A highly selective preview of cultural events taking place this weekend in the greater Hudson, N.Y., region, including two comic legends; three authors reading; Paganini; and more.
Sandra Bernhard
JOHN WATERS and SANDRA BERNHARD at BARD SUMMERSCAPE SPIEGELTENT
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – Filmmaker John Waters and comedian Sandra Bernhard headline in the Spiegeltent at Bard Summerscape on Friday, July 7, and Saturday, July 8, respectively, with two shows each night at 6pm and 8:30pm.
Legendary filmmaker and comedian John Waters (Cry-Baby, Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, and Hairspray) launches the Spiegeltent season with his one-man show. Part confession, part vaudeville, “This Filthy World” takes on taboos with charisma and charm, resulting in a hilarious and uncensored evening with an American treasure.
Sandra Bernhard is heading east on Route 66 to bring “Sandra Monica Blvd.: Coast to Coast to New York.” Traversing the country, Bernhard takes the audience on a journey to find the soul of America via the back roads and the byways on a gas station map, with a soundtrack one might find on an AM radio station.
Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Authors Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, Courtney Maum, and Christopher Bollen 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 book-signing and a DJ set by Amanda Taylor.
Edson Scheid
EDSON SCHEID BRINGS SOLO PAGANINI ‘CAPRICES’ to ASTON MAGNA
(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., and ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – Baroque violinist Edson Scheid will perform the complete cycle of 24 Caprices for Solo Violin by Niccolò Paganini at Bard College on Friday, July 7 at 8pm, and at Saint James Place in Great Barrington on Saturday, July 8, at 6pm, as part of Aston Magna Music Festival. Some of these works are considered the most difficult violin pieces ever written.
Shai Wosner
PIANIST SHAI WOSNER to PLAY SCHUBERT at TANNERY POND
(NEW LEBANON, N.Y.) — Israeli pianist Shai Wosner will play three of Schubert’s late piano sonatas at the Darrow School on Saturday, July 8, at 8pm, as part of Tannery Pond Concerts. Wosner will play Schubert’s Sonata in A Minor, Op. 42, D. 845; Sonata in D Major, Op. 53, D. 850; and Sonata in G Major, Op. 78, D. 894 (Fantasie).
Wosner compares Schubert’s last six piano sonatas to “thick novels, rich with insight about the human condition. They are like symphonies in their scope yet, at the same time, they are imbued with a sense of intimacy.” According to Wosner, these sonatas are the key to the composer’s inner life.
Andy Statman (photo Jason Marck)
COMING SOON: ANDY STATMAN, ALICIA SVIGALS to MAKE YIDSTOCK DEBUTS
(AMHERST, Mass.) – Andy Statman, widely regarded as the world’s greatest klezmer clarinetist and the individual perhaps most solely responsible for the klezmer revival, and Alicia Svigals, a cofounder of the Klezmatics, widely regarded as the world’s great klezmer fiddler, will make their Yidstock debuts this summer during the sixth annual Yidstock: The Festival of New Yiddish Music, running at the Yiddish Book Center from Thursday, July 13, through Sunday, July 16.
Returning stars of Yidstock include Eleanor Reissa, Hankus Netsky, Frank London and Lorin Sklamberg of the Klezmatics, Lauren Brody, and Steve Weintraub – the Pied Piper of Yiddish dance. Yidstock will also feature a rare staging of the multimedia folk oratorio “A Night at the Old Marketplace,” created and directed by Alexandra Aron, composed by Frank London, written by Glen Berger, featuring vocalist Lorin Sklamberg, and based on the groundbreaking 1907 modernist play of the same name by I.L. Peretz, regarded as the father of Yiddish literature.
Jen Chapin (photo Merri Cyr)
COMING SOON: JEN CHAPIN to BRING SOULFUL, JAZZY ‘URBAN FOLK’ to HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Singer-songwriter Jen Chapin brings her unique style of soulful, jazzy “urban folk” to Club Helsinki Hudson on Sunday, August 13, 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.
Chapin, who performed several memorable concerts in the original Club Helsinki listening room in Great Barrington, Mass., has been celebrated for writing “brilliant soulfully poetic urban folk music” (NPR) for well over a decade, beginning with her stunning debut album, “Open Wide,” in 2002, followed up by “Linger” in 2004, which featured such sensual numbers as “Good at Love” and “Little Hours” alongside her sociopolitically charged “Passive People” and her poignant 9/11 eulogy, “Hurry Up Sky.” The song “Let It Show” on 2006’s “Ready” was one of her first songs dealing with the responsibilities of parenthood, while the title track once again was a sultry, bedroom number.
Corinne Robbins
CARRIE HADDAD SUMMER EXHIBIT HIGHLIGHTS REGIONAL ARTISTS
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Paintings by Mark Beard and Corinne Robbins and works on paper by Claire Lofrese, Anne Francey, Sue Bryan, David Seiler, and the duo Kahn & Selesnick, are on view at Carrie Haddad Gallery from Wednesday, June 21, through Sunday, August 6.