Saturday, Nov. 9: A term that also means “black bile” is the Turkish word sevda, used nowadays to describe a style of folksong traditional to Bosnia and Herzegovina, known as sevdah music or sevdalinka. It’s quite appropriate, since sevdah is known for its melancholy-sounding minor modes and its lyrical themes of unfulfilled romantic longing.
Saturday, Nov. 9: Conductor Jonathan Handman and the orchestra present a program featuring Vasily Kalinnikov’s Overture to Tsar Boris and Intermezzo No. 2, Alexander Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances and Tchaikovsky’s classic Symphony No. 5.
Saturday, Nov. 9: As director of the Conservatory of Music Graduate Vocal Arts Program at Bard College, most of the time Stephanie Blythe’s concern is making sure her students become stageworthy. But once in a while, she gets to be in the Fisher Center spotlight herself for an evening.
From the road, the apartments at the Bearsville complex look like a more stolid version of Byrdcliffe’s classic artist housing. But then one enters one of the smallish apartments inside and a whole other side of Woodstock creativity springs to life. Brightly colored murals capture the local mountains, the wondrous fecundity of our nature.
A fascinating and underdiscussed consideration of popular music is how the compositional instrument – the instrument upon which a songwriter
Woodstock reading on Sunday, November 3: Many of the myths regarding Joplin read out like cautionary, puritanical sermons, luridly celebrating her passionate performances as something inspired and beyond her control, meanwhile excoriating her for her weakness, the demons and hedonism that ultimately defeated her. The standard line on Janis has allowed precious little acknowledgment of her personal agency, her seriousness of purpose and her accelerating artistic growth and self-determination, all of which are major and richly substantiated themes in George-Warren’s deeply engaging new biography.
Friday, Nov. 8: Born in Barbados, the Bronx-raised Flash pioneered deejaying, cutting, scratching and mixing with the Furious Five. He will present a deep audio and visual dive into the history of an artform he helped create.
Thursday, Nov. 6: The daughter of actress Uma Thurman and actor Ethan Hawke made her screen debut as Jo March in the 2017 BBC adaptation of Little Women and starred as Robin in the third season of the Netflix series Stranger Things. As a musician, she works frequently with the Grammy-winning writer and producer Jesse Harris, who is well-known in this area, particularly for his work with Norah Jones, Madeleine Peyroux and others.
Thursday, Nov. 7: Fall for Art features 28 gifted Hudson Valley artists working in a wide variety of media. Proceeds from the annual event support the Hudson Valley Food Bank, Family of Woodstock, Court-Appointed Special Advocates, People’s Place, Angel Food East and Jewish Family Services, among others.
Saturday, Oct. 26: As concert music surges internationally in popularity, defiantly putting the lie to its oft-repeated obituaries, the mid-Hudson Valley would do well to reflect on the forward-looking vision of Maestro Fleischer, who for years has steered this generally traditional outfit in daring and quietly radical ways.