Phil Kline
COMPOSER AND BOOMBOX ARTIST PHIL KLINE BRINGS CLASSICAL MUSIC to THE MASSES at THE MOUNT
(LENOX, Mass.) – Think classical music is stuffy and only for old farts? Well, you’re partially right. It’s often presented that way, or as if it’s something good for you that doesn’t taste good. But critically acclaimed new-music composer and all-around Renaissance man Phil Kline is here to correct these misconceptions once and for all. Kline surveys the classical music scene from a composer’s viewpoint, looking at and listening to a wide variety of music written in the last few years, in “Unsilent Composer,” a presentation in The Stables at The Mount on Sunday, May 3, at 2pm, as part of the Close Encounters With Music “Conversations With…” series. Kline, also a post-punk guitarist, lyricist, performance artist and the creator of “Unsilent Night” for boombox, is perfectly positioned to take stock of the huge influx of very active young composers, and how all of this is affecting orchestras and music presenters – a kind of “composer’s field guide to the most defining works of the 20th and 21st centuries — what endures and what’s changing in classical music.”
Larchmere String Quartet
LARCHMERE STRING QUARTET TO PLAY WORKS BY HAYDN, BRAHMS AND LIGETI at WILLIAMS
(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – The Larchmere String Quartet will perform works by Haydn, Brahms and Ligeti in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall on the Williams College campus on Saturday, May 2, 2015, at 8pm. The concert is free and open to the public. The quartet presents a program from Classical, Modern, and Romantic eras. They open the program with String Quartet in B flat Major op. 76 no. 4 “Sunrise” by Joseph Haydn, followed by string Quartet no. 1 “Métamorphoses nocturnes” by György Ligeti, and finish with the string Quartet in C Minor op. 51 no. 1 by Johannes Brahms.
Alison Larkin
AUTHOR-COMEDIAN ALISON LARKIN COMING to MAHAIWE
(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Comedienne and bestselling author Alison Larkin will perform a sneak preview of her new show, Alison Larkin LIVE!, at the Mahaiwe on Saturday, May 2, 2015, at 7pm. Amongst other things, Larkin – author of “The English American” – will talk about her adoption and reunion, England, America, life in the Berkshires, parenting and how to brew the perfect cup of tea. Proceeds will benefit the Montessori School of the Berkshires (MSB), supporting the Financial Aid Fund.
Gregory Crewdson, Untitled (21), 2009, pigmented inkjet print, 28 1/2 x 35 1/4 inches (72.4 x 89.5 cm), ed. of 6 © Gregory Crewdson
(CATSKILL and HUDSON, N.Y.) – The much-heralded exhibition “River Crossings: Contemporary Art Comes Home,” a landmark collaborative exhibition of contemporary art at the Thomas Cole National Historic Site and the Olana Partnership/Olana State Historic Site highlighting the pivotal role that the two historic properties – and the artists who lived and worked there – played in shaping America’s culture of contemporary art, opens on Sunday, May 3, and run through November 1, 2015. The artists whose work is included in the exhibition – curated by artist Stephen Hannock – are Romare Bearden, Elijah Burgher, Chuck Close, Will Cotton, Gregory Crewdson, Lynn Davis, Jerry Gretzinger, Don Gummer, Duncan Hannah, Stephen Hannock, Valerie Hegarty, Angie Keefer with Kara Hamilton and Kianja Strobert, Charles LeDray, Maya Lin, Frank Moore, Elizabeth Murray, Rashaad Newsome, Thomas Nozkowski, Stephen Petegorsky, Martin Puryear, Cindy Sherman, Sienna Shields, Kiki Smith, Joel Sternfeld, Letha Wilson, and Elyn Zimmerman, in addition to selected complementary work by Thomas Cole and Frederic Church from the permanent collections.
Sean Rowe (photo Anthony Saint James)
SOUL-ROCK POET SEAN ROWE to PLAY HELSINKI HELSINKI
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Sean Rowe, a Troy, N.Y. native and lifelong naturalist, brings his gritty style of singer-songwriter folk-rock to Club Helsinki Hudson on Friday, May 1, at 9pm. A throwback to 1970s-era soulful rock poets like Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison, with a hint of punk-rock energy, Rowe boasts an impossibly deep and rich baritone, a gift for melody, and a knack for the perfectly hewn image to get across his haunting, brooding folk-rock anthems. Singer-songwriter Matthew Fowler will warm up the crowd for Rowe.
Leon Comstock. ‘One Evening in Monson’
LEON A. COMSTOCK JR. SOLO EXHIBITION at NEUMANN FINE ART
(HILLSDALE, N.Y.) – Leon A. Comstock Jr. Paintings, a new solo exhibition of works by the Springfield, Mass.-based artist, opens at Neumann Fine Art on Saturday, May 2, with a reception at 5:30 pm. The show will remain on view through July 11, 2015. Comstock received numerous awards in the 1970s and ’80s, including the Harriet Lumis Memorial Award at the Academic Artists Association’s 30th National Exhibition, as well as awards in the Association’s 31st and 33rd National Exhibitions. After a 29-year career as a graphic artist, Comstock returned to painting in 2010, winning awards at The Monson, Massachusetts Arts Council’s Annual Exhibitions in 2011 and 2014.