A highly selective preview of cultural events taking place this weekend in the greater Hudson, N.Y. region, including a rarely staged opera; a Texas rock legend; an art exhibition; and the finale of Amanda Palmer’s duo tour with her dad.
Amanda and Jack Palmer (holding grandson Ash)
AMANDA PALMER CONCLUDES DUO TOUR WITH DAD at BASILICA HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Cabaret-rock star Amanda Palmer brings her duo tour with her father, Jack Palmer, to a conclusion at Basilica Hudson on Saturday, July 23, at 7pm. The Palmers have recorded a duet album, “You Got Me Singing,” featuring the father-daughter power duo on a selection of traditional, modern, and contemporary folk songs, including numbers by Melanie Safka, Richard Thompson, Phil Ochs, and Sinead O’Connor. Percussive polymath Thor Harris, ex- of Swans and a touring member of Amanda Palmer’s Grand Theft Orchestra, brings his group Thor & Friends to warm up the crowd for the Palmers. Amanda Palmer will also meet the public and entertain questions at a free, town hall-style event at Basilica Hudson on Saturday at 3:30pm.
Talise Trevigne as Iris (photo Todd Norwood)
RARE STAGING of MASCAGNI’S ‘IRIS’ at BARD SUMMERSCAPE
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON) – A new, fully staged production of the rarely staged opera “Iris” (1898), a darkly expressionistic forerunner of “Madama Butterfly” by Puccini’s close contemporary Pietro Mascagni, will have five performances in the Fisher Center at Bard College as part of Bard SummerScape from Friday, July 22, through Sunday, July 31.
Conceived expressly for SummerScape 2016, Bard’s original production is the creation of James Darrah – a recent Musical America New Artist of the Month – whose successes include a staging of “Peter Grimes” that the Wall Street Journal proclaimed “one of the strongest, most theatrically imaginative, musically and dramatically compelling productions of the work.”
Starring Grammy Award-nominated soprano Talise Trevigne, with music director Leon Botstein leading the American Symphony Orchestra, “Iris”’s five performances take place in the Fisher Center on July 22, 24, 27, 29, and 31.
Alejandro Escovedo
ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO BRINGS SOUL-ROCK to HELSINKI HUDSON
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Legendary Texas rocker Alejandro Escovedo brings his band, the Sensitive Boys, and his distinctive catalog of original roots-rock songs to Club Helsinki Hudson on Sunday, July 24, at 8pm.
‘Country Road’ by Marguerite Bride
TWO ARTISTS, TWO MEDIUMS, ONE GALLERY in OLD CHATHAM
(OLD CHATHAM, N.Y.) – Works by Marguerite Bride and Karen S. Jacobs are featured in “Berkshire Visions: Two Artists, Two Mediums,” at the Old Chatham Country Store & Café through Wednesday, July 27. The exhibition features representational watercolors by Bride and abstract oil paintings by Jacobs.