A selective, curatorial view of the cultural highlights of the upcoming weekend in the greater Berkshire region.

 

 

ANNIE GUTHRIE BRINGS FOLK-POP to THE BARN

(SOUTH EGREMONT, Mass.) – Singer-songwriter Annie Guthrie, a scion of America’s first family of folk, brings her unique spin on the tradition to the Barn at the Egremont Village Inn on Sat, Feb 3, at 8pm. A prolific songwriter and versatile musician, Guthrie – daughter of Arlo, granddaughter of Woody, great-granddaughter of Martha Graham dancer Marjorie Mazia, and great-great granddaughter of famed Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt – accompanies herself on acoustic guitar, bass, and autoharp on original country-, rock- and pop-influenced folk songs that are direct and honest, as heard on her 2016 full-length debut album, “Dragonfly.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

WILLIAMS CHAMBER PLAYERS TACKLE PÄRT, BACH, ARENSKY

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – The Williams Chamber Players will perform works by Arvo Pärt, Anton Arensky, and J.S. Bach in “Spirituality and Romanticism,” a free concert in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall at Williams College on Friday, Feb 2, at 8pm. The program will include Arvo Pärt’s “Spiegel im Spiegel” and his work “Fratres”; two works by J.S. Bach: “Zerfliesse mein Herz,” from St John Passion, BWV 245, and “Hier in meines Vaters Stätte”; and the Arensky Piano Trio in D Minor, op. 32. Featured musicians include Joanna Kurkowicz, violin; Doris Stevenson, piano; Erin Nafziger, soprano; Carl Jenkins, oboe; Tiffany Sun ’18, flute; Ronald Feldman, cello; Edwin Lawrence, continuo; Keith Kibler, bass-baritone; Benjamin Mygatt ’19, violin; Elizabeth Morse, harp; and Nathaniel Parke, cello.

 

 

 

 

PETER SYKES to PLAY 19^th-CENTURY ORGAN WORKS

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Peter Sykes will give a recital of works written for organ by J.S. Bach and his 19^th-century followers, including Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Niels Gade, at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House in Housatonic on Sat, Feb 3, at 4pm. The Berkshire Bach Society concert showcases the church’s 1893 Johnson Organ.

 

 

 

 

 

THE ORCHESTRA NOW PLAYS GERSHWIN at BARD

(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) — The Orchestra Now will perform George Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” together with works by Jennifer Higdon and Schumann, in the Fisher Center at Bard College, on Sat, Feb 3, at 8pm, and Sun, Feb 4, at 2pm. Led by associate conductor James Bagwell, the program includes Jennifer Higdon’s “blue cathedral” and Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 2.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THRILLER ABOUT FRENCH ANTI-SEMITISM DEBUTS at CAPITAL REP

(ALBANY, N.Y.) – Steven Peterson’s “Paris Time,” about how a young woman’s life and a company’s fate are challenged by an anti-Semitic terrorist incident, is being given its world premiere at Capital Repertory Theatre, from Friday, Jan 26, through Sunday, Feb 18. A gripping and sophisticated drama that looks behind the headlines at anti-Semitism in today’s France. When Deborah, the wife of a successful American executive based in Paris, becomes an activist defending a young Jewish Frenchwoman, Charles (Marcel Jeannin) gets caught in the corporate hot seat. Company policy demands him to withdraw from the political limelight or lose his career, but if he won’t get involved, he may lose his marriage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

COMING SOON: SON LUX’S  RAFIQ BHATIA BRINGS SHIMMERING ELECTRO-JAZZ to MASS MoCA

(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) — Son Lux guitarist Rafiq Bhatia brings his new trio and his genre-defying atmospheric sounds to Club B10 at MASS MoCA on Saturday, February 10, at 8pm. Bhatia’s new trio includes Son Lux drummer Ian Chang and bass/synthesizer/electronics virtuoso Jackson Hill. Using an arrangement of analog and digital effects, expect chill, psychedelic beats to flood the room, which — complemented by smooth, fluid riffs — invite listeners to settle back and escape into a meditative state akin to that of trip-hop.