Connecting the arts across the ocean are two western Mass. based composers, Kate Soper and John Aylward, who will each premiere their works in Florence this weekend. For the first time, the Ensemble Télémaque is touring with a project to collaborate with American composers to create music inspired by literary works connected to both the U.S. and Marseille. We speak with participating composers Soper and Aylward about working with this group of musicians and preview some of the spectacle you will hear as part of the program, "Sounds, Tears, and Skins."
We also meet members of Greenfield Community College’s upcoming production of “The Laramie Project,” a devised theater work that looks at the circumstances and impact of the murder of Matthew Shepard which sent shockwaves in Wyoming and beyond, inspiring increased LGBTQ+ activism and hate crime legislation. We speak to Alex West, Jesse Archambault, Ioana Teutsch, and Tom Geha; members of the production team of this work that continues to remain politically relevant.
And in Granby, a collaborative partnership is getting local produce on the tables of seniors. We head to Dave’s Natural Garden to learn more about the senior shares they provide through a partnership with CISA and local governance. There farmer Meghan Hastings shows us around not just their farm store, but how they’re significantly shifting their growing practices for a changing climate, as Claire Morenon of CISA and Andy Rogers of South Hadley's Council on Aging elaborate on how this triumvirate keeps the community healthier.
