HudsonValleyWeekend Cultural Preview, Mar 21-25, 2018

A selective, curatorial view of the cultural highlights of the upcoming weekend in the greater Hudson, N.Y., region.

 

 

Arianna Zukerman (photo Tim Coburn)

CENTENNIAL TRIBUTE to LEONARD BERNSTEIN at HUDSON HALL

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – A vocal recital will pay tribute to composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein, marking his centennial year, at Hudson Hall on Saturday, March 24, at 7pm. Soprano Arianna Zukerman, baritone Bob McDonald, tenor Vale Rideout, and pianist Joy Schreier will perform works by Bernstein complemented by works by lyricist, collaborator, and friend Stephen Sondheim, as well as a selection of classical vocal works by the likes of Mozart, Handel, Rossini, Bellini, and Bizet. In a special addition to the program, Classics on Hudson artistic director and flutist Eugenia Zukerman will perform Sir Edward Elgar’s “Salut D’Amour.”

 

 

 

 

Ellsworth Kelly, Untitled, 1983, and Three Shaker Boxes, 1830-1860

ELLSWORTH KELLY and SHAKER WORKS at JEFF BAILEY GALLERY

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – “Line and Curve,” a selection of works from the Ellsworth Kelly and Jack Shear Shaker Collection plus iconic Ellsworth Kelly prints from the 1960s through the 1980s, goes on view at Jeff Bailey Gallery on Saturday, March 24, with a reception from 6 to 8pm. The show, co-presented by Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon, remains on view through May 13, and features Kelly’s worktable, purchased in 1970 near his Columbia County home and used throughout his life. A rare oval box is reminiscent of shapes that can be found in Kelly’s prints, as are the simple lines of a three-drawer chest and the curved slats of a chair. This juxtaposition of the curved and the straight is a hallmark of Kelly’s work.

 

 

 

 

soprano Andrea Bargabos

BOULANGER and DEBUSSY WORKS in KINDERHOOK

(KINDERHOOK, N.Y.) – Works by Lili Boulanger and Claude Debussy, plus Nadia Boulanger and Maurice Ravel, will be showcased in a concert of early 20th-century French music at Van Buren Hall on Saturday, March 24, at 4pm, as part of the Concerts in the Village series. The exceptionally precocious Lili Boulanger, who at 19 became the first woman to win the prestigious Grand Prix de Rome, will be represented by eight remarkable pieces, including excerpts from her song cycle Clairières dans le ciel. Performers include sopranos Amanda Boyd and Andrea Bargabos, tenor Jon Morrell, violinist Elizabeth Silver, cellist Jay Shulman, flutist Elizabeth Chinery, and pianists Noah Palmer and CITV artistic director, David Smith, who was a student of Nadia Boulanger in the early 1970s.

 

 

 

 

Anonymous Man

THE CROSSING PERFORMS MICHAEL GORDON’S ‘ANONYMOUS MAN’ at EMPAC

(TROY, N.Y.) — Grammy Award-winning choir The Crossing will perform Bang on a Can cofounder and composer Michael Gordon’s new choral work, “Anonymous Man,” at the Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) on Thursday, March 22, at 7:30pm. Commissioned by the 24-voice choral group, the hour-long piece expands on Gordon’s architectural approach to composition, layering minimalistic swirls of vocal sounds on top of one another to create a hypnotic group incantation. A meditation on community, history, and a connection to place, “Anonymous Man” is a memoir of Gordon’s nearly three decades living in Lower Manhattan.

“When I moved into my loft on Desbrosses,” Gordon says, “the streets were empty, since few people lived there. But both then and now, there were the homeless. Over time the neighborhood changed from an industrial warehouse district to a residential area. ‘Anonymous Man’ is a memoir about my block. The piece is built around my memories of moving in, meeting my future wife for the first time there, and conversations I have had with two homeless men who made their home on the loading dock across the street.”

In the time that Gordon lived on Debrosses, he has become one of the most celebrated living American composers, blending “the fury of punk rock, the nervous brilliance of free jazz, and the intransigence of classical modernism,” in the words of New Yorker critic Alex Ross. He is co-founder and co-artistic director of New York’s legendary music collective Bang on a Can.

 

 

 

 

Peter Schickele aka PDQ Bach

CLASSICAL MUSIC JOKESTER PDQ BACH at BARDAVON

(POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.) – Grammy Award-winner Peter Schickele, aka PDQ Bach, mixes things up with Beethoven, Mozart, and his original music, joining the Hudson Valley Philharmonic at the Bardavon on Saturday, March 24 at 2pm. The concert will include PDQ Bach’s Grand Serenade for an Awful Lot of Winds and Percussion. Also on tap is Mozart’s Ein Musikalischer Spass, K.522 (A Musical Joke).

 

 

 

 

Stephanie Bernheim, Wed5

PALMPILOT ARTWORKS by STEPHANIE BERNHEIM GO on VIEW at HUDSON HALL

(HUDSON, N.Y.)  – Stephanie Bernheim: Pixels and Particulates, an exhibition of artworks combining found objects, glass windows, and the basic “draw on” program of a PalmPilot smartphone, goes on view in the Center Gallery at Hudson Hall on Saturday, March 24, with a reception from 5 to 7pm. The show will remain hung through May 13. The exhibition follows the publication of a new hardbound art book, “Stephanie Bernheim: From Paint to Pixels” (FoliArt Publishers, 2017). According to a statement, Bernheim’s work “embraces and challenges the use of everyday technology in art while wrestling with our 21st century obsession with seeing and responding to images.”

 

 

 

 

Merlin and Polina Shepherd

COMING SOON: MERLIN & POLINA SHEPHERD to BRING GLOBAL KLEZMER SOUNDS to HELSINKI HUDSON

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – The world-renowned Merlin and Polina Shepherd Klezmer Duo brings its innovative blend of world music, jazz, classical, Islamic, Russian, Yiddish, and klezmer sounds to Club Helsinki Hudson on Sunday, April 8, at 7pm, as part of the Rogovoy Salon, the music and literary series curated and hosted by cultural journalist and music critic Seth Rogovoy.

This concert by the UK-based, international virtuosos caps a day-long celebration of a milestone in host Seth Rogovoy’s life and will likely include appearances by surprise special-guest artists. Come out and help celebrate with Seth and the assembled crowd of family, friends, and music lovers.

 

 

 

Carl Grauer, The Dorothy Altarpiece Triptych, 2017, oil on panel, 60 x 116 inches

‘PECULIAR RARITIES’ OPENS at CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – “Pecular Rarities,” a new and different sort of exhibition featuring media from porcelain to Play-Doh and subject matter ranging from icebergs, Victorian steampunk characters, conniving housewives, to Judy Garland is on view at Carrie Haddad Gallery from Wed, Mar 7 to Sun, Apr 22. Artists featured include David Halliday, Donise English, Juan Garcia Nunez, Russell DeYoung, Nick Simpson, Newbold Bohemia, Leon Smith, Paul Katz, Andrea Moreau, Fernando Orellana, Carl Grauer, David Dew Bruner, Robert Gulley, and Frank Litto.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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