JOHN PIZZARELLI and JANE MONHEIT TEAM UP for XMAS CONCERT at MAHAIWE
(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Popular jazz artists John Pizzarelli and Jane Monheit will join forces for a Christmas concert at the Mahaiwe on Saturday, December 27 at 8pm. Renowned seven-string jazz guitarist, singer, and bandleader John Pizzarelli addresses, in his own manner, repertoire associated with Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, the Beatles, and others. Known for her extraordinary vocal instrument since she burst onto the scene in her early twenties, multiple Grammy Award-nominated vocalist Jane Monheit has steadily come into her own, and collaborated with artists such as Michael Buble?, Ivan Lins, Terence Blanchard, and Tom Harrell.
Bach
BERKSHIRE BACH BLASTS OUT THE OLD, BLASTS IN THE NEW, AT MAHAIWE AND TROY
(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. and TROY, N.Y.) – Berkshire Bach will ring in the New Year with a blast of brass featuring a septet of horn virtuosi joining the Berkshire Bach Ensemble for concerts featuring works by Haydn, Mozart and Bach at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington on Wednesday, December 31, at 6pm, and at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Thursday, January 1, 2015, at 3pm.
‘Circus Parade,’ Paul Graubard
ARTIST PAUL GRAUBARD GETS RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBIT at CITY MUSEUM
(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – Self-taught artist Paul Graubard is the subject of a retrospective exhibition of his paintings at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts in December 2014. The show opens Friday, December 5 and runs through December 27. There will be a reception with the artist on Friday, December 5, from 5 to 8pm during the city’s First Fridays Artswalk. Musician Paul Green will perform klezmer music during the reception.
Scene from ‘It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play’ at Shakespeare & Co. (photo Kevin Sprague)
RADIO PLAY VERSION of ‘IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE’ at SHAKESPEARE & CO.
(LENOX, Mass.) – “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play,” inspired by the classic 1946 film starring Donna Reed and James Stewart, returns to Shakespeare & Company for a limited run through December 28, 2014. Adapted by Joe Landry from the original screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra and Joe Swerling, “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” reunites director Jenna Ware with the cast from the 2013 Shakespeare & Company hit production.
LEE FIELDS & THE EXPRESSIONS to RING in NEW YEAR with CLASSIC SOUL DANCE PARTY at HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Soul legend Lee Fields & The Expressions will ring out the old and ring in the new with their old-school soul and R&B at Club Helsinki Hudson for a New Year’s Eve dance party on Wednesday, December 31, 2014, at 9pm. Fields is nicknamed “Little JB” for his physical and vocal resemblance to James Brown, and his music also recalls vintage Marvin Gaye. Fields released his first single in 1969. Since that time, the North Carolina native has amassed a prolific catalog of albums and has toured and played with such legends as Kool and the Gang, Sammy Gordon and the Hip-Huggers, O.V Wright, Darrell Banks, and Little Royal.
Passenger pigeon
MASS MoCA INSTALLATION MARKS CENTENNIAL of PASSENGER PIGEON EXTINCTION
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Eclipse, a site-specific installation at MASS MoCA on view through September 1, 2015, evolved from a series of conversations between New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert and artist duo Sayler/Morris (Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris). The exhibition examines species extinction through the passenger pigeon, whose once-massive population disappeared 100 years ago. Eclipse combines video, sound, and text to create an immersive and contemplative exhibition in a newly conceived exhibition space – a dramatic lightwell at the center of the MASS MoCA campus. The exhibition marks the centenary of the death of the last known passenger pigeon, Martha. With extinction rates now “higher than they’ve been at any point since the dinosaurs disappeared sixty-six million years ago,” Elizabeth Kolbert asserts that we are at a watershed moment in the history of our planet.
Tommy Stinson
TOMMY STINSON HEADLINES ALL-STAR LINEUP for HOUSING BENEFIT at HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Tommy Stinson, a cofounder of legendary rock band The Replacements and a touring member of stadium-rockers Guns n’ Roses, will headline Home Bass 2: A Little Help for Our Friends, a benefit concert for Columbia County Habitat for Humanity at Club Helsinki Hudson on Saturday, January 3, at 8pm. Stinson, who is curating the evening of entertainment, will be joined by Rhett Miller, lead singer of the Old 97’s; rock singer-songwriter Elvis Perkins; Jesse Malin; singer Ruby Stinson; Dust Bowl Faeries; Kiki*D, and other surprise guests.
Ellsworth Kelly (American, b. 1923), Tableau Vert, 1952. Oil on wood, 29 1/4 x 39 1/4 in. (74.3 x 99.7 cm). The Art Institute of Chicago. Gift of the artist, 2009.51 © Ellsworth Kelly
CLARK ART EXHIBIT CONSIDERS MONET’S INFLUENCE on ELLSWORTH KELLY
(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – Monet | Kelly, the first exhibition to consider the influence of Impressionist painter Claude Monet on the works of leading contemporary American artist Ellsworth Kelly, is on view at the Clark Art Institute. The works in the exhibition were selected by Kelly and include two paintings and eighteen unpublished drawings by the artist, together with nine paintings by Monet from his Belle-Île series and of his garden in Giverny. The exhibition examines how both Monet’s motifs and the sites that inspired his paintings have shaped Kelly’s approach to his work. Monet | Kelly will be on view through February 15, 2015.