BerkshireWeekend Cultural Preview, June 21-25, 2017

A highly selective preview of cultural events taking place this weekend in the greater Berkshire region, including early music; a dance visionary; a teenage jazz phenom; Mozart; Wilco; Brazilian Girls, and a whole lot more.

 

 

Jonah Bokaer Choreography (photo Sharen Bradford)

JONAH BOKAER BRINGS PIRANDELLO-INSPIRED WORK to JACOB’S PILLOW

(BECKET, Mass.) – While the Miami City Ballet occupies the Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob’s Pillow for the long weekend, contemporary dance aficionados won’t want to miss the program in the Doris Duke Theatre, where visionary choreographer Jonah Bokaer stages his newest work, Rules of the Game, set to an original score by 10-time Grammy Award-winning hip-hop/R&B artist Pharrell Williams. The program, running Wednesday, June 21-Sunday, June 25, also includes Bokaer’s gripping Occupant, a trio work based on Edward Albee’s play about sculptor Louise Nevelson.

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Amanda Forsythe (photo Arielle Doneson)

BOSTON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL to BRING COMIC OPERAS by PERGOLESI to MAHAIWE

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – The Grammy Award-winning Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) brings a double bill of Neapolitan comic opera by Pergolesi to the Mahaiwe on Saturday, June 24, at 8pm, and Sunday, June 25, at 3pm. BEMF will present encore performances of its 2014 production of Giovanni Battista Pergolesi’s “La serva padrona” and “Livietta e Tracollo.”

Soprano Amanda Forsythe, acclaimed by the New York Times as “simply dazzling,” heads the cast of four dynamic singers, all favorites of past BEMF Opera productions. Forsythe sings the role of Serpina in La serva padrona opposite bass-baritone Douglas Williams in the role of Uberto, while Erica Schuller and Jesse Blumberg perform the respective title roles in Livietta e Tracollo. The soloists appear alongside the 13-member BEMF Chamber Ensemble and five members of the BEMF Dance Company.

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Eric Hoeprich

MOZART’S CLARINET QUINTET on TAP at ASTON MAGNA

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., and ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – Aston Magna Music Festival presents Late, Great Mozart, showcasing historical clarinet master Eric Hoeprich, at Bard College on Friday, June 23 at 8pm, and at Saint James Place in Great Barrington on Saturday, June 24 at 6pm. The concert includes Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, K. 563 and K. 581.

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Joey Alexander

JAZZ PIANO PHENOM JOEY ALEXANDER to MAKE TANGLEWOOD DEBUT

(LENOX, Mass.) – Jazz pianist Joey Alexander, a three-time Grammy Award-nominee at the ripe age of 13, makes his Tanglewood debut in Ozawa Hall on Friday, June 23, at 8pm, with his trio, including bassist Dan Chmielinski and drummer Kendrick Scott. The Bali-born prodigy has seen one of the fastest career rises in jazz since the release of his chart-topping debut CD, “My Favorite Things,” in 2015.

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Wilco

WILCO HEADLINES FIFTH INDIE-ROCK FEST at MASS MoCA

(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Indie-rock avatars Wilco will be joined by seminal punk-art rockers Television, Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin with the Guilty Ones, Kurt Vile and the Violators, Peter Wolf & the Midnight Travelers, plus dozens of other performers, comedians, and speakers at the fifth Solid Sound Festival at MASS MoCA from Friday, June 23 through Sunday, June 25.

Other artists include Robert Glasper Experiment, Dawn of Midi, Kevin Morby, Joan Shelley, Big Thief, Deep Sea Diver, Andy Shauf, Alloy Orchestra, Idris Ackamoor and the Pyramids, Kacy & Clayton, Daniel Bachman, Jeff Parker Trio, The Shaggs and Max Hatt / Edda Glass.

Wilco members’ side projects including Tweedy & Friends, The Autumn Defense, On Fillmore, The Nels Cline Four, and Quindar will also perform, all on Sunday.

Reminder: If you’re seeking a quiet, intimate experience with the fabulous art exhibitions at MASS MoCA, this weekend might not be the best one to choose….

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John Paul White

JOHN PAUL WHITE BRINGS GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING COUNTRY-FOLK to HELSINKI HUDSON

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – John Paul White, one half of the Grammy Award-winning duo the Civil Wars, brings his country-flavored neo-folk music to Club Helsinki Hudson on Saturday, June 24, at 9pm. Special guest singer-songwriter Lera Lynn, of TV’s “True Detective” fame, will warm up the crowd for White.

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Don White

SINGER-SONGWRITER and HUMORIST DON WHITE to ENTERTAIN at GUTHRIE CENTER

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Veteran singer-songwriter and humorist Don White brings his deft guitar, his catalog of rootsy songs, his gift of gab, and his irrepressible wit to the Guthrie Center on Friday, June 23, at 8pm, as part of the Troubadour Series.

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Brazilian Girls

BRAZILIAN GIRLS BRING MULTILINGUAL DANCE-ROCK to HELSINKI HUDSON

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – They are neither Brazilian nor all girls, but Grammy Award-nominated Brazilian Girls – fronted by the fabulous Sabina Sciubba – bring their singular, sophisticated, and catchy fusion of electronic dance music and world-beat styles to Club Helsinki Hudson on Sunday, June 25, at 8pm. Brazilian Girls are the descendants of New Wave pioneers like the B-52s, Grace Jones, and the Talking Heads, and sway shoulder-to-shoulder with contemporaries like Grouplove, Reptar, Of Montreal, Rubblebucket, and Moloko.

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Kathleen McNenny

‘THE BIRDS’ FLY INTO BARRINGTON STAGE

(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – A stage adaptation of “The Birds,” the 1952 Daphne du Maurier suspense story immortalized in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film version starring Tippi Hedren, runs at Barrington Stage Company from Thursday, June 15, through Saturday, July 8. The play is written by acclaimed Irish playwright Conor McPherson and directed by Barrington Stage artistic director Julianne Boyd.

“The Birds” will star Kathleen McNenny (Broadway’s The Father) as Diane, Sasha Diamond (BSC’s peerless/Broadway’s Significant Other) as Julia, Stevie Ray Dallimore (Broadway’s Impressionism) as Nat, and Obie Award-winner Rocco Sisto (BSC’s His Girl Friday) as Tierney. The play runs on the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden St.).

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Krakauer-Tagg Duo (photo Tasja Keetman)

COMING SOON: KRAKAUER/TAGG DUO to BRING INVENTIVE NEW SOUNDS to HELSINKI HUDSON

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – The Krakauer/Tagg Duo, featuring world renowned clarinetist David Krakauer and experimental keyboardist Kathleen Tagg, brings its innovative blend of world music, jazz, classical, experimental techniques, and electronics to Club Helsinki Hudson on Sunday, July 2, at 7pm, as part of the Rogovoy Salon, a new music and literary series curated and hosted by cultural journalist and music critic Seth Rogovoy.

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The Flying V guitar (courtesy National GUITAR Museum)

GUITAR GETS SPOTLIGHT at BERKSHIRE MUSEUM

(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – GUITAR: The Instrument That Rocked the World, a fully immersive exhibition exploring all aspects of one of the most enduring musical icons of the last 200 years, is at the Berkshire Museum, on view through Monday, September 4.

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Gabriel Metsu (Dutch, 1629–1667), Public Notary, c. 1653. Oil on panel, 16.14 x 12.8 in (41 x 32.5 cm). The Leiden Collection, N.Y.

17th-CENTURY DUTCH PAINTINGS at THE CLARK 

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – An Inner World: 17th-Century Dutch Genre Painting is on view at the Clark Art Institute now through Sunday, September 17. The exhibit brings together paintings from the Clark and The Leiden Collection, among the largest and most important private collections of Dutch Golden Age paintings in the world. The exhibition features seven exceptional genre paintings by Dutch artists working in or near the city of Leiden in the 17th century.

An Inner World explores the work of Gerrit Dou (Dutch, 1613–1675) and his contemporaries by considering tradition and innovation in the representation of figures in interior spaces, individuals in moments of contemplation or quiet exchange, and the enduring taste among collectors for works created by fijnschilders, or fine painters.

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Nick Cave, ‘Until’ (detail) (photo Doug Mason)

NICK CAVE’S SITE-SPECIFIC ‘UNTIL’ TAKES OVER MASS MoCA

(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) — Nick Cave, the artist known for his wearable sculptures called Soundsuits, turns expectations inside out at MASS MoCA in “Until,” a massive immersive installation. Cave uses MASS MoCA’s signature football field-sized space to create his largest and most overtly political installation to date, made up of thousands of found objects, a rich sensory tapestry. The sheer volume of material that has been gathered is astounding — 16,000 wind spinners; millions of plastic pony beads; thousands of ceramic birds, fruits, and animals; 13 gilded pigs; more than 10 miles of crystals; 24 chandeliers; 1 crocodile; and 17 cast-iron lawn jockeys.

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Grounded Iceberg, McMurdo Sound, Antarctica, by Shaun O’Boyle

SHAUN O’BOYLE’S ANTARCTICA PHOTOGRAPHS at BERKSHIRE MUSEUM

(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – Extraordinary images of Antarctica by Berkshire-based photographer Shaun O’Boyle go on view in the Berkshire Now gallery space at the Berkshire Museum from Friday, June 2, through August 21.

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MASS MoCA Building 6

MASS MoCA UNVEILS NEWLY RENOVATED CAMPUS

(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) — MASS MoCA has unveiled its newly renovated campus with the opening of Building 6, the third phase of campus development that encompasses 130,000 square feet of interior renovations to the museum’s 19th-century mill buildings. The new galleries include works by Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Bourgeois, James Turrell, Jenny Holzer, Laurie Anderson, and Gunnar Schonbeck (Bang on a Can), among others.

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Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973), Portrait of Dora Maar, 1937. Oil on canvas, 31 7/8 x 23 5/8i n. MPI58. © 2017 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Mathieu Rabeau, Musée Picasso © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY

PICASSO WORKS on VIEW at THE CLARK

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – Works by Pablo Picasso are on view at the Clark Art Institute, along with an exhibition devoted to painter-designer Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Picasso: Encounters includes paintings and prints by the 20th century visionary and is on view through Sunday, August 27.

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Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Jackie, 1964. Synthetic polymer paint and silkscreen ink on canvas, 20” x 17”. Williams College Musuem of Art; Partial gift of The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. and museum purchase from the John B. Turner ’24 Memorial Fund and Karl E. Weston Memorial Fund. ©The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

ROCKWELL and WARHOL in UNIQUE PAIRING at NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM

(STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) — On the surface they might seem like an odd couple from two different universes, but for the first time Norman Rockwell and Andy Warhol come face to face in “Inventing America: Rockwell and Warhol,” at the Norman Rockwell Museum. With 100 works of art, a selection of archival materials, and objects relating to their work and lives, the exhibition will show how both of these internationally celebrated image-makers — among America’s most important visual communicators — created enduring icons and opened new ways of seeing.

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