Annie Hart brings her blend of electronic minimalism to Tourists in North Adams, Mass., tonight at 8pm. Hart’s music runs the gamut from post-New Wave/Krautrock; ethereal ambient music based on classic synthesizers; and composed chamber music for small orchestral ensembles. (Fri, Apr 18)
Cuarteto Rotterdam brings its blend of classic and modern tango to The Foundry in West Stockbridge, Mass., tonight at 7:30pm. The quartet presents music from the Golden Age of tango in the 1940s and the challenging Tango Nuevo of Astor Piazzolla, always in search of new aspects of tango, including contemporary Argentine and European tango. (Fri, Apr 18)
I don’t ordinarily recommend tribute acts in this space, but Robert Burke Warren’s tributes to singer-songwriters including David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, and now Randy Newman are atypical and more in line with jazz vocalists rendering the work of favorite composers. Warren is no mere impersonator; a talented singer-songwriter himself, Warren invests his performances of other’s work with equal doses of respect, humility, and originality. Warren’s newest project, his tribute to multi-Grammy/Oscar/Emmy Award-winning songwriter Randy Newman, takes place at The Local in Saugerties, N.Y., tonight at 8pm, and will include a selection of songs throughout Randy Newman’s career, including “Sail Away,” “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today,” “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” “I Love LA,” and latter-day soundtrack gems like “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.” (Fri, Apr 18)
Visionary opera director and Hudson resident R.B. Schlather reunites with early music band Ruckus for six performances of Handel’s baroque blockbuster Giulio Cesare at Hudson Hall in Hudson, N.Y., running this Saturday through Friday, May 2. The opera will be sung in Italian with English supertitles provided, and Ruckus brings a contemporary flavor and dynamic to their performance that has led some to refer to them as “the first Baroque punk-rock band.” (Sat, Apr 19-Fri, May 2)
I have long only half-heartedly joked that attending Shakespeare plays would be much more enjoyable if an English translation was provided. So I was therefore entranced to discover that I am not the only person to have had this notion. In fact, playwright Brian Dykstra has written Polishing Shakespeare, a comedy written in iambic pentameter, in which a dotcom billionaire offers a cash-strapped regional theater company a sizeable commission to “translate” all of Shakespeare’s plays into “friendlier” modern English. I am so there -- there in this case being Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, N.Y., tonight through Sunday, April 27. (Thu, Apr 17-Sun, Apr 27)
Also of note:
Berkshire-based rock singer-songwriter Billy Keane & The Waking Dream bring their unique blend of indie folk-rock to the Indigo Room -- the Mahaiwe’s new club venue -- in Great Barrington, Mass., tonight at 8pm.
Rich Pagano and the SugarCane Cups bring their unique style of roots-rock – imagine if The Band and the Beatles merged their sounds into a kind of Americana power-pop – to The Falcon in Marlboro, N.Y., tonight at 9pm.
Blues guitarist Popa Chubby plays the music of Jimi Hendrix at the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass., tonight at 7pm, and at the Colony in Woodstock, N.Y., on Saturday at 7pm.
Spottiswoode & His Enemies bring their unique brand of New York City rock to the Spencertown Academy in Spencertown, N.Y., on Saturday at 8pm, and to the Iron Horse in Northampton, Mass., on Sunday at 7pm.
The Slambovian Circus of Dreams brings its psychedelic Americana to Caffè Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Saturday at 8pm. This intimate show features the creative quartet at the heart of the Slambovians, whose songwriting draws inspiration from Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and The Band.
The Bard Baroque Ensemble performs works by Bach, Handel, and Mozart in a free concert at Bard’s Fisher Center in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y., on Saturday at 7pm.
Gus Mancini and the Sonic Soul Band bring their improvisational jazz-funk to Green Kill in Kingston, N.Y., on Tuesday, April 22, at 8pm.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.substack.com.
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