A highly selective preview of cultural events taking place this weekend in the greater Berkshire region, including a world premiere of new music by Magnetic Fields; the return of New Wave couple Jeff and Jane Hudson; a talk by a Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic; a talk by a contemporary composer; a concert of contemporary Chinese art music, and a whole lot more.
Stephin Merritt (photo Marcelo Krasilcic)
THE MAGNETIC FIELDS to PREMIERE ‘50 SONG MEMOIR’ at MASS MoCA
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – After a two-week residency working on their vast new repertoire, The Magnetic Fields will premiere the material off the group’s upcoming album, “50 Song Memoir” – featuring 50 new songs written by bandleader Stephin Merritt, one for each year of his life – in a staged performance in the Hunter Center at MASS MoCA, over the course of two nights, featuring songs 1 to 25 on Friday, November 18, and songs 26 to 50 on Saturday, November 19. Both concerts being at 8pm.
Merritt will be joined by a seven-person band playing 50 instruments from his eclectic collection. This remarkable show recounts his Merritt’s decades on planet Earth, from his conception by hippies on a houseboat in St. Thomas to his current position as one of America’s greatest living songwriters, living in the artist’s retreat of Hudson, N.Y. Songs include “’74: No,” “’86: How I Failed Ethics,” “’93: Me and Fred and Dave and Ted,” “’02: Be True to Your Bar,” and “’13: Big Enough for Both of Us.”
Jane and Jeff Hudson
NEW-WAVE CULT IDOLS JEFF and JANE HUDSON RESURFACE WITH NEW ALBUM, CONCERT
(WILLIAMTOWN, Mass.) – Jeff and Jane Hudson, who helped define the Boston art punk sound as founding members of late-1970s new wave group the Rentals, celebrate the release of their terrific new duo CD, “The Middle,” with a “New Wave Party” in the Ballroom of the Williams Inn on Saturday, November 19, at 8pm. The husband-and-wife team will be joined by regional musicians including Michael Williams, Josh Kleederman, Steve Klass, and Karl Mullen.
“The Middle” is a glorious throwback to the postpunk era of proto-electronic bands such as the B-52s, Human Sexual Response, and Devo, with rhythms and guitars and vocals that recall the proto-punk of Iggy Pop and even the Velvet Underground. “The Middle” includes mostly new songs, with newly recorded arrangements of old favorites including “Gertrude Stein” and “Los Alamos”
Sebastian Smee
PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING ART CRITIC SEBASTIAN SMEE to SPEAK at THE CLARK
(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – Boston Globe Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Sebastian Smee will discuss his acclaimed new book, “The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art,” at the Clark Art Institute on Friday, November 18 at 7pm. The free lecture will be followed by a book signing.
In “The Art of Rivalry: Four Friendships, Betrayals, and Breakthroughs in Modern Art,” Smee examines the complex relationships between eight celebrated artists and explores the admiration, envy, and ambition inherent in the friendships that linked each to a counterpart. The book details rivalries between Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet; Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso; Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock; and Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, as Smee considers the influence each had on the other’s work.
Hannah Lash
COMPOSER HANNAH LASH to SPEAK on the COMPOSERS’ GLASS CEILING at HUDSON OPERA HOUSE
(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Composer Hannah Lash will give a lecture titled “A Studio of Her Own — Shattering the Glass Ceiling,” as part of the Close Encounters With Music “Conversations With…” series, at Hudson Opera House on Sunday, November 20, at 3pm. Lash’s talk will review the history and current state of women as composers of art music.
Jindong Cai
THE ORCHESTRA NOW PERFORMS RACHMANINOFF and CHINESE WORKS at BARD
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – The Orchestra Now performs works by Guohui Ye, Xiaogang Ye, and Rachmaninoff at the Fisher Center at Bard College on Saturday, November 19, at 8pm, and Sunday, November 20, at 2pm, in the Sosnoff Theater. The orchestra performs under the baton of Jindong Cai, and features soloist Jie Yuan on piano.
Works include Guohui Ye’s “Drinking Wine by the Stream’s Choice”; Xiaogang Ye’s “Scent of the Green Mango”; and Rachmaninoff’s “Symphonic Dances.”