Hidden Brain: On Stage with Shankar Vedantam
Academy of Music, Northampton
Friday, August 21 at 7 p.m.
NEPM Presale Wednesday, May 27 at 10 a.m. with promo code NEPMLOVE
Are there parts of our minds that are hidden from us? This question launched the Hidden Brain podcast ten years ago. Since then, Hidden Brain has helped millions of listeners accomplish their goals, improve their relationships, and develop a deeper understanding of their emotions. Now, host and creator Shankar Vedantam brings seven key insights from the first decade of Hidden Brain to the stage.
Berkshire International Film Festival
Various venues, Great Barrington and Lenox
Thursday, May 28 – Sunday, May 31
The Berkshire International Film Festival marks its 20th year with four days of independent films, conversations and special events in Great Barrington and Lenox. Opening night brings Steal This Story, Please!, a documentary portrait of journalist Amy Goodman, who will be there for a post-film Q&A. The festival closes with Give Me the Ball!, a Sundance documentary about tennis icon Billie Jean King, with director Elizabeth Wolff in attendance. A Saturday tribute night honors Karen Allen — beloved around the world as Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark and here in the Berkshires as a longtime BIFF presence — with an onstage conversation followed by a screening of Starman.
Summer on Strong
Strong Avenue, Northampton
Music Thursdays – Saturdays from 5 – 8 p.m.; Sundays from 4 – 7 p.m.
We have a number of hyper-local indicators that summer is getting underway, and one of my favorites is the return of music at Summer on Strong. All season long, the stretch of Strong Avenue from Main Street to Eastside Grill becomes an irresistible pedestrian-only party space, with restaurants spilling onto the street and free live music Thursdays through Sundays. This week’s lineup includes Tobey Sol LaRoche on Thursday, Sara Clay & The Starcats on Friday, Ben Sun Ho on Saturday, and Masala Jazz on Sunday.
Brewing Massachusetts: How Beer Shaped the Bay State
The Indian House Memorial, 107 Old Main Street, Deerfield
Opens Saturday, May 30
The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association is very excited about this, their most ambitious exhibit ever. Held in a rebuilt Revolutionary era tavern, it will tell the story of Massachusetts brewers from the Pilgrims to the present through rare artifacts, photographs, and documents. Plus! The “Brewing the Revolution Statewide Scavenger Hunt” is happening now through June 27 at historic Revolutionary taverns and brewing sites across Massachusetts.
The Met Live in HD: El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego
The Mahaiwe in Great Barrington, Hampshire Mall in Hadley, Memorial Hall Theater in Shelburne Falls, West Springfield 15, Beacon Cinema in Pittsfield, The Clark in Williamstown
Saturday, May 30 at 1 p.m.
The Met’s 2025–26 Live in HD season closes with American composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s magical-realist portrait of Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz. In a reversal of the Orpheus and Euridice myth, Frida, sung by mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, leaves the underworld on the Day of the Dead to reunite with Diego, portrayed by baritone Carlos Álvarez. The new production draws vibrant inspiration from the artists’ paintings — and their famously passionate, turbulent love.
Musica Franklin Fun Fest
Unity Park, Turners Falls
Saturday, May 30 from 1 – 5 p.m.
Música Franklin’s eighth annual Fun Fest brings an afternoon of music, performance, vendors, and community fun to Unity Park in Turners Falls. The schedule includes the Música Franklin Student Ensemble, My My Mime, John Hughes & Stephen Katz, The Lost Tribe, and the Expandable Brass Band — complete with a parade. There will also be local vendors and community organizations on hand, making this a lively, family-friendly way to celebrate music education and Franklin County creativity.
Wine Safari at The Zoo
Forest Park, Springfield
Saturday, May 30 from 2 – 6 p.m.
This 21+ event pairs wine from around the world with an animal ambassador from the same region. The $55 ticket includes wine samples, hors d’oeuvres, and up-close animal encounters led by Zoo staff. Tickets are required.
Emanuel Casablanca
Incandescent Brewing, Bernardston
Saturday, May 30 at 7 p.m.
Incandescent Brewing, a young brewery and taproom that opened in Bernardston in January 2025, is adding more music to its menu this summer. They’re kicking off a season of diverse live music with blues specialist Emanuel Casablanca. Born and raised in Brooklyn, Casablanca grew up immersed in the rhythmic pulse of the city and the echoes of Southern blues. His influences range from Muddy Waters, Albert King and Jimi Hendrix to Gary Clark Jr. and Dan Auerbach.
Hampshire Choral Society Spring Concert
First Church Amherst
Saturday, May 30 at 7 p.m.
The Hampshire Choral Society is a 45-voice community choir which has been performing in the Valley since 1953. Under the direction of Paige Graham, this year's spring concert will feature the Bach Magnificat, Zelenka's Miserere and pieces for treble voices by Pergolesi and Cozzolani, accompanied by organist Scott Bailey and orchestra.
Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra: Only in Dreams
Bombyx, Florence
Saturday, May 30 at 7 p.m.
The Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra is a large ensemble consisting of some 20 electric, classical, steel string and bass guitarists from a variety of musical backgrounds. Their final concert of the season will feature an extended suite from Final Fantasy IV by Nobuo Uematsu, presented in original arrangements that reveal the score’s epic scale. Also, works by Bach and Brahms alongside songs by Stereolab and Weezer.
Music from the Frederick Collection: Les Boyer Sisters
Ashburnham Community Church, Ashburnham
Sunday, May 31 at 3 p.m.
This is such an interesting endeavor. The Frederick Collection presents concerts on historic grand pianos by makers whose instruments were highly regarded in their day, matching each piano to music by composers of the same era. The collection spans roughly 1790 to 1928 — from Haydn and Beethoven through the French Impressionists. For this concert, mezzo-soprano Sophie Boyer and pianist Marie-Élise Boyer perform a program featuring lieder and piano works by three nineteenth-century women: Fanny Hensel, Josephine Lang and Clara Schumann. Marie-Élise Boyer will perform on an 1830 piano by Johann Nepomuk Tröndlin of Leipzig.
Downtown Sounds 50th Anniversary Celebration
Iron Horse, Northampton
Monday, June 1 at 7 p.m.
Downtown Sounds marks 50 years as one of Northampton’s true musical institutions with a celebratory night at the Iron Horse. Founded in 1976 and now a worker-owned co-op, the Pleasant Street shop has long been a go-to place for instruments, lessons, repairs and local music lore. The anniversary show brings that community spirit to the stage with performances by Behold! True Believers, the Lonesome Brothers, King Radio, Klezamir and special guests.
Birds, Bees, Flowers, And Trees
The Clark, Williamstown
Open through Sunday, Sept. 20
Birds, Bees, Flowers, and Trees pairs historical illustrations from the age of scientific inquiry with contemporary artists’ books featuring similar themes. From delicate wildflowers to high-tech dragonfly drones, this installation explores our ever-evolving relationship with the natural world.
COMING SOON
Django in June
Django Camp at Smith College June 8 – 14
Concerts at the Academy of Music Friday, June 12 and Saturday, June 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Northampton’s Django in June plays host to world class artists and avid amateurs with a shared passion for the musical tradition associated with pioneering jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stéphane Grappelli. Tickets are on sale for two fabulous concerts at the Academy of Music.
Wednesday Folk Traditions
Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, Hadley
Opens Wednesday, June 10 at 6:30 p.m.
The PPH Museum presents the 45th season of Wednesday Folk Traditions, its outdoor concert series featuring global folk music performed in a lovely sunken garden. The series kicks off on June 10 with The Wholesale Klezmer Band, then continues weekly on Wednesdays through July 29. General admission tickets are sold at the door, $12 adult, $2 children, cash only.
Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor in Person
Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley
Wednesday, June 10 at 7 p.m.
Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor presents her new book, Something We Said: Richard Pryor, a Notorious Word, and Me. She will be in conversation with Jennifer DeClue, Associate Professor in the Program for the Study of Women, Gender & Sexuality at Smith College.
Alison Larkin’s Grief… A Comedy
The Mahaiwe, Great Barrington
Friday, June 12 at 7 p.m.
Saturday, June 13 at 2 p.m.
Alison Larkin's hit show Grief… A Comedy comes to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center where it will be filmed before a live audience for an upcoming special. After marriage, divorce, and raising two children, Alison had made peace with the idea that great romantic love had passed her by. Then she met Bhima at the Red Lion Inn. What followed was a once-in-a-lifetime love story that would change everything. When Archbishop Desmond Tutu heard what happened next, he insisted Alison return to comedy to tell this story as widely as possible. "Because," he said, "it will bring hope."
HATCHERY: The Young Artist Performance Project: Asteroid B-612: A Love Story
Northampton Center for the Arts @ 33 Hawley
Friday, June 12 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, June 13 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Inspired by The Little Prince, Asteroid B-612: A Love Story brings together original dance, music and visual art created by the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought’s SCDT Hatchery Young Artist Company. The performance features the Hatchery Dance Company and Hatchery Pit Band, with the younger Hatchlings joining the Saturday matinee. Family-friendly and full of invention, it’s a chance to see what the next generation of Pioneer Valley artists is making.
Northampton Garden Tour
Saturday, June 13 from 10 a.m. 4 p.m., rain or shine
Friends of Forbes Library, Inc. announces the 32nd Annual Northampton Garden Tour which will inspire and educate with an interesting variety of landscape styles, plants and gardening methods. At each garden you will find plant descriptions and volunteer guides to answer your questions. Tickets provide garden locations and parking guidance. You provide your own transportation to all gardens on the tour. Bicyclists are welcome.
Springfield Symphony Orchestra: Juneteenth Concert
Center Court at Tower Square
Friday, June 19 from 12 – 6 p.m.
Freedom Concert starts at 3 p.m.
Head to Tower Square for a vibrant celebration of community, culture, and music at this year’s Juneteenth Concert! The SSO partners with White Lion Brewing Company and 6 Bricks to present a special afternoon of live chamber music featuring the Avery Sharpe Quintet, the Springfield Symphony Chorus, Springfield’s Extended Family Choir, and SSO String Players. It’s free.
Green River Festival
Franklin County Fairgrounds
Friday, June 19 – Sunday, June 21
The 40th annual Green River Festival brings another big-hearted weekend of music, food, art and family-friendly fun, with a lineup that stretches from country and roots to indie rock, soul, reggae and global grooves. This year’s headliners are Charley Crockett on Friday, Spoon on Saturday, and Geese on Sunday.