A highly selective preview of cultural events taking place this weekend in the greater Hudson, N.Y., region, including indie-rock avatars; one-man jazz; the Wooster Group; the world’s greatest klezmer fiddler; and more.
Matt Berninger of The National
THE NATIONAL, INDIE-ROCK ICONS, THROW RELEASE PARTY FUNDRAISER at BASILICA HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – To celebrate the release of their new single “Guilty Party,” Brooklyn-based indie-rock icons The National will be throwing an intimate, one-of-a-kind release party at Basilica Hudson on Friday, July 14, and Saturday, July 15. Tickets, $50, are still available for the Friday night event. Each guest attending the show will receive a “Guilty Party” 7-inch double-A split with “The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness.” Proceeds from the collaboratve concert-party – to be staged in the round with Buke & Gase, Nadia Sirota, Mouse on Mars, S? Percussion, and others – will benefit Basilica Hudson arts programming.
Zbigniew Bzymek, A PINK CHAIR rehearsal (photo Matthew Dipple)
WOOSTER GROUP BRINGS NEW WORK to BARD SUMMERSCAPE
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – The Wooster Group, the critically acclaimed experimental theater company, stages a world premiere of A PINK CHAIR (IN PLACE OF A FAKE ANTIQUE), an homage to the late visionary Polish artist and director Tadeusz Kantor, in the Fisher Center at Bard College as part of the Bard SummerScape Festival, from Thursday, July 13, through Sunday, July 23.
Frank Boyd in ‘The Holler Sessions’ (photo Maria Baranova)
ONE-MAN JAZZ PLAY RUNS at ANCRAM OPERA HOUSE
(ANCRAM, N.Y.) – The critically acclaimed theater work “The Holler Sessions” – already scheduled for an August run at the prestigious Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis – has a two-weekend run at the Ancram Opera House on Friday-Sundays, July 14-16 and July 20-23. The play, about one man’s burning obsession with American jazz, is written and performed by Frank Boyd, in collaboration with the TEAM, an internationally acclaimed, Brooklyn-based ensemble founded by Obie Award-winner and Tony Award-nominee Rachel Chavkin.
Staged as a live radio show, “The Holler Sessions” — a 2016 New York Times Critic’s Pick — centers on Ray, an explosive Kansas City DJ, whose recent discovery of jazz has become an obsession. Broadcasting from his shoddy studio, Ray intersperses his maniacal rants, razor-sharp insights, and blue humor with cuts of jazz as he struggles to forge a connection with an audience he can’t see, about the best thing America has ever created – and forgotten.
Alicia Svigals
KLEZMER FIDDLER ALICIA SVIGALS PERFORMS at PS21 and YIDSTOCK
(CHATHAM, N.Y. and AMHERST, Mass.) – Alicia Svigals, the greatest living exponent of klezmer violin, bookends our region with performances at PS21 in Chatham on Saturday, July 15, at 8pm, and at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst on Sunday, July 16, at 3pm, as part of the YIDSTOCK Festival of New Yiddish Music.
Svigals inaugurates the summer season at PS21: Performance Spaces for the 21st Century, with an Opening Night Celebration featuring Alicia Svigals’ Klezmer Fiddle Express. For her PS21 performance, she will be joined by accordionist/vocalist Lauren Brody and double bassist Brian Glassman.
At YIDSTOCK, Svigals will perform in a duo format with accordionist/vocalist Lauren Brody, one of the original klezmer revivalists. Svigals will also give a lecture-demo entitled “The Mysteries of Klezmer Violin Unveiled” at YIDSTOCK on Sunday, July 16, at 4:30pm, in which she will demonstrate the unique ornaments and playing techniques that distinguish klezmer fiddle-playing and give it a singular Jewish voice.
Andy Statman (photo Jason Marck)
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.