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

 

JESSICA KIRSON HEADLINES COMEDY NIGHT at THE BARN 

(SOUTH EGREMONT, Mass.) – Comedian Jessica Kirson headlines a night of standup comedy at the Barn at the Egremont Village Inn on Saturday, March 31, at 8pm. Also appearing are Frank Liotti and the Barn’s resident comic, host, and curator of entertainment Jenny Rubin. Kirson TV credits include Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1, NBC’s “Last Comic Standing,” and “The Dr. Oz Show.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

COMING SOON: MERLIN & POLINA SHEPHERD to BRING GLOBAL KLEZMER SOUNDS to HELSINKI HUDSON

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – The world-renowned Merlin and Polina Shepherd Klezmer Duo brings its innovative blend of world music, jazz, classical, Islamic, Russian, Yiddish, and klezmer sounds to Club Helsinki Hudson on Sunday, April 8, at 7pm, as part of the Rogovoy Salon, the music and literary series curated and hosted by cultural journalist and music critic Seth Rogovoy.

This concert by the UK-based, international virtuosos caps a day-long celebration of a milestone in host Seth Rogovoy’s life and will likely include appearances by surprise special-guest artists. Come out and help celebrate with Seth and the assembled crowd of family, friends, and music lovers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VIOLINIST SOOVIN KIM PLAYS BACH at WILLIAMS COLLEGE

(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – Award-winning violinist Soovin Kim will play a concert of solo works for violin by J.S. Bach in a free concert in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall at Williams College on Tuesday, April 3 at 8pm. Kim will play Bach’s Partita no. 3 in E major; Sonata no. 1 in G Minor; and Partita No. 2 in D Minor. Soovin Kim is first prize winner of the Paganini International Competition; recipient of the Henryk Szeryng Career Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award.

Soovin Kim is the first violinist of the Johannes Quartet, an ensemble that has performed newly commissioned works by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Derek Bermel, and William Bolcom. Equally gifted in concerto, recital, and chamber music repertoire, Kim has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Stuttgart Radio Symphony, Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, Moscow Symphony Orchestra, and Seoul Philharmonic. He has given solo recitals at New York’s Weill Hall, the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater, Ravinia, Tokyo’s Casals Hall, and the Seoul Arts Center. He is an active participant in the Marlboro Festival.

 

 

 

 

 

REVELERS BRING LOUISIANA ‘SWAMP-POP’ to HELSINKI HUDSON

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Grammy-nominated Louisiana supergroup The Revelers brings its mix of “Louisiana jukebox music” and “swamp-pop” to Club Helsinki Hudson on Saturday, March 31, at 9pm. The group’s latest album, “Get Ready,” was nominated in the Best Regional Roots category at the Grammy Awards. The musicians comprising the Revelers are founding members of the Red Stick Ramblers and the Pine Leaf Boys, unquestionably the two groups at the vanguard of the Louisiana cultural renaissance. With the Revelers, the musicians have formed a Louisiana supergroup combining  swamp-pop, Cajun, country, blues and zydeco into a powerful blend of roots music that could only come from southwest Louisiana.

Little-known outside of Louisiana (but still quite popular in the region), swamp-pop ruled in the 1950s and ’60s as southwest Louisiana’s answer to the R&B and rock ‘n’ roll that came out of New Orleans, Memphis, and Detroit. When that unstoppable sound reached Cajun and zydeco musicians, they caught the bug and played their own versions the only way they knew how – sometimes in French – and traded in their fiddles and accordions for horns and electric guitars.

 

 

 

 

 

CONTEMPORARY PAINTERS CONJURE the NIGHT in NEW EXHIBIT at MASS MoCA

(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – “The Lure of the Dark: Contemporary Painters Conjure the Night,” a new exhibition featuring paintings — including new commissions — by a diverse group of over a dozen contemporary artists, is on view at MASS MoCA. Artists represented in the exhibit include Patrick Bermingham, William Binnie, Cynthia Daignault, Noah Davis, TM Davy, Jeronimo Elespe, Cy Gavin, Josephine Halvorson, Shara Hughes, Sam McKinniss, Wilhelm Neusser, Dana Powell, Kenny Rivero, and Alexandria Smith.

 

 

 

 

 

 

ELLSWORTH KELLY and SHAKER WORKS at JEFF BAILEY GALLERY

(HUDSON, N.Y.) – “Line and Curve,” a selection of works from the Ellsworth Kelly and Jack Shear Shaker Collection plus iconic Ellsworth Kelly prints from the 1960s through the 1980s, are on view at Jeff Bailey Gallery through May 13. The show, co-presented by Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon, features Kelly’s worktable, purchased in 1970 near his Columbia County home and used throughout his life. A rare oval box is reminiscent of shapes that can be found in Kelly’s prints, as are the simple lines of a three-drawer chest and the curved slats of a chair. This juxtaposition of the curved and the straight is a hallmark of Kelly’s work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘30UNDER30:2’ at NO. SIX DEPOT GALLERY SHOWCASES HOMEGROWN TALENT

(WEST STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) – “30under30:2,” a multimedia exhibition featuring works by 30 young artists hailing from or currently living in or around the Berkshires, is on view at No. Six Depot Gallery now through April 20. Artists represented include Isabella Tobiason, Dana Piazza, Fiona McTeigue, Wes Elliot, Erin Potter, Fiona Wood, Olivia Wade, Lee Blackmer, Rebecca van der Meulen, Sam Backhaus, Ruslan Sprague, and Molly Ann Almeida. The exhibition is curated by Mika Mintz.