, viola; Daniel Chong, violin; and Eugenia Zukerman, flute, and features two works of Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s great Divertimento in E flat major.
Karrin Allyson (photo Ingrid Hertfelder)
KARRIN ALLYSON, SCOTT ROBINSON to HIGHLIGHT PITTSFIELD CITYJAZZ FESTIVAL
(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – The Karrin Allyson Trio, the Scott Robinson Quartet, and the U.S. Army Jazz Ambassadors big band headline the 12th annual Pittsfield CityJazz Festival, which runs October 7 through October 16 at various venues throughout the city. Allyson and the Jazz Ambassadors perform at the Colonial Theatre on Saturday, October 15; Robinson and his quartet are at Flavours Restaurant on Friday, October 14. The festival, a program of Berkshires Jazz, Inc., also includes an annual jazz crawl; a new discovery in the organization’s Jazz Prodigy series; and a new exhibit of jazz photography. Most of the festival’s events are free. The festival kicks off on Columbus Day weekend, October 7-9, with Jazz About Town, the annual “jazz crawl” featuring local musicians in restaurants and lounges throughout Pittsfield’s Upstreet Cultural District.
David Adkins
‘THE BAKELITE MASTERPIECE’ GETS AMERICAN PREMIERE at UNICORN THEATRE
(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – “The Bakelite Masterpiece” by Kate Cayley, a drama based on a real-life story of an art forgery that raises questions about collaboration and the intertwining of art, commerce, and politics, receives its American premiere at the Unicorn Theatre now through Sunday, October 23, in a co-production by Berkshire Theatre Group and WAM Theatre. WAM artistic director Kristen van Ginhoven directs the play, which stars David Adkins and Corinna May.