Pioneer Valley Roller Derby Recruitment Nights
Franklin County YMCA, Greenfield
Thursdays, Feb. 27 and March 6 at 7:15 p.m.
Since 2006, Pioneer Valley Roller Derby has set a standard of inclusion, as the first flat track roller derby league to offer both women’s and men’s teams and the first to offer an all-/no-gender team. It’s a nonprofit, volunteer-run organization with a mission to make roller derby open and accessible to all. Here’s your chance to check it out!
Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares
A World of Piano
33 Hawley Street, Northampton
Thursday, Feb. 27 – Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m.
In 1995, the Northampton Center for the Arts asked long-time Connecticut River Valley jazz producer Glenn Siegel to produce a solo piano series, and A World of Piano was born. Throughout its history, the A World of Piano has sought to present a wide variety of approaches to the instrument. The series continues with performances by pianists Matthew Shipp, Greg Burk, and Sylvie Courvoisier.
Blue Heron: A more subtle art
Edwards Church, Northampton
Friday Feb. 28 at 7 p.m.
Members of the Blue Heron vocal ensemble present a dazzling program featuring the head-spinningly complex, yet ravishing lovely music of the generation following Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300-1377) with stories of mythological characters, deities, and mortals, set to jazzy, intoxicating polyphony. Three singers are joined by players of medieval instruments, including lute virtuoso Orí Harmelin from Basel, Switzerland, and multi-instrumentalist and musical polymath Debra Nagy, artistic director of Cleveland’s Les Délices and a longtime collaborator with Blue Heron.
Loksi’ Shaali’
Abbey Chapel, Mount Holyoke College
Friday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m.
The Mount Holyoke College Music Department presents the world premiere of Chickasaw composer Jerod Tate’s Loksi’ Shaali’, the first opera ever to be sung completely in a Native American language. It follows the transformation of a Chickasaw girl named Loksi’ (Turtle) from a troubled girl into a confident young woman and explores the significance of embracing identity, honoring sacred traditions, and how simple acts of kindness can transform the world. The production was workshopped at MHC with a major grant from the Mellon Foundation and the Five College Native American and Indigenous Studies Program.
Dave Guy
MASS MoCA, North Adams
Friday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m.
When you hear Dave Guy play his trumpet you know it is him right away. Like many of the greats before him he has a distinct tone and sensibility that sets him apart from his peers. Raised in NYC’s East Village, Dave was surrounded by hip-hop and the hustle that defined the city in the ’90s. In those formative days, he was influenced by jazz greats like Donald Byrd and Hugh Masekela but also by the Native Tongue sounds of A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul. See him shine at MASS MoCA fronting his own smoking-hot band.
2025 Spring Bulb Show
The Botanic Garden of Smith College
Saturday, March 1 – Sunday, March 16
Opening lecture Friday, Feb. 28 at 7:30 in Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall
The Botanic Garden’s Spring Bulb Show is a Smith College tradition that began in the early 1900s. Ordinarily blooming at different times during the spring, over 8,000 bulbs are coaxed into flowering simultaneously, providing an explosion of color against the backdrop of the departing winter. An impressive display of crocuses, hyacinths, narcissi, irises, lilies, tulips and non-hardy South African bulbs offer an early glimpse of spring.
All for Laughs: The Artists of the Famous Cartoonist Course
Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge
Opens Saturday, March 1
What did famous cartoonists Al Capp, Whitney Darrow, Barney Tobey, Dick Cavelli, Willard Mullin, Rube Goldberg and Harry Haenigsen have in common? They were all celebrated visual humorists in the mid-twentieth century and faculty of the Famous Artists Cartoon Course — a popular correspondence course that taught artists to be funny. Original cartoons and instructional drawings from the NRM’s extensive Famous Artist School Collection explores the wit and wisdom of the course.
The Smith College Department of Music: Requiem by Maurice Duruflé Requiem
John M. Greene Hall, Smith College
Saturday, March 1 at 3 p.m.
This year’s Iva Dee Hiatt Memorial Concert will feature the Requiem by Maurice Duruflé — a modern masterpiece for organ and choir — performed by the Smith College Glee Club and guests, the Cornell Glee Club, and the Amherst Glee Clubs. Albert Cano Smit will play the Hall’s symphonic organ. The program also includes performances by each of the ensembles conducted by Arianne Abela, Jonathan Hirsh, Hanif Lawrence, and Joe Lerangis. The concert is free and open to the public.
Sirius Quartet
Bombyx, Florence
Saturday, March 1 at 7 p.m.
Internationally acclaimed veterans of contemporary music, Sirius Quartet combines exhilarating repertoire with unequalled improvisational fire. These conservatory-trained performer-composers shine with precision, soul, and a raw energy rarely witnessed on stage, championing a forward-thinking, genre-defying approach that makes labels like 'New Music' sound tame. The ensemble will share music from their latest recording — Incantations.
Amythyst Kiah
Iron Horse, Northampton
Saturday, March 1 at 7 p.m.
I first heard Amythyst Kiah on the PBS documentary The Express Way with Dulé Hill and I remember thinking that I would be so happy if she came to our region. The New York Times said, “Her razor-sharp guitar picking alone guarantees her a place among masters, but it’s her deep-hued voice that can change on a dime from brushed steel to melted toffee that commands attention.” Exactly!
Holly Bowling
The Drake, Amherst
Saturday, March 1 at 8 p.m.
Whether behind the piano on a windswept mountainous cliff, at a hallowed venue such as Carnegie Hall, or playing shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the most legendary musicians in history, solo pianist Holly Bowling subverts convention with virtuosic playing, emotional immersion, and a thirst for invention. “When you go to see someone play solo piano, you’re not expecting them to stand up, pluck the strings, drum on the frame, hit the strings with mallets, or place magnets and EBows inside of the piano,” she smiles. “It doesn’t fit with the expectations of how you’re supposed to play this instrument. I think it works though.”
Berkshire Opera Festival: Choose Your Own Opera Adventure
Indigo Room, 20 Castle Street, Great Barrington
Sunday, March 2 at 2 p.m.
Join BOF's great cast of artists for an afternoon of interactive opera adventures where the audience gets to decide what happens. The free concert features favorite arias by Mozart, Puccini, Bizet, and others. This is a great opportunity for audience members aged 8-14 and their caregivers to hear famous arias and get to choose how the concert will progress. And be among the first to check out the Mahaiwe’s new performance space in Great Barrington.
Annual Photography Show
Fiddleheads Gallery, Northfield
Exhibit through Sunday, March 30
Reception Sunday, March 2 from 2 – 4 p.m.
Deerfield Valley Art Association (DVAA) was formed in1931. Their mission is to encourage, create, support, and foster the appreciation of fine arts and crafts in our region. Through ongoing exhibitions — such as this annual show featuring artwork by Keith Clark and other local photographers — classes, and other community activities, the DVAA strives to connect the community with the many talents of local artists.
Noah Ferris, Cellist
Amherst Woman’s Club
Sunday, March 2 at 3 p.m.
The Amherst Woman’s Club is honored to present this recital by Amherst’s own, cellist Noah Ferris with pianist Yu-Mei Wei. Noah is a student of Astrid Schween in his senior year at Juilliard Pre-College and is a student at Amherst Regional High School. This is sure to be a delightful and inspiring afternoon with music by César Franck, J.S. Bach and Frédéric Chopin. Check out Noah’s recent appearance on NPR’s From the Top, the fabulous show that celebrates our nation’s best young classical musicians Sundays at 3 p.m. on Classical NEPM.
The Academy of St Martin in the Fields with Inon Barnatan
Frederick C. Tillis Performance Hall, UMass
Tuesday, March 4 at 7:30 p.m.
I grew up in an apartment where classical music radio was played nonstop, and I remember hearing the hushed-voice announcers saying “performed by The Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville Marriner, conductor” with prodigious frequency. This group did a ton of recording. Fast forward decades, and they retain the collegial spirit and flexibility of the original small, ensemble that Mariner originally envisioned. With pianist Inon Barnatan, who the New York Times has called “one of the most admired pianists of his generation," the program of C.P.E. Bach, Shostakovich, Janáček, and Mozart promises to be superb.
Blood on the Snow: A Staged Reading
Unitarian Society of Northampton and Florence, Northampton
Wednesday, March 5 and Thursday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m.
On March 5, 1770, British soldiers in Boston killed four unarmed civilians and wounded eight more in what is known today as the Boston Massacre. This play, by Patrick Gabridge, focuses on the events that took place the day after when the leaders of Boston gathered in the Council Chamber of what is now the Old State House and made decisions that placed Massachusetts on the road to revolution. Directed by Brianna Sloane and featuring local professional actors. Stay for a post-performance Q&A with playwright Patrick Gabridge.