Solid Sound live on 88.5 NEPM
Listen Friday, June 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Tune in on 88.5 NEPM or stream on your smart speaker, in the NEPM app or at nepm.org
Don’t miss the opening night of Solid Sound, featuring sets from Wilco and Jason Isbell, live on 88.5 NEPM and hosted by The Fabulous 413’s Monte Belmonte and Kaliis Smith. Grammy award-winning alt/indie rock band Wilco will headline the Friday night broadcast with a special set of deep cuts from their long discography. The band will be airing out a wide range of less-played, rarely-played and possibly never played tracks. Fans can request their favorite song and tune it to hear it live. Celebrated singer-songwriter Jason Isbell and his band the 400 Unit are Grammy winning rockers known for their heartfelt lyrics, rootsy sound, and dynamic live performances. Their latest album, “Weathervanes,” is filled with thought-provoking and emotionally resonant songs, solidifying Isbell’s place in modern Americana and rock music.
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo
Jacob’s Pillow 2024 Festival Opener
Wednesday, June 26 – Sunday, June 30
Jacob’s Pillow opens this week with the trailblazing comic ballet company Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo (the “Trocks”), celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. Founded in the wake of the Stonewall Uprising in New York City as a gender-skewering company of professional male dancers, the Trocks perform a full range of ballet and modern dance repertoire. After fifty years, the company now plays to a world that is, as they put it, “catching up with their once highly-subversive viewpoint…” The Trocks will perform the second act of Swan Lake, plus their singular take on Paquita, among other favorites.
Ward Hayden & The Outliers w/ Mikey Sweet
The Iron Horse, Northampton
Thursday, June 27 at 7 p.m.
Boston is one of America’s great music towns. But among the various styles the city is known for country music wasn’t a truly thriving genre. That’s until singer, songwriter and guitarist Ward Hayden and his band The Outliers sang and played their distinctive take on C&W with a rock’n’roll kick to the top of the Boston scene and a thriving, critically- acclaimed and highly-awarded career across America and in Europe. Now, with their ninth LP, South Shore, they’re bringing it all back home.
Watermelon Wednesdays: Sister Sadie
Whately Town Hall
Thursday, June 27 at 7:30 p.m.
Take note! This Watermelon Wednesdays show is on Thursday! Sister Sadie is a hot bluegrass combined with breathtaking instrumental drive and awe-inspiring vocals. Comprised of original members Deanie Richardson (fiddle), Gena Britt (banjo & vocals) and newcomers Jaelee Roberts (guitar & vocals), Dani Flowers (guitar & vocals), and Maddie Dalton (acoustic bass & vocals), Sister Sadie has combined the varied talents of each of the individual women in the lineup to create something that is far more than the sum of its parts.
Off the Common Summer Concert Series: Sen Morimoto
Hawks & Reed, Greenfield
Friday June 28 from 5:30 – 9:30 p.m.
Hawks & Reed are hosting Off the Common, a wonderful free series happening on the last Friday of every month from June to September. Starting at 5:30 p.m., music will be bumping inside of Hawks and Reed while food trucks, artists, and games will be going strong on the Common. First up: Japanese American singer and multi-instrumentalist Sen Morimoto, whose eclectic mix of jazz and hip-hop, spoken-word rap and pop sensibilities form a super-genre of modern songwriting and experimental grooves.
New Directions Cello Festival 2024
Bombyx, Florence
Friday, June 28 and Saturday, June 29 at 7 p.m.|
Sunday, June 30 at 3 p.m.
The New Directions Cello Festival is an international forum for creative and alternative cellists of all ages, levels and backgrounds. With a “big tent” ethos, New Directions embraces all styles of music, particularly those not commonly taught at conservatories and music schools and especially those that incorporate improvisation. Cellist participants come from all over the US and abroad for a weekend of workshops, concerts, panels and jam sessions with some of the most innovative cellists working today.
Corn Stalk Fiddles - Soundscape & Place in 19th Century Hadley
Hadley Public Library
Friday June 28 and Saturday June 29 at 7:30 pm.
Hadley Historical Society, in partnership with the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, presents a research-based interpretive tour of the musical and social geography of 19th century Hadley. A toe-tapping 19th century corn stalk fiddle song (performed by the children’s Corn Stalk Fiddle Choir, directed by Cindy Naughton) then expands to explore music-related community engagements and entwined lives, in formal and informal gatherings in the barns, kitchens and parlors, in taverns, singing schools, and community dances and celebrations.
Bag Sale
Paper City Fabrics, 330 High St., Holyoke
Saturday, June 29 from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.
Paper City Fabrics is a fabric thrift store in Holyoke that is hosting their first-ever bag sale. Over the past six months, they’ve been collecting scraps, yardage with slight discoloration, and weird cuts that come through fabric drop offs. For $15, you’ll get an enormous reusable bag to fill with as much fabric as you can. There will be quilting cotton, apparel fabric, and upholstery fabric.
Mohawk Trail Concerts: The Adaskin String Trio with Sally Pinkas, piano
Charlemont Federated Church
Saturday, June 29, at 5 p.m.
It’s been said (by WCRB in Boston) that Sally Pinkas “plays with just the right kind of tipsy rubato and smiling sense of place.” She joins the Adaskin String Trio who, since 1994 have been winning over audiences with exuberant playing and programming that blends classical masterpieces with unexpected treasures. Their program includes Beethoven’s Piano Quartet in D Major, Fauré’s Piano Quartet in g minor, and “Fides, Spes “ by Ingrid Stolzel.
Majel Connery
Antenna Cloud Farm, Gill
Saturday, June 29 at 7:30 p.m., grounds open at 6:30 p.m.
Set on a beautiful hillside in Gill, Antenna Cloud Farm has established itself as an arts-centered ecosystem and cultural hub that focuses on presenting world-class, vision-based live programming. Their 2024 summer concert season opens this week with Majel Connery who creates gorgeous immersive musical experiences that bring classical forms and instruments into dialogue with electronic sounds and textures. Joined by cellist Patricia Santos, Majel will share works from her latest project, “The Rivers Are Our Brothers,” a song cycle on ecological responsibility told from the point of view of the land.
Berkshire Choral International Chorus and Orchestra
Ralph Vaughan Williams: A Sea Symphony & Five Mystical Songs
Tillis Performance Hall, UMass Amherst
Saturday, June 29 at 7:30 p.m.
A 140-voice festival chorus of singers from across the country and full orchestra perform Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony and Five Mystical Songs under the baton of renowned choral conductor Joe Miller. The program offers an epic voyage of the soul, set to the inspiring words of Walt Whitman. Soloists include 2-time Grammy nominee Laura Strickling, soprano and Emmett O’Hanlon, baritone.
Arson Fahim with Cuatro Puntos: Songs of Love & War
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Pittsfield
Sunday, June 30 at 4:30 p.m.
Arson Fahim is a pianist, composer, and conductor from Afghanistan who is a fierce believer in the power of music to be a tool for activism and social change, and a symbol of resistance, perseverance, and hope. This concert will feature music for piano and strings written by Arson Fahim, including a new piano quartet commissioned by the internationally-recognized Cuatro Puntos Ensemble. Mr. Fahim will tell his story of growing up in Afghanistan — a place where music is now entirely banned.
Williamstown Theatre Festival: Drama Mama
CenterStage Theater, Williams College, Williamstown
Through Sunday, July 14
For seven decades, the Tony Award-recognized Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought emerging and professional theater artists together in the Berkshires to create a thrilling summer festival of diverse, world premiere plays and musicals, bold new revivals, and a rich array of accompanying cultural events. In Dragon Mama, Sara Porkalob transforms the Festival’s CenterStage into a vast canvas of emotion, humor, and resilience. With her powerful voice and an evocative collection of ‘90s R&B hits, Porkalob vividly brings to life the complex tapestry of her mother Maria’s early years and queer identity, affirming the power of family, the importance of self-discovery, and the indomitable spirit of those who dare to dream beyond their circumstances.
Microcosms: Peter D. Gerakaris
Berkshire Botanical Gardens
Through August 4
It’s a perfect time of year to immerse yourself in the natural outdoor showcase of the Berkshire Botanical Garden. Also, through October, you have the chance to step indoors to see seasonal exhibitions of artwork inspired by the natural world in the Leonhardt Galleries. The current exhibit features the work of Peter D. Gerakaris. His work draws attention to — and seeks to mend — the fundamental interconnectedness of all living things.