NEPM's Smart & Funny People: Paula Poundstone
Academy of Music, Northampton
Saturday, March 6, 2027 at 8 p.m.
Iconic comedian Paula Poundstone, known for her smart, observational humor and legendary spontaneous wit is coming to Northampton in 2027, and tickets are going fast! Paula is a regular panelist on NPR’s comedy news quiz, "Wait, Wait… Don’t Tell Me!" She’s the star of several HBO specials, including "Cats, Cops and Stuff," and "Paula Poundstone Goes to Harvard." And she’s heard weekly on her popular comedy podcast, "Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone." The blue Price Level 1 tickets come with a VIP Meet & Greet package. Those are really going fast!
Into the Woods
Smith College, Northampton
Wednesday, April 22 – Saturday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m.
The Smith College Departments of Theatre and Music present Into the Woods by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine. The story follows a baker and his wife, who wish to have a child; Cinderella, who wishes to attend the King's Festival; and Jack, who wishes his cow would give milk. Direction by Daniel Elihu Kramer with Tabitha Reid, music direction by Kate DeLugan, conducted by Jonathan Hirsh featuring the Smith College Orchestra.
Easthampton Film Festival
Thursday, April 23 – Sunday, April 26
Since 2022, the Easthampton Film Festival has been celebrating independent filmmaking and enriching our local arts scene by hosting events and workshops in multiple Easthampton venues. This year’s festival opens Thursday at the Marigold Theater with “Urban Ed,” an award-winning local feature film by Wade Wofford about a group of inner-city students who come up against America’s broken education system. After the screening, stay for the free opening reception.
UMass Percussion Ensemble
Tillis Performance Hall, UMass
Thursday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m.
The UMass Percussion Ensemble, led by Prof. Ayano Kataoka, is performing a free concert. I have been to this high-energy recital at Bowker Auditorium several times in the past. Now, it’s happening at the Frederick C. Tillis Performance Hall with both the performance and seating on the stage.
Amherst Arts Night Plus
Thursday, April 23 from 5 – 8 p.m.
The Amherst Business Improvement District and Amherst Center Cultural District are happy to announce the return of Amherst Arts Night Plus, a vibrant celebration of the town’s creative community. After a 6-year hiatus, Arts Night Plus returns with renewed energy, inviting residents, students, and visitors to experience an evening filled with art, culture, and connection. The event will feature 15+ local artists displaying their work across a variety of downtown businesses. See the list of who is where here.
Soles of Duende: Can We Dance Here?
Jacob’s Pillow, Becket
Friday, April 24 – Sunday, April 26
Formed in East Harlem in 2016, the multicultural trio Soles of Duende are bonded by a deep love of music and percussive dance. Following their Jacob’s Pillow debut on the outdoor stage in 2022 and their appearance in the 2024 Season Opening Gala, the group returns for a one-weekend-only run in the Doris Duke Theatre.
Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra: Symphonic Possibilities
Abbey Chapel, Mount Holyoke College
Saturday, April 25 at 8 p.m.
Under the direction of Tianhui Ng, the Mount Holyoke Symphony Orchestra is a community of musicians dedicated to performing a variety of musical genres through unique concert experiences in the community and beyond. Their spring concert includes Rachmaninoff’s ravishing Symphony No. 2 and Saint-Saëns Cello Concerto No. 1, played by Bea Croteau, winner of the 2025 Mount Holyoke College Concerto & Aria Competition. It’s free.
Unity House Players: The Prom
Unitarian Universalist Society of Greater Springfield
Friday, April 24 – Sunday, May 3
This full-length production tells the based-on-a-true-event story of Emma Nolan, a mid-western high schooler who wasn’t allowed to take her girlfriend to the prom. When the local PTA decides to hold a separate prom sparking worldwide news, over-the-top Broadway stars come to save the day, or at least grab a few headlines, as they build a “prom for everyone.” With high energy choreography and a live six-piece band, a multi-generational cast of 20 brings this story to the stage.
The Fabulous Hilltown Draw-Around
The Cowell Gym, 51 Maple Street, Shelburne Falls
Saturday, April 25 from noon to midnight
The annual Hilltown Draw-Around is 12 hours of community connection, creative risk taking, and ephemeral whimsy. They’ve covered the floor and walls of the Cowell Gym with over 8,000 square feet of repurposed paper, and have set up tons of mark making devices, prompts, and inspirations. Then the public comes in to collaborate on a surprising, slightly chaotic, and very temporary public art installation.
Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail
Saturday, April 25 – Sunday, April 26
The annual Asparagus Valley Pottery Trail is a tour of eight studios with 30+ nationally recognized potters. The free, self-guided tour winds along beautiful back roads and scenic historic towns from Florence to Shelburne Falls. The Pottery Trail celebrates the rich agricultural history and cultural vitality of our area, as well as our longstanding connection between pottery and food.
Heinrich Heine Far and Near
South Congregational Church, Amherst
Sunday, April 26 at 4 p.m.
“New Songs for an Old Poet” is a series of four concerts spanning July 2025 through June 2026. Organized by long-time Valley vocalist Peter W. Shea, who is also the principal performer, the series presents an enormous variety of songs, all of them musical settings of the great nineteenth-century German-Jewish poet Heinrich Heine, whose verses have been set to music more than any other poet. This concert includes songs by composers from as far away as Germany and as close as the Pioneer Valley. Peter will be joined by pianist and guitarist Clifton Jerry Noble, mezzo-soprano and guitarist Justina Golden, and soprano Junko Watanabe.
Madeleine Peyroux
HOPE Center for the Arts, Springfield
Wednesday, April 29 at 7 p.m.
Madeleine Peyroux’s stop on her “We are America” tour will be a deeply personal and powerfully resonant concert experience celebrating the diverse voices that form our collective musical heritage. Marking the 10th anniversary of her acclaimed Secular Hymns and the 30th anniversary of her breakthrough album Dreamland, this tour brings Peyroux back to the roots of what first made her one of the most distinctive and arresting vocalists of her generation: intimacy, storytelling, and an uncanny ability to make every song feel like it was written just for you.
Watermelon Wednesdays: Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas
Whately Town Hall
Wednesday April 29 at 7 p.m.
The musical partnership between Alasdair Fraser, long regarded as Scotland's premier fiddle ambassador, and the sizzlingly-talented Californian cellist Natalie Haas may not seem an obvious one, but the duo's dazzling teamwork, driving rhythms, and their shared passion for improvising on the melody and the groove of Scottish tunes has helped reconstruct and revive the Scottish tradition of playing dance music on violin and cello.
Northampton Jazz Workshop with Guest Chris Cheek
Plus! Award ceremony for Northampton Jazz Workshop Director Paul Arslanian
The Drake, Amherst
Wednesday, April 29 at 7:30 p.m.
For the past 16 years, Paul Arslanian has led the Northampton Jazz Workshop, an organization that brings leading jazz musicians from New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia to Northampton to perform with the Green Street Trio, folled by jam sessions featuring students, professors, teachers, and other local jazz musicians. Paul has been named a Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalists Association in its 26th annual recognition of “activists, advocates, and altruists of jazz” across the United States. The presentation of Arslanian’s Jazz Hero certificate will be held at The Drake before the workshop featuring highly sought-after saxophonist Chris Cheek.
Evelyn Harris Community Sing-In
First Churches, Northampton
Thursday, April 30 at 6:45.
Presented by the Northampton Community Music Center, this event will feature the Ujima Singers and will reunite alums of the Ku’umba Women’s Choir which Evelyn Harris directed for 15 years. All will be welcome to join in song to revisit some of Evelyn’s standard and beloved repertoire. Evelyn Harris celebrated her 20th year as a faculty member of NCMC last June, and performed with the Afrocentric music collective that she founded, the Ujima Singers, just a week before her sudden passing on December 16, 2025. The event is free and open to the public.
NAB TICKETS NOW
Arcadia Folk Festival
Mass Audubon’s Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Easthampton
Saturday, August 29 from 10:30 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Early Bird tickets are on sale for the 8th annual Arcadia Folk Festival featuring Allison Russell, The Milk Carton Kids, John Craigie, Fantastic Cat, and more. The beloved outdoor festival features music on 3 stages (including the intimate "In the Woods" stage) and brings the community together around music in the heart of the Pioneer Valley to celebrate the work of Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary. This is a magical event!
COMING SOON
Springfield Symphony Orchestra: Brahms & A Modern Voice
Springfield Symphony Hall
Saturday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m.
Courtney Lewis conducts a program that begins with Respighi’s irresistible first set of Ancient Airs and Dances. Violinist Charles Yang makes his Springfield debut with Kris Bowers’ iconoclastic concerto “For a Younger Self,” commissioned by Yang himself. The concert closes with Johannes Brahms’ radiant Symphony No. 2.
Plants-and-Answers Plant Sale
Berkshire Botanical Garden, Stockbridge
Friday, May 8 – Sunday, May 10 (Plus, Springfest on Saturday, May 9)
This Mother’s Day weekend, Berkshire Botanical Garden will welcome spring with two beloved events happening side-by-side for the very first time. The 3-day plant sale fills the grounds with buying opportunities and gardening know-how. On Saturday, SpringFest adds a layer of festivity with free admission, food trucks and a variety of children’s activities.
World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast
Downtown Springfield
Saturday, May 16 from 8 a.m. – 11 a.m.
The World’s Largest Pancake Breakfast is a beloved annual community event in Springfield, celebrating the city’s founding on May 14, 1636. Residents and visitors gather downtown to enjoy a classic breakfast of pancakes, bacon, coffee, juice, and milk while connecting with neighbors and friends.
Illumine Vocal Arts Ensemble: Sergei Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil
St. Brigid's Parish, Amherst
Sunday, May 17 at 4 p.m.
Sometimes referred to as the Rachmaninoff Vespers, this work is actually a compilation of texts from three canonical hours of the Eastern Orthodox church service: Vespers, Matins, and the First Hour. It does not last all night. Its fifteen movements soar for a bit over an hour. Illumine will be joined by Grammy-award-winning basso profundo Glenn Miller, who has performed and recorded the All-Night Vigil with leading professional choral ensembles throughout the United States and Europe.