The cultural highlights in our region this weekend include a Grammy Award-winning guitar quartet; a cutting-edge string quartet; a Nordic folk duo; a living legend of cabaret; and a whole lot more.
The Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet brings its eclectic blend of critically acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks to the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Mass. on Saturday at 6pm, as part of the Close Encounters With Music series. The program includes haunting works from the time of Cervantes; an arrangement of the Bach Brandenburg Concerto No. 6; a transcription from the Bizet opera “Carmen”; Far East and Irish classics; and works by famed guitarists Chet Atkins and Pat Metheny.
Scandinavian folk duo My Bubba brings its soft, soulful, sensual music to Club B10 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., on Saturday, at 8pm. Bennington, Vt.-based singer-songwriter Jacqui Alpine warms up the crowd for My Bubba.
Noted singer and pianist Steve Ross bring his repertoire celebrating the pre-rock American popular songbook, Broadway show tunes, and classic standards to the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., on Sunday at 3pm. The concert is a prelude to the Clark’s summer exhibition, Orchestrating Elegance: Alma-Tadema and Design, opening June 4.
String quartet Brooklyn Rider brings its “post-classical” approach and a program of works by Beethoven, Janacek, Philip Glass, and Colin Jacobsen, to the Hudson Opera House on Sunday, at 5pm, as part of the Classics on Hudson concert series. Hailed as “the future of chamber music”, Brooklyn Rider offers eclectic repertoire in gripping performances that continue to attract legions of fans and draw rave reviews from classical, world, and rock critics alike. The program for Brooklyn Rider’s Hudson debut includes String Quartet No. 3 ‘Mishima’ by Philip Glass; String Quartet No. 1 ‘The Kreutzer Sonata’ by Leoš Janá?ek; BTT by Brooklyn Rider’s own Colin Jacobsen; and Beethoven’s Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95, 'Serioso'. I’m not kidding, either.
Two new landmark exhibitions, “The Parlors” and “Sanford R. Gifford in the Catskills,” are now open at the newly restored Thomas Cole National Historic Site in Catskill, N.Y. Each explores the Hudson River School of landscape painting – America’s first major art movement – and illuminates the relationship between humankind and the environment.
Regional indie-folk artists Dust Bowl Faeries and Luis Mojica join forces for “Tear of the Clouds: A Musical Ritual for the Earth,” at Club Helsinki Hudson on Sunday at 8pm. Pre-show music will be provided by Hudson guitarist Rick Warren. Tear of the Clouds is a unique performance of collaborative music, dance, and ritual. The performers will interweave songs throughout the night to raise awareness, inspire minds, and offer hope, with deep intentions of healing the Earth and its people. Video, trapeze, and a special Butoh dance by Jenn Hicks will round out the evening’s program.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of Berkishire Daily and the Rogovoy Report, available online at rogovoyreport.com