NEPM Day at Springfield Museums
Featuring Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: The Exhibit
Saturday, Aug. 10 from 10 a.m. — 5 p.m.
NEPM members get free admission with the discount code NEPMLOVE
The PBS Kids series Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum comes to life at Springfield Museums. Follow Xavier and his friends down a hidden passage in the Dinosaur Diorama, dig for fossils, go on a scavenger hunt or meet heroes like George Washington Carver, Sacagawea and others as you learn how they changed history. Your ticket includes admission to Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: The Exhibit and all five of the world-class museums that make up Springfield Museums. Not a NEPM member? Become one today!
Parsons Dance
Jacob’s Pillow, Beckett
Wednesday, Aug. 7 – Sunday Aug. 11
This summer marks 25 years since the last Pillow appearance by Parsons Dance, the internationally-touring contemporary dance company based in New York City and led by David Parsons. Beloved for their high-energy and athletic ensemble work, their return to the Pillow is a celebration of the company’s roots and staying power, the go-for-broke energy that Parsons dancers are known for and the vision of David Parsons: “to bring life-affirming performances and joy to audiences worldwide.” Hint: Your best bet for tickets is the newly added Thursday matinée.
Flight of the Monarch
Shakespeare & Company, Lenox
Friday, Aug. 10 – Sunday, Aug 25
This regional premiere production, presented in association with Great Barrington Public Theater, tells the story of two siblings who were both born and raised in a small New England fishing village where they still live. This darkly comic play explores how siblings’ lives are intertwined, what we owe to the people who know and love us best, and how family members’ needs and desires may push the boundaries of what we can be expected to do for others.
Home Body & Friends
Peskeompskut Park, Avenue A and Seventh St., Turners Falls
Saturday, Aug. 10 at 6:30 p.m.
This free annual outdoor music event will open with loop-based, bass forward compositions by Mal Devisa and saxophonist Joe Degeorge. Hailing from western Mass, vocalist Haley Morgan and synthesist Eric Hnatow make heartfelt electro-pop music as Home Body. Known for their energetic live performances, the duo harnesses light, sound, and movement to present a spirited synth spectacle oozing with raw power and emotional grit. They’ll be in the Fabulous 413 studio this week for Live Music Friday!
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
The Mahaiwe, Great Barrington
Friday, Aug. 9 at 8 p.m.
As you can imagine, I don’t go to every event that I choose for Culture to Do, but I try to attend as many as possible. Earlier this year, I had a fabulous time at a Ladysmith Black Mambazo performance at Bombyx. How lucky we are that they are in Great Barrington this week. For 60 years, South Africa’s five-time Grammy Award winners, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has warmed the hearts of audiences worldwide with uplifting vocal harmonies, signature dance moves and charming onstage banter. IMHO their over-the-head kicks belong in the Olympics!
The Lost Bird Project
Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge
On view through Sunday, Oct. 6
With The Lost Bird Project, artist Todd McGrain recognizes the tragedy of environmental destruction by immortalizing North American birds driven to extinction. The exhibition includes outdoor monuments to the passenger pigeon, the Carolina parakeet, the Labrador duck, the great auk, and the heath hen. A complementary indoor show opens on Saturday, Aug. 10 at BBG’s Leonhardt Galleries.
African Community Festival 2024
Marshall Roy Park, 162 El Paso Street, Springfield
Saturday, Aug. 10 from 12 –7 p.m.
You may have heard about this one on The Fabulous 413. The theme of this year’s free festival is “African Rhythms: Celebrating Unity and Culture.” There will be stage performances, live music, DJ Prince Paul-FSR, backpack giveaways, and more. Most enticing to me — free food sampling stations showcasing cuisine from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, and American BBQ favorites.
Tanglewood Learning Institute Spotlight Series: Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Saturday, Aug. 10 at 5 p.m.
When we think about or go to Tanglewood, it’s usually all about what’s in the shed, or what we can hear from the lawn. But there’s so much more going on! Here’s your chance to attend a talk with Henry Louis Gates of PBS Finding Your Roots fame. Dr. Gates is the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University, an award-winning filmmaker, literary scholar, journalist, and cultural critic. Oh, and if you go, you might as well stay for Dalia Stasevska conducting Sibelius and Stravinsky at 8 p.m.
Summer Sing: Brahms A German Requiem with Anthony Ferreira
Most Holy Redeemer Parish Hall, Hadley
Sunday, Aug. 11 at 4 p.m.
The PVS' Summer Sings are open, community events that welcome choral enthusiasts and instrumentalists from around the region in an informal and musically rewarding experience. This summer, each Sing is led by a different conductor, who will share comments, work on tricky sections, and then conduct a sing-and-play-through. Here’s our chance to sing Brahms' A German Requiem, in German, conducted by Anthony Ferreira, PVS' assistant conductor.
Plainfield Concerts a 7: Trio Ondata
Plainfield Congregational Church
Monday, Aug 12 at 7 p.m.
Here in western Mass., we are lucky to have summer concert series happening just about every day of the week. The arts program of the Plainfield Congregational Church has staked out Mondays in August. This week, they are hosting Trio Ondata, a New Haven-based piano trio with an inquisitive approach defined by advocacy, dialogue and thoughtful programming. They will perform works by Brahms, Lera Auerbach’s, Anna Pidgorna and Arno Babadjanian.
Violent Femmes
The Pines Theater at Look Park, Florence
Tuesday, Aug. 13 and Wednesday, Aug 14 at 7 p.m.
Violent Femmes formed in 1981 as an acoustic punk band playing on the streets of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After being rejected for an audition by a local nightclub, the Femmes set up outside a Pretenders gig and began to play. Pretenders’ lead singer Chrissie Hynde asked them to open that night’s show, and the rest is history. Now, more than 40 years into their careers, Violent Femmes continue to attract young audiences on tour, create lasting music, and inspire people of all ages.
The Hampshire Music Club Summer Serenade
Florence Community Center
Wednesday, August 14 at 10 a.m.
During his brief 39 years, Thomas “Fats” Waller made a name for himself as one of the most skillful and effervescent composers and entertainers in American music. Jerry and Cara Noble will trace Waller’s career from his early days as a church musician and theater organist to his reign as one of the kings of Stride Piano. The Hampshire Music Club promotes music appreciation throughout the Pioneer Valley with programs like this one and their free weekly newsletter, Good News About Classical Music.
The Secret Sisters
Iron Horse, Northampton
Wednesday, Aug. 14 at 7 p.m.
With spellbinding harmonies, The Secret Sisters untangle the thorniest aspects of life and love and womanhood. In the making of their new album, Mind, Man, Medicine, Alabama-bred siblings Laura Rogers and Lydia Slagle found a newfound sense of self-reliance and equanimity, threading their lyrics with hard-won insight into the complexities of motherhood, commitment, compassion, and self-preservation in an endlessly chaotic world. Check out their Tiny Desk concert.
4th Annual Cider Makers Dinner
Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield
Thursday, Aug. 22 at 6 p.m.
Tickets on sale through Friday, Aug. 16
Hosted by Berkshire Cider Project, this annual event celebrates the release of an award-winning craft cider made from apples gathered at Hancock Shaker Village. Each year, the cidery creates a small batch cider made from apples hand harvested at the Village — heirloom varieties that are rarely grown in commercial orchards today. After cocktails in the beautiful working gardens, Chef Kevin Kelly, of AfterHours GB, will prepare a farm-to-table meal, served alongside hand selected cider pairings. You can learn more about it from The Fabulous 413 on Thursday.
Steve Locke: the fire next time
MASS MoCA, North Adams
On view now
New York-based artist Steve Locke’s exhibition “the fire next time” is a meditation on uniquely American forms of violence directed at Black and queer people. In his interdisciplinary practice, Locke engages issues of identity, desire, race, violence, and memory, revealing as much tenderness and humor as he does brutality. “the fire next time” takes its title from a book by James Baldwin, first published in 1963 amid the growing civil rights movement.