NEPM’s A Very 413 Christmas Carol
Thursday, Dec. 3 at 7 p.m.
The Academy of Music, Northampton
There have been 182 Christmases celebrated since Charles Dickens published what would become the second most popular Christmas story ever told. Hundreds of adaptations have been made — but only one is set right here in western Mass.! Join us for "A Very 413 Christmas Carol," produced by New England Public Media and recorded live for radio broadcast. Starring Connor Ratliff as Ebenezer Scrooge and featuring a cast of NEPM hosts, reporters, and very special guests to be announced soon. You are forewarned: this is likely to sell out!
Rhiannon Giddens: Presidential Scholar Keynote
Johnson Chapel, Amherst College
Thursday, Nov. 5 at 5 p.m.
Two-time Grammy Award winner, Pulitzer Prize recipient and MacArthur Fellow Rhiannon Giddens is among us this week! A founding member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and artistic director of the Silkroad Ensemble, she’s at Amherst College as part of its Presidential Scholars Program, which brings distinguished thinkers, artists and other leaders to campus for short-term residencies exploring important intellectual and social issues. Her visit culminates in a keynote featuring a conversation with Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi and Amherst College jazz professor and clarinetist Darryl Harper. Amherst College President Michael Elliott will provide introductions, and the event closes with a Q&A. The event is free and open to the public; no registration required. Plan to arrive super early to get in!
Valley Light Opera: Fiddler on the Roof
Academy of Music, Northampton
Thursday, Nov. 5 – Sunday, Nov. 8
"Fiddler on the Roof" is a perennially powerful musical about the joy and sadness of daily life. Its lasting power as a piece of theater comes from the lovable, familiar characters and their recognizable experiences that resonate with audiences of all ages. "Fiddler" uplifts how the people of Anatevka (like so many people around the world and throughout history) pursue life’s joys in the face of great sorrows. There is so much humor and love among the people of Anatevka, and their joyful moments contrast the pain of their exile from their home.
Arts Night Plus
Downtown Amherst
Thursday, Nov. 5 from 5 – 8 p.m.
Good news! Arts Night Plus is now a quarterly celebration of Amherst’s creative community. Presented by the Amherst Business Improvement District and Amherst Center Cultural District, Arts Night Plus showcases the work of 12 local artists at downtown shops, cafés and cultural spaces. Stroll through participating locations including Masuda’s Cafe, The Toy Box, The Hive Collective, Zanna and UMass Downtown to discover paintings and other artwork. Gallery A3 and the Mead Art Museum will also be open, and you can check out the new Electrify Amherst art boxes, which transform ordinary utility boxes into colorful works of public art. Your best strategy: start at the Visitor Information Center at 35 South Pleasant Street to pick up a map.
Franklin County CiderDays 2026
Friday, Nov. 6 – Sunday, Nov. 8
CiderDays is a super popular annual (32 years and counting) Franklin County community celebration. Enjoy tours of the region's premier cideries and orchards with cidermaking demos and tastings, workshops and exhibitions throughout the county. You can make stops in Greenfield, Deerfield, Turners Falls, the beautiful hills of Buckland, Shelburne Falls, Colrain, and lots of towns in between. Most CiderDays activities are free, but some scheduled programming requires registration and a ticket.
Mystic Cat Pinball Grand Opening
113–115 Avenue A, Turners Falls
Friday, Nov. 6 from 5 – 10 p.m.
Pinball is back in Turners Falls! Mystic Cat Pinball is the reincarnation of the popular Mystic Pinball arcade, which closed during the pandemic in 2020. The new location features more than two dozen pinball machines spanning six decades, from vintage classics to modern favorites, plus a comfy lounge where players can relax between games. The grand opening is part of Turners Falls' First Friday festivities, with half-price admission. If you still have some Mystic Pinball merchandise, wear it and get in free! All ages welcome.
The Lit Salon: An Evening with Author Marcia Chatelain and Singer-Songwriter Chantell McCulloch
Barrington Hall, Great Barrington
Friday, Nov. 6 from 7 – 8:30 p.m.
The Mount, Edith Wharton’s home, is launching a new literary salon series combining thought-provoking conversations with live music, inspired by the intimate artistic and intellectual gatherings of an earlier era. The inaugural event features Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Marcia Chatelain, whose new book, How Bright the Path Grows, tells the stories of 13 Black women who helped make the historic 1963 March on Washington possible. Singer-songwriter Chantell McCulloch provides live music, and author Michelle Young moderates the conversation.
Ashuelot Concerts
Passion & Elegy: Romantic Piano Trios
Montague Retreat Center
Friday, Nov. 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Ashuelot Concerts brings world-class chamber musicians to intimate venues in New Hampshire, Vermont and, occasionally, western Massachusetts. Founded in 2019 by violinist Louisa Stonehill and pianist Nicholas Burns, the series presents its concerts in settings where audiences can experience the music up close. For this performance, Stonehill and Burns are joined by cellist Edward Arron for a program of three Romantic-era piano trios. Rachmaninoff's youthful Trio élégiaque No. 1 is followed by Danish composer Niels Gade's charming Novelettes and Ravel's colorful Piano Trio in A minor.
Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares: Marty Ehrlich Festival
Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Holyoke Media
Sunday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. at CitySpace, Easthampton
For many years, acclaimed jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist and composer Marty Ehrlich enriched our local music scene as a professor of jazz and contemporary music at Hampshire College. Now Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares is celebrating his career with a three-day festival. On Friday, Ehrlich joins cellist Tomeka Reid for an intimate duo performance honoring the musical legacies of Julius Hemphill and Abdul Wadud. Saturday brings the Marty Ehrlich Rites Quartet, featuring trumpeter Ralph Alessi, bassist John Hébert and drummer Jeremy Carlstedt. The festival concludes on Sunday with OPEN AIR, a saxophone quartet performing compositions by Ehrlich's longtime collaborator Julius Hemphill.
Eastworks Open Studios
Eastworks, Easthampton
Saturday Nov. 7 and Sunday Nov. 8, from 10 a.m – 5 p.m.
Every year, Eastworks’ artists, makers, performers, nonprofits, small businesses and entrepreneurs open their doors to the public. Participants showcase everything from fine arts, pottery and stained glass, to jewelry, textiles, instruments, and more. Meet celebrated creators, learn about your favorite artist’s process, view works in progress, participate in hands-on workshops, and purchase one-of-a-kind items. Free and open to the public.
Potato Festival 2026
Smiarowski Farmstand and Creamy, Sunderland
Saturday, Nov. 7 and Sunday, Nov. 8 from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Reading about this one makes me hungry! Smiarowski Farmstand and Creamy is devoting an entire weekend to the humble spud. Enjoy a loaded baked potato bar, hand-cut fries, fresh potato chips and plenty of other treats, including homemade Polish plates and pierogies. There's live music both days, with the Cobblestone Road Band on Saturday from 12 – 3 p.m. and a polka party with Mitch Biskup and the All Star Band on Sunday from 12 – 3 p.m. Plus, local vendors, dancing, face painting for the kids and a chance to browse the farmstand's produce and other goodies.
Berkshire Bach Portals: Eugene Drucker — The Savior
Tanglewood, Linde Center for Music and Learning, Lenox
Saturday, Nov. 7 at 3 p.m.
Berkshire Bach’s quarterly Portals is a series that explores the impact of the music of J.S. Bach across artistic disciplines. A perfect example is happening this weekend. Violinist Eugene Drucker, founding member of the Emerson String Quartet and BBS Artistic Director is also an author! His novel, The Savior, follows a young violinist in Nazi Germany who is ordered to perform for prisoners in a concentration camp and must confront the moral consequences of his complicity. The music of J.S. Bach plays a central role in the novel, particularly the monumental Chaconne from his Partita No. 2 in D minor, which Drucker will perform live. The program will also include a reading from the book and a conversation with the audience.
It's the Wildest!
Bombyx, Florence
Saturday, Nov. 7 at 3 p.m.
In the 1950s, singer and trumpeter Louis Prima and vocalist Keely Smith turned a tiny Las Vegas lounge into a swinging after-hours sensation with their irresistible mix of jazz, swing, novelty songs and rock ’n’ roll. Pianist Mark Gionfriddo and vocalist Nikki Gorts, joined by a five-piece band, recreate the duo's exuberant sound with favorites including “Jump, Jive ’N Wail,” “That Old Black Magic,” “I Wish You Love” and more. The show's title comes from Prima and Smith's iconic 1956 album, and Gionfriddo provides the arrangements for this tribute to a great musical partnerships of the era.
Laurent Grasso: Metaphysical Maze
MASS MoCA, North Adams
Opens Saturday, Nov. 7
Conversation with Laurent Grasso at 4 p.m.
Opening Celebration at 5:30 p.m.
Metaphysical Maze is the largest exhibition to date in the United States devoted to French conceptual artist Laurent Grasso. Installed in MASS MoCA’s iconic Building 5, Metaphysical Maze will take the form of an immersive installation bringing together, for the first time, the artist’s most emblematic films, along with Cosmic Drive (2026), produced during his research residency at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. The installation will also include paintings, sculptures, and architectural interventions.
Armour Yard: The Winter Sessions
De la Luz, Holyoke
Mondays, from 5 – 8: 30 p.m.
It started with Armour Yard, an outdoor gathering space on Race Street in Holyoke, conceived during the pandemic. Then in 2025, there was Beyond Armour Yard, a new public arts and community space featuring artist-painted shipping containers and murals. Now we have Armour Yard Winter Sessions, moved for coziness to De la Luz, and happening on Monday evenings. Part record fair, part night market and part neighborhood hangout, Armour Yard brings together vinyl DJs curated by Rec1, a yummy dinner menu from De la Luz's kitchen, and local artisans selling handmade goods. Each Monday features a different DJ, and a different food and cocktail menu, making every session a little . . . different. Free admission; all ages welcome.
The Preferred Flower — Paintings by Mabel Loomis Todd
The Emily Dickinson Museum and the Amherst History Center
Opening Reception Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 5:30 p.m.
On View Tuesday, Nov. 10 – Sunday, Dec. 20
The Emily Dickinson Museum and the Amherst History Center are collaborating on this exhibit that illuminates the botanical paintings of Mabel Loomis Todd. Best known as the primary editor of Emily Dickinson’s posthumously published poetry, Todd was also an accomplished painter whose renderings of flowers captured the natural world with precision and vitality. Nine of the paintings will be on view at the Emily Dickinson Museum and nine at the Amherst History Center on Boltwood Walk — just a five-minute walk from each other.
Maryna Krut
Iron Horse, Northampton
Tuesday, Nov. 10 at 8 p.m.
The bandura is a traditional Ukrainian instrument with 65 strings, combining elements of the lute and harp. Ukrainian singer-songwriter Maryna Krut is a master of this remarkable instrument, blending its traditional sounds with her expressive voice and contemporary folk-pop songwriting. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Krut has also become a musical ambassador for her homeland, performing for Ukrainian troops on the front lines and sharing her country's music with audiences around the world. Presented by the UMass Fine Arts Center as part of a new partnership with the Iron Horse, this concert offers a chance to discover an instrument and musical tradition you may have never encountered before.
Francine Berman: Better Tech
Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley
Thursday, Nov. 12 at 7 p.m.
Here’s a question that may be on your mind, or may be even keeping you up at night. How do we fix the tech we depend on to empower, rather than endanger, the people who use it? Francine Berman, director of Public Interest Technology and research professor of computer science at UMass Amherst, tackles this question in her new book. Focusing on social media, AI, and other technologies, Berman argues that cyberspace should be as safe, reliable, and trustworthy as the physical infrastructure we use every day. She'll discuss her ideas with Alyx Burns, assistant professor of computer science at Mount Holyoke College, whose research focuses on data visualization and human-computer interaction.
NAB TICKETS NOW
Barrington Stage Company: 2027 Early Bird Subscriptions
Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield is offering a very, very, very early bird special on subscriptions for its summer 2027 season. Through Nov. 11, you can purchase a three-show Curtain Call package for $150, choosing from productions on either of the company's two stages. Subscribers get first access to seating before single tickets go on sale. So far, the only announced production is Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George, directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Moisés Kaufman. I’m guessing it will be a hot ticket next summer! The rest of the season will be announced later.
COMING SOON
Snow Farm Seconds Sale
Snow Farm, Williamsburg
Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, Nov. 13 – 29
Every fall after the craft workshop season winds down, Snow Farm's campus is transformed into spacious galleries full of handmade work from over 250 local artists — glass, ceramics, jewelry, wood, clothing, prints and more. Craft seconds can be excess inventory, experimental pieces, discontinued lines, or slightly flawed items. To the artist they might be seconds, but everything you'll find at the seconds sale is fully functional and most pieces look perfect.
The Emperor’s New Clothes
Wendell Meetinghouse
Saturday, Nov. 21 at 4 p.m.
The classic Hans Christian Andersen tale gets a hilarious musical makeover performed by students from Berklee College of Music. Written by Rene Pfister and Jan Mankowsky, musical tells the story of a vain emperor who falls for the schemes of two con artists promising him a magnificent outfit that only smart people can see. A funky pop and jazz score brings the story to life. Appropriate for ages 4 and up, including adults! It’s free, but space is limited, so you’d better reserve your tickets now.
Jake Klar & Cloudbelly: Double Album Release Show
The Drake, Amherst
Saturday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m.
Two fabulous western Massachusetts indie-folk acts come together to celebrate the release of new albums. Singer-songwriter Jake Klar, whose soulful vocals and introspective lyrics blend folk, Americana and roots rock, joins forces with folk-rock trio Blue Ranger for “Years Go Through Me Now,” his first full-length album since 2017. Sharing the bill is Cloudbelly, the indie-folk band led by singer-songwriter Corey Laitman, whose poetic lyrics and haunting vocals are complemented by atmospheric arrangements that draw on alt-folk, art-rock and ambient music. Their new album is Throwing The Game.
Valley Classical Concerts: Musicians of the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Chapin Auditorium, Mount Holyoke College
Sunday, Nov. 22 at 3 p.m.
Imagine hearing a piece of music by Mozart that has been lost for nearly 250 years! In 1778, while living in Paris, Mozart used a manuscript notebook to teach a teenage pupil. The notebook was discovered last year at the National Library of France, and scholars have authenticated its contents, including a previously unknown Duo for Flute and Harp. Armin Brinzing, director of the Mozart Library at the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, calls it “the most important Mozart discovery in decades.” Now, Valley Classical Concerts is presenting the American premiere of this remarkable duo! Also on the program: works by J.S. Bach, André Jolivet, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, and Debussy.
17th Annual March for the Food Bank with Monte Belmonte
Monday, Nov. 23 & Tuesday, Nov. 24
This amazing annual fundraiser brings hunger directly in front of the public. Led by NEPM’s Monte Belmonte, U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, and Food Bank CEO Andrew Morehouse, marchers walk 46 miles over two days from Springfield to Greenfield to raise funds and awareness for the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. Plus, there’s the 3-mile Berkshire Mini-March in Pittsfield on Saturday, Nov. 21.