The Berkshire Bach Ensemble
Bach at New Year’s — A Baroque Concerto Showcase
The Academy of Music, Northampton
Monday, Jan. 2 at 3 p.m.
A holiday tradition since 1993. Nine-time Grammy Award winner and Music Director Eugene Drucker leads The Berkshire Bach Ensemble in a special program that showcases the virtuosity of The Society’s individual musicians in single, double, and even triple concertos. From Bach’s double violin concerto, to one of Telemann’s suites from his Tafelmusik, to works for viola, cello, flute, oboe, trumpet, and harpsichord, the concert will present thrilling repertoire from the Baroque era.
Winter Cajun/Zydeco Festival
Hawks & Reed, Greenfield
Saturday, Jan. 15 from 1 – 5 p.m.
What fun it will be to arrive bundled up and toss off your parka to enjoy a midwinter afternoon of Louisiana music. Two New England-based bands — Back O’ Town Cajun Band and Planet Zydeco — will play. After waltz and zydeco dance lessons that are included with your tickets, you’ll be ready to dance up a storm.
Florencia Cuenca & Jaime Lozano: Broadway en Spanglish
MASS MoCA
Saturday, Feb. 4 at 8 p.m.
Husband and wife duo Jaime Lozano and Florencia Cuenca create Mexican musical magic on Broadway en Spanglish. With live accompaniment from the renowned mariachi ensemble Mariachi Real De Mexico de Ramon Ponce, they deliver fresh interpretations of some of musical theater’s most iconic tunes with new arrangements by Lozano.
Crash Test Dummies
Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity, Florence
Saturday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m.
The Crash Test Dummies are (and were) unique and weird (in a cool way) among '90s pop stars who are still raging. While most of their songs are based around the acoustic guitar, the Dummies are equally apt to jettison rock & roll for country, a funeral dirge, or a Celtic reel.
Mike Dawes + Gareth Pearson
The Drake, Amherst
Saturday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m.
Mike Dawes is an English guitarist known for composing, arranging, and performing multiple parts simultaneously on one instrument. He is hailed as one of the world’s most creative modern fingerstyle guitarist, and has toured with fingerstyle guitarists such as Andy McKee and Tommy Emmanuel. Gareth Pearson, known as “The Welsh Tornado” is another virtuosic fingerstyle pyrotechnician.
Springfield Symphony: Mardi Gras!
Symphony Hall
Saturday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Celebrate the spirit of Mardi Gras with a night of steamy New Orleans jazz. The good times will roll under the direction of conductor, trumpet player and vocalist Byron Stripling with music from New Orleans natives like Fats Domino, Mahalia Jackson & Louis Armstrong.
Tapestry, The Carole King Songbook featuring Suzanne O. Davis
The Colonial Theater, Pittsfield
Saturday, Feb. 25 at 7:30 p.m.
This show recreates the sound and vibe of a 1970s Carole King concert experience following her legendary album, Tapestry. In addition to featuring all the music from Tapestry, the show will also feature many songs that Carole King and her husband, Gerry Goffin, wrote in the 1960s.
The Robert Cray Band
The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington
Saturday, March 4 at 8 p.m.
Over the past four decades, Robert Cray has created a sound that rises from American roots, blues, soul and R&B, with five Grammy wins, and twenty acclaimed studio and live albums that punctuate the Blues Hall of Famer’s career. The band is touring for the first time since the 2020 release of his album, “That’s What I Heard,” which celebrates the music of Curtis Mayfield, Bobby “Blue” Bland, The Sensational Nightingales and more.
Martha Graham Dance Company: Canticle for Innocent Comedians
Tillis Performance Hall, UMass
Saturday, March 25 at 8 p.m.
Martha Graham forever altered the landscape and very definition of Western modern dance. And Graham’s company has tirelessly continued that legacy worldwide for three decades. Now the ensemble has worked with a new generation of diverse, multicultural choreographers to re-envision Graham’s innovations with Canticle for Innocent Comedians, which combines elements of a lost Graham masterwork with new material and a new score by jazz great Jason Moran.