Berkshire Museum Reopening
39 South St, Pittsfield
Opens Wednesday, July 29
Free Community Reopening Celebration Saturday, Aug. 8
After a lengthy renovation, the Berkshire Museum is reopening its doors to the public this week! Among the new experiences are exhibits such as Cabinets of Curiosities, exhibitions, including Voices of Rebellion: Berkshires’ Revolutionary Legacy, and a state-of-the-art aquarium, located in the heart of the museum’s first floor, featuring dozens of terrestrial and aquatic species.
Puerto Rico Volleyball Exhibit Grand Opening
International Volleyball Hall of Fame, Holyoke
Thursday, July 30 at 11 a.m.
The International Volleyball Hall of Fame unveils a new exhibit celebrating Puerto Rico’s extraordinary volleyball history and the deep ties between Puerto Rico and Holyoke, the birthplace of the sport. The free opening celebration begins with an exhibit preview at 11 a.m., followed by a dedication ceremony at noon with Puerto Rican food from Boricua Bites and a performance by Bomba de Aquí. At 3:30 p.m., teams from Holyoke and its sister city of Salinas, Puerto Rico, face off in a volleyball match at Holyoke High School before the opening night of Fiestas Patronales.
Fiestas Patronales de Holyoke
Heritage State Park off Dwight Street, Holyoke
Thursday, July 30 – Sunday, Aug. 2
Fiestas Patronales de Holyoke marks its fifth anniversary with four days of music, food, dance and community celebrating the Puerto Rican culture that helps define the city. This year’s festival honors Naranjito, Puerto Rico, a town known for its deep volleyball tradition and its connections to Holyoke. The packed musical lineup includes Luis Vargas, Tonny Tun Tun, La Makina, Nino Segarra, Christian Alicea, Luis Mato, Luis Moña, Alexandra La Queen and Bomba de Aquí. The festivities run from 5 – 10 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and from 12 – 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Josh Weil in Person
Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley
Thursday, July 30 at 7 p.m.
Josh Weil, who grew up in Leverett, will be at Odyssey Bookshop to talk about his new novel What Came West. It’s a gripping tale of murder and pursuit set against the shifting Sierra Nevada during the Gold Rush, where ambition, violence, and destiny collide. Weil will be joined in conversation by Mira Bartok. You may have heard him on Monday’s Fabulous 413.
Bang on a Can: LOUD Weekend
MASS MoCA, North Adams
Thursday, July 30 – Saturday, Aug. 1
Bang on a Can’s LOUD Weekend brings more than 70 adventurous musicians to MASS MoCA for three packed days of experimental music in the museum’s galleries, stages, and outdoor spaces. This year’s lineup includes the Bang on a Can All-Stars performing a new arrangement of Philip Glass’s Glassworks, guitarist Yasmin Williams, pianist Conrad Tao, the percussion/synth duo NOMON, and tons more. LOUD Weekend is the grand finale of Bang on a Can’s three-week summer residency at MASS MoCA, when the whole campus starts to feel like a laboratory for new sound. Check out Monday's Fabulous 413 for an inside look.
Redcoats and Rebels
Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge
Saturday, Aug. 1 and Sunday, Aug. 2 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
This year’s Redcoats and Rebels is a highlight of Old Sturbridge Village's summer-long America 250 celebration. More than 500 reenactors portraying soldiers, artisans, musicians and civilian camp followers will fill OSV with marching troops, military drills, live cannon fire, fife and drum music, smoky campfires, and historic craft demonstrations. Together, they will recreate both the drama of battle and the everyday work required to keep an army fed, equipped and moving 250 years ago. Visitors can march alongside soldiers, help uncover spies, take part in scavenger hunts, and chat with historically dressed interpreters.
13th Annual Pocumtuck Homelands Festival
Unity Park Waterfront, Turners Falls
Saturday, Aug. 1 and Sunday, Aug. 2 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
The Pocumtuck Homelands Festival brings Native American artists, musicians, and storytellers to the banks of the Connecticut River for a weekend celebrating Indigenous art, history and living traditions. This year’s guests include Mohawk elder Tom Porter, Nipmuc flute maker Hawk Henries, Aquinnah Wampanoag singer-songwriter Thea Hopkins, Abenaki storytellers and musicians Joseph and Jesse Bruchac, and the Penobscot Rez Dog Singers. Explore a marketplace featuring about 40 Indigenous artists and authors, hear talks in the History Tent, and watch traditional skills demonstrations. Children’s activities include corn-husk doll making and fish printing.
Fire Pit Gathering at the Indigenous Garden
Jacob’s Pillow, Beckett
Saturday, Aug. 1 at 11 a.m.
Witness a fire pit activation in the Indigenous Garden at the Doris Duke Theatre with André StrongBearHeart Gaines Jr., Tribal Historic Preservation Officer of the Nipmuc Nation and Founder of No Loose Braids, the No Loose Braids team and members of multiple Eastern Woodland tribes. This gathering invites audiences to engage with Eastern Woodlands culture, land practices, and living traditions rooted in the Nipmuc way of life. It’s free, but you should register. Then, you could stick around for Gauthier Dance at the Ted Shawn Theatre or Brian Brooks Moving Company at the Doris Duke Theatre.
Ware 250th Celebration
Parade in downtown Ware
Saturday, Aug. 1 at 11 a.m.
Fair at Ware Public Schools Campus, 237 West St., Ware
Saturday, Aug. 1 at 5 p.m.
The Town of Ware caps off a week of 250th-anniversary festivities with a parade, fair and fireworks. The parade will feature Workshop13’s Lady Liberty statue, decorated with inspirational art and messages from townspeople. Starting at 5 p.m., the Ware Fireworks Committee hosts a fair with bounce houses, a dunk tank, a rock-climbing wall, face painting, temporary tattoos, local food vendors and more. The celebration concludes with fireworks at around 9 p.m.
We The People: Our Shared Past, Present, and Future
Tanglewood, Lenox
Saturday, Aug. 1 – Sunday, Aug. 9
Yo-Yo Ma curates an ambitious week of concerts, conversations and community gatherings exploring the American experiment. The series begins with free events around the Berkshires, including a sunrise gathering at Bousquet Mountain, and continues at Tanglewood with a reimagined Tanglewood on Parade, and orchestral programs featuring Ma and an eclectic group of guests. The residency concludes with music by John Tavener, Kayhan Kalhor and Osvaldo Golijov. Some events are free; others require tickets or advance registration; some are sold out.
Revolutionary Teapots
Chesterwood, Stockbridge
Saturday, Aug. 1 – Sunday, Sept. 27 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Revolutionary Teapots honors the Boston Tea Party and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. For this juried exhibition, regional ceramic artists were invited to enter their interpretations of what it might mean to be either a “Revolutionary” teapot (endowed with the forms, colors or symbols associated with 1776 and our early history) or a “revolutionary” teapot (a vessel that defies norms or stretches boundaries).
Sevenars Music Festival: Paul-André Bempéchat, piano
The Academy, 15 Ireland Street, Worthington
Sunday, Aug. 2 at 4 p.m.
Franco-Canadian pianist Paul-André Bempechat is a self-styled product of the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard School. He has toured throughout Europe, including appearances at the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Barbican Centre London, the Philharmonics in Meiningen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Rotterdam, and Belgrade. He’s currently recording the complete Beethoven Sonatas; he'll play four of them at Sevenars.
Anthony Roth Costanzo
The Mahaiwe, Great Barrington
Sunday, Aug. 2 at 8 p.m.
I fell in love with this countertenor during the shut-in days of COVID when the Metropolitan Opera's virtual "At-Home Gala” was streamed live with performances from artists’ homes. Anthony sang a Handel opera aria that I will never forget. Now, the Mahaiwe is honored to have him as the guest for their gala. And lucky for all of us, there are concert-only tickets available.
Wind & Reed Jam Session
50 Arrow Gallery, Eastworks, Easthampton
Wednesday, Aug. 5 from 7 – 10 p.m.
Wind & Reed is a vintage saxophone company based in Easthampton that’s all about exceptional American-made instruments from the golden era of saxophone manufacturing. Their monthly jazz, funk, and improv jam sessions welcome musicians of all ages, instruments, and experience levels. The evening will begin with a 30-minute performance by their house band of local professional musicians. After that, they’ll open the floor to the community. Bring your horn, sticks, voice, pedals, weird instruments, or just hang and listen.
Steel Pulse: Reggae Against Racism Tour
Summer Stage at Tree House Brewing Company, South Deerfield
Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m.
Grammy-winning British reggae band Steel Pulse brings its Reggae Against Racism Tour to the outdoor Summer Stage at Tree House. Since emerging from Birmingham, England, in the 1970s, the group has used roots reggae to speak out for justice, equality and human rights — while creating music made to get a crowd moving. Western Massachusetts reggae and hip-hop favorites The Alchemystics open. Free parking and shuttle service are available at Yankee Candle. You can also prepay for parking at Tree House, but frankly, it’s kind of fun to ride the school bus with other concertgoers!
COMING SOON
Summer Concert Series at Black Birch Vineyard
Presented by The Iron Horse
Black Birch Vineyard, Hatfield
Friday, Aug. 7 – Thursday, Aug. 27
Black Birch Vineyard and the Iron Horse are joining forces to bring four terrific acts to this lovely Hatfield setting. Boston-born folk-pop singer Bebe Stockwell kicks things off on Friday, Aug. 7, followed by soulful Americana troubadour Ryan Montbleau on Friday, Aug. 14. On Friday, Aug. 21, Massachusetts folk-punk duo High Tea shares the bill with western Mass. indie-folk band Cloudbelly. The series wraps up on Thursday, Aug. 27, with Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Valerie June. Gates open at 5:30 p.m., with music beginning at 6:30 p.m. Bring a low-backed lawn chair or blanket; food trucks, wine and nonalcoholic drinks will be available. I was at Black Birch a couple of weeks ago for an NEPM event, and I can tell you that it’s a magical place to spend an evening!
Bousquet Jazz and Blues Festival
Bousquet Mountain, Pittsfield
Saturday, Aug. 8 from 4 – 8 p.m.
Spend a sweet summer evening enjoying jazz, blues and mountain views at the Bousquet Jazz + Blues Festival, presented by Berkshires Jazz. The Don Braden Quartet opens the festival, followed by Richard Boulger’s Cosmic Groove with a centennial tribute to Miles Davis featuring guitarist William “Spaceman” Lee and percussionist Mino Cinelu, both of whom performed with Davis. Berkshire-based band Misty Blues closes the evening. Drifters Bar & Restaurant will be open for ticket holders.
Michael Kosta
Iron Horse, Northampton
Saturday, Aug. 8 at 7 and 9:30 p.m.
Emmy Award-winning comedian Michael Kosta is a senior correspondent and frequent host of Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, where he brings a wry, self-assured style to political satire and interviews. Before turning to comedy, Kosta played professional tennis—a career change he recounts in his memoir, Lucky Loser: Adventures in Tennis and Comedy. He’ll perform two shows at the Iron Horse, a good indication that tickets may move quickly.
Plainfield Concerts at 7
Plainfield Congregational Church, Plainfield
Four Mondays, Aug. 10 – Aug. 31 at 7 p.m.
Here’s a welcome reason to look forward to Monday nights in August! Concerts at 7 returns to the acoustically splendid Plainfield Congregational Church for four evenings of free chamber music. Quartetto Mosso opens the season on Aug. 10 with music by Caroline Shaw, Shostakovich and Schumann. The Lysander Piano Trio follows on Aug. 17 with a wide-ranging program of Haydn, Granados, Jennifer Higdon and Schoenberg. On Aug. 24, members of the Borromeo String Quartet join cellist Raman Ramakrishnan for music by Beethoven, Iman Habibi, Kodály and Arensky. The series concludes on Aug. 31 with a 13-member wind ensemble performing Mozart’s glorious “Gran Partita.” Admission is free, with donations gratefully accepted.
NEPM Smart and Funny People
Hidden Brain: On Stage with Shankar Vedantam
Academy of Music, Northampton
Friday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m.
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. Whether you’re new to the show or a longtime listener, this evening of science and storytelling will change how you think about yourself.
South Mountain Concerts 2026 Season
South Mountain Concert Hall, Pittsfield
Sundays, Sept. 6 – Oct. 11 at 3 p.m.
This series was founded in 1918 by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, an influential arts patron known as the fairy godmother of chamber music. She built an intimate 440-seat hall on a wooded Pittsfield hilltop using timbers from an old textile mill. Designed expressly for chamber music, the rustic hall has cushioned antique church pews and superb acoustics that allow every musical detail to reach the back of the room with wonderful clarity. For more than a century, South Mountain has welcomed musicians including Leonard Bernstein, Leontyne Price, Rudolph Serkin, and many of the world’s leading chamber ensembles. The 2026 season continues that tradition.
Double Edge Theater: Ashfield Lighted Boat Parade
Ashfield Lake
Saturday, Sept. 12 at dusk
Ashfield’s Lighted Boat Parade is a celebration of art, culture, and our rural landscape meant to connect people at Ashfield Lake. After dusk, boats will complete a circuit on the water as an audience looks on. The parade is free for spectators and all are welcome.