DAN DEACON BRINGS ELECTRONIC WIT to MASS MOCA
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Electronic composer-musician Dan Deacon brings his dance-ready beats to MASS MoCA‘s Hunter Center on Saturday, April 20, 2013, at 8pm. If you’re thinking of attending, be sure to bring your smartphones. In August 2012, Deacon launched a Smartphone app that synchronizes in real time to the show’s light and sound components, allowing the audience to participate in his signature concert ambiance. At MASS MoCA, audience members with iPhones or Androids can download the app for free and watch their phone become a part of the concert – the light and sound changes depending on where the phone is located within the venue.
Erin Keefe
SCHUBERT and SCHOENFIELD PIANO TRIOS at MAHAIWE
(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – The 19th century will rub shoulders with the late 20th on Saturday, April 20, 2013, at 6pm at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center when the Close Encounters With Music chamber series features back-to-back piano trios by Franz Schubert and Paul Schoenfield, performed by pianist Jeffrey Swann, violinist Erin Keefe, and series artistic director and cellist Yehuda Hanani. The three will tackle Schubert’s B-Flat Piano Trio opus 99 and Schoenfield’s Café Music. Often described as a post-modern Gershwin, Schoenfield combines ingredients of jazz, klezmer, and whimsy in his compositions. Irresistible and full of energy, humor and nostalgia, as well as dazzling virtuosity, Café Music is music at its most entertaining, instantly accessible despite its rich complexities. Read more on Schoenfield here.
COUNTRY-FOLK SINGER-SONGWRITER IRIS DEMENT at CLUB HELSINKI
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter Iris DeMent brings her unmistakable soprano and authentic country-folk songs to Club Helsinki Hudson on Saturday, April 20, 2013, at 9 p.m. Had Iris DeMent been making country albums in the ’70s and ’80s and had more commercial ambition, she’d probably now be considered right up there with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. Instead, she’s lived a contemporary life, a somewhat private life. As she recently told an interviewer, “There’s a lot that goes into life besides songwriting.” And she’s taken her time in composing songs that fit into no genre easily.
JURIED PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITION to BENEFIT CHESTERWOOD
Path by John Clarke
(STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) – Sohn Fine Art Gallery is featuring 19 artists in the second annual Community Arts Exhibition running through Sunday, April 22, 2013. There will be a public reception on Saturday, April 20, from 4 to 7pm at which winners of the “People’s Choice Award” will be announced. This year’s annual juried show will benefit Chesterwood (A National Trust Historic Site), also located in Stockbridge. Artists featured in the exhibition are Jerry Arcieri, Stephanie Arnett, Patrick Barry, Matt Bialer, Steve Blanchard, Denise Chandler, John Clarke, Gene Elling, Diane Firtell, Hildy Kronen, Sophia Lee, Eric Levin, Leo Mazzeo, Anne Mourier-Defalco, Stephanie Owyang, Elaine Radiss, Uli Rose, Susan Sabino, and John Trimarchi.
ASO Music Director Leon Botstein
AMERICAN SYMPHONY to SAMPLE WAGNER OPERAS at BARD COLLEGE
(ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.) – From a vision of the Holy Grail to the longing for and redemption of love, Leon Botstein and the American Symphony Orchestra will perform pieces of Richard Wagner’s most famous operatic works at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College, the final concert of the 2012–13 season, on Friday, April 19, 2013, and Saturday, April 20, 2013, at 8 p.m., with a preconcert talk at 7 p.m. The program includes Lohengrin: Preludes to Acts I and III; Tristan und Isolde: Prelude and Liebestod, and Die Walküre: Act I, featuring Julie Makerov, soprano; Richard Cox, tenor; and Peter Volpe, bass.
ILAN STAVANS to LEAD LATINO-JEWISH CULTURE WORKSHOP at YIDDISH BOOK CENTER
(AMHERST, Mass.) – Renowned author and scholar Ilan Stavans – the leading chronicler of modern Latino-Jewish life – will lead a weekend program called Yiddish con Salsa: The Jews of Latin America at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, from Friday, April 19, 2013 through Sunday, April 21, 2013. Participants will join the Amherst College professor and acclaimed author in delving into the historical, political, and social contexts of this complex Jewish community with roots in both Eastern Europe and pre-1492 Spain. Informed by his lifelong investigation of language and identity, and his own experiences as a Jew growing up in Mexico City, Stavans will illuminate the cultural landscape in which the Jews of Latin America search for their roots.
JAY STOLAR to PLAY at COLONIAL’S GARAGE
(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – R&B singer-songwriter Jay Stolar will perform at the Garage at the Colonial Theatre on Friday, April 19, 2013, at 8pm. Stolar will be releasing his debut album this year. In 2012, Stolar ran a 24-week residency at Rockwood Music Hall in New York City; showcased at both SXSW and CMJ; toured nationally with singer-songwriter Charlene Kaye; placed his song “Like You Do” on The CW Network’s 90210, and completed production on his forthcoming album.
FIVE BERKSHIRE ARTISTS FEATURED at RED LION INN EVENT
‘Rising’ by J.D. Logan
(STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) – The Red Lion Inn Gift Shop will be hosting five Berkshire artists for the second Meet the Artist reception on Saturday, April 20, 2013, at 4pm in the Side Parlor of The Red Lion Inn. Visitors may chat with any of the featured artists, who will be on hand to discuss their creative process and showcase their work. The artists whose work will be featured include Peg & Frank Biscotti, jewelry designers; Janet McKinstry, textile artist and author; J.D. Logan, contemporary folk artist; Kevin O’Hara, author; and Katherine Winston, singer songwriter. There will be a cash bar and hors d’oeuvres provided by The Red Lion Inn. The “Meet the Artist” series will resume in November 2013 and continue through April 2014.