Emily Dickinson Museum’s Tell It Slant Poetry Festival Continues
On site in Amherst, virtual, and hybrid
Daily through Sunday, Oct. 1
The Emily Dickinson Museum’s Annual Tell It Slant Poetry Festival is an event with international reach. It’s named for Dickinson’s poem, “Tell all the truth but tell it slant,” underscoring the revolutionary power of poetry to shift our perspective and reveal new truths. This year’s line-up features workshops, panels, and readings, by a diverse and talented group of poets from around the world. The cornerstone is the Emily Dickinson Poetry Marathon — an epic reading of all 1,789 of Emily Dickinson’s poems.
Copenhagen
The Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge
Opens Thursday, Sept. 28 at 7 p.m.
If you were on team “Enheimer” during last summer’s “Barb-Enheimer” movie craze, you will want to see this play. Winner of the Tony award for best play, Copenhagen is a gripping and intellectually stimulating play that explores the events surrounding a mysterious and fateful meeting between two of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century — Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. Set in Nazi-occupied Denmark during World War II, the play is a fascinating exploration of the ethics of science and the consequences of our actions.
Northampton Jazz Fest
Friday, Sept. 29 and Saturday, Sept. 30
The Fest starts Friday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. with the popular Downtown Jazz Strut with jazz ensembles preforming at breweries, bars and restaurants. On Saturday, the free music lineup features jazz musicians from around the region and across the globe performing in a variety of downtown venues throughout the day. This year’s ticketed event at the Academy of Music is the Max Roach Centennial Celebration with the Joe Farnsworth Quintet including special guest George Coleman, with Christian Sands on piano, Peter Washington on bass and Jeremy Pelt on trumpet.
Latino Arts Festival
Springfield Museums
Saturday, Sept. 30 from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Meet Alma from PBS Kids’s Alma’s Way from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
In partnership with the Mi Museo Committee, the Springfield Museums are delighted to introduce the annual Latino Arts Festival, timed to coincide with National Hispanic Heritage Month. The Festival is a daylong celebration of the myriad arts and rich cultures of the Puerto Rican, Cuban, Afro-Cuban, Portuguese, Mexican, Dominican, and Central and South American populations of Greater Springfield.
North Quabbin Garlic & Arts Festival
60 Chestnut Hill Road, Orange
Saturday, Sept. 30 and Sunday, Oct. 1
Now in its 25th year, this family-friendly “festival that stinks” is renowned for exceptional art, local farm products, fabulous food, endless entertainment, and inspiration for a hopeful future. Garlic games abound on the main field, including the famous raw garlic-eating contest. You can travel the garlic globe in the chef demo tent, and get your fill of farm-fresh and savory cuisine in four food courts. There’s great music, entertainment, and spoken word from three stages and the rolling fields.
Northampton Print & Book Fair
A.P.E. Gallery, Northampton
Saturday, Sept. 30 from 12– 5 p.m.
Artists from throughout western Mass and across New England will be in Northampton selling their works, including but not limited to handmade artist prints and books, zines, comics, books of poetry, risograph prints, mini sculptures and ceramics, wearable art, and much more. Maybe combine this with the Jazz festival?
An Evening with John Lithgow
Johnson Chapel, Amherst College
Saturday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m.
John Lithgow has an international reputation in the arts and humanities and familial ties to our local community. This event will give him a chance to share his support of libraries, the humanities, and democracy in general and, specifically, to encourage support of the Jones Library’s efforts to renovate and expand its Amity Street building.
Sanderson Sisters Spelltacular
Hawks and Reed Performing Arts Center, Greenfield
Saturday, Sept. 30
Family Show at 3:30 p.m., Adult show at 6 p.m.
The Sanderson Sisters — Winifred, Mary and Sarah Sanderson — descend upon our neck of the woods to put a spell on you and usher in the start of the Halloween season. This event will have you running amuck during a meet and greet with the Sisters: getting the chance to personally interact, snag a photo, and maybe even get chosen to light the black flame candle sparking the live stage performance.
Solomiya Ivakhiv
West Whately Chapel
Saturday, Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Ukrainian violinist Solomiya Ivakhiv will perform works from the solo violin repertoire of J.S. Bach as a benefit concert for musicians in Ukraine. Solomiya Ivakhiv is the 2022 recipient of the Merited Artist of Ukraine, the highest honor awarded to artists in her home country. She is also the recipient of international honors and prizes, including the Sergei Prokofiev and Yaroslav Kocian International Competitions.
Bandtoberfest Family Concert
Amherst Town Common
Sunday, Oct. 1 from 2 – 5 p.m.
The UMass Wind Ensemble and Symphony Band presents its 3rd annual family-friendly free outdoor musical celebration of autumn. You will hear performances of music from movie soundtracks (Star Wars, Mary Poppins, others) plus marches, polkas, and band favorites Bring a blanket or chair, pack a picnic, or grab food from a local eatery (hint: Black Sheep Deli). Abandoned Building Brewing will be on hand serving freshly-brewed beer.
Jeff Lederer’s Schoenberg on the Beach
Shea Theater, Turners Falls
Sunday, Oct. 1 at 7:30 p.m.
Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares opens its 2023 – 2024 season with a CD release concert for Jeff Lederer’s “Schoenberg on the Beach”, an 8-part song cycle based on the early vocal music of Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern. The instrumentation for the piece is voice, clarinets/woodwinds, cello, vibes, bass and drums.
Springfield Public Forum
Dr. Lisa Damour: The Emotional Lives of Teenagers
Springfield Symphony Hall
Monday, Oct. 2 at 6 p.m., also streaming on Zoom
In teenagers, powerful emotions come with the territory. With clear, research-informed explanations alongside illuminating, real-life examples, Dr. Lisa Damour will give parents the concrete, practical information they need to steady their teens through the bumpy yet transformational journey into adulthood.
Codemakers: Nano Stern
Bowker Auditorium, UMass
Monday, Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m.
The UMass Codemakers series initiates conversations and open discussions with the great creative minds of our generation. For the opening event of the 2023 Codemakers series, Chilean artist Nano Stern will perform songs, conduct a question-and-answer session, and present the North American premiere of his new documentary film, “We’ll Be Singing by September.” The film explores the history, development and transcendence of Chilean music during the socialist government of Salvador Allende.
Y La Bamba
Bombyx, Florence
Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 7 p.m.
Led by Luz Elena Mendoza Ramos, Y La Bamba has been making major waves for the last several years with their adventurous Latin experimental rock, suffusing dream pop soundscapes with beguiling cumbia and mariachi rhythms.
Displaced: Raida Adon’s Strangeness
UMass Museum of Contemporary Art
Through Sunday, Dec. 10
Raida Adon’s immersive video Strangeness invokes experiences of displacement and enduring journeys in search of home. A rich array of archetypal, historical, and biographical threads reflect both human fragility and resilience, agony and hope. Adon's imagery references twentieth and twenty-first century documentary photographs of Jewish, Palestinian, Syrian, and European refugees.