Arts notes

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Jazz festival WILLIAMSTOWN — The Department of Music at Williams College, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce will collaborate to present the Williamstown Jazz Festival April 20 to 29 at numerous locations. Festivities will begin on Tuesday, April 20, with a free Latin dance class at 6 p.m. at Mass MoCA in North Adams. A second class will be held at 6 in the Lasell Dance Studio, Spring Street, Williamstown. The Avery Sharpe Trio will perform in the auditorium at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, South Street, Williamstown, on Wednesday, April 21 ($15 adults, $10 students). The jazz film "When the Spirits Dance Mambo" will be shown at Mass MoCA on Thursday, April 22, at 8 p.m. ($5.50). During the 12th Annual Intercollegiate Collegiate Jazz Festival in Chapin Hall, college bands will perform for adjudication by James Williams and David Demsey on Friday, April 23, from noon to 4 and also on Saturday, April 24, from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. James Williams and the Intensive Care Unit will give a free Gospel concert at 6:30 p.m. at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Park Street, Williamstown, on Friday, April 23. Mass MoCA will host a Cuban Dance Party at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 23 ($12 adults, $6 children). There will be a post-concert jam session at Joga, 23 Eagle St., North Adams ($3 cover charge). Marta Moreno Vega, founder of the Caribbean Cultural Center, will speak at 4:30 p.m. in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall, second floor of the Bernhard Music Center at Williams, at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, April 23. The popular Benny Green / Russell Malone Duo will perform at 8:30 p.m. in Chapin Hall ($20 adults, $10 students) on Saturday, April 24. Russell A number of workshops for school children, dancers and musicians will also be part of this year’s festival. Information: www.williamstownjazz.com. Individuals without access to a computer may receive a free schedule in the mail by calling the concert manager’s office at Williams, at 597-2736. The Williamstown Jazz Festival is supported in part by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Unless prices are noted, events are free. Contact the box office at Mass MoCA to purchase tickets; www.massmoca.org or 662-2111. Fellowship Show PITTSFIELD — The Berkshire Art Association will honor six college students as emerging artists at its Fellowship Show opening reception on April 8 at 8 p.m. at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, 28 Renee Ave. in downtown Pittsfield. The association will award $5,000 in prizes. The public is invited. The Fellowship Show will run April 8 through May during regular gallery hours, Monday through Friday, 11 to 5 p.m. Student work will be available for sale, with prices on request. The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts is operated by the city of Pittsfield with additional funding from the Lichtenstein Foundation for Music and Art, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Massachusetts Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, Berkshire Bank and the Friends of the Berkshire Artisans. The fellowship recipients are all graduating seniors at Williams College. Mitchell A. Baker of Macomb, Ill., majoring in art studies is the recipient of $750 for two of his mixed media series “Portrait with Candle.” Alix Banham of Houston, Tex., majoring in studio art will be awarded $750 for four pieces called “Couverture,” also mixed media. J. Alexander Golden of New Canaan, Conn., majoring in studio art and psychology, will be awarded $1,000 for three oil paintings. Olivia Park of San Francisco, Calif., is the recipient of $750 for four drawings. She is a studio art major. Lance White of San Antonio, Tex., majoring in art and physics will receive $750 for his installation. Matt Winkler of Wayne, N.J., will receive $1,000 for his drawings. He, too, is majoring in art and physics. The Berkshire Art Association Fellowship program is open to art students enrolled at Berkshire County colleges and Berkshire residents majoring in art at any college. The annual selection is by slide portfolio, judged by professional Berkshire artists. Information: www.berkshireartassociation.org or by contacting President Mary Rentz of Pittsfield. Chinese film GREAT BARRINGTON – “Good Men, Good Women” will be screened as part of the Chinese Film Festival at Simon’s Rock College of Bard on Wednesday, April 14, at 6:30 p.m. The event will be held in the Lecture Center and will be free and open to the public. The film by Hou Hsiao-hsien stars Annie Shizuka Inoh in a dual role as real-life historical figure Chiang Bi-Yu (a resistance fighter) and Liang Ching, an actress who is preparing to play her in a film. Wong Kar-wai’s “Happy Together” will be shown on April 28. Passion paintings WILLIAMSTOWN — As the Mel Gibson movie “The Passion of the Christ” remains a topic of discussion and debate, the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute will present the public lecture "Painting the Passion" on Saturday, April 10, at 3 p.m. Michael Cassin, curator of education, will discuss images of The Passion as depicted by artists in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. Admission is free. "As the voice of the visual arts in our region, we are pleased to be able to offer this lecture on a topic of such current interest," Cassin said in a news release. "The Passion has been a frequent subject in art throughout the centuries and has been depicted in a variety of ways, including some that are quite graphic. We invite people to attend, whatever their feelings about the film. We hope this lecture will be the first of many such programs relating art and art history to current issues in popular culture." Among the paintings Cassin will discuss are “The Lamentation” (c. 1490) by Jan Provost the Younger and “Christ Crowned with Thorns,” attributed to Ercole de' Roberti (c. 1456-1496). He will also consider two 1511 series by German printmaker Albrecht Dürer. The Clark owns all 12 woodcuts in Dürers' “Large Passion” and all 37 in the “Small Passion.” The drawing “Crucifixion” (c. 1651) by Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione, acquired by the Clark in December with 29 other Old Master drawings from the collection of the late John and Alice Steiner, will also be included. The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute is at 225 South St. Information: 458-2303 or visit www.clarkart.edu . Georgian singers WILLIAMSTOWN — First Congregational Church will present Kavkasia on Monday, April 12, at 8 p.m. Kavkasia (meaning "Caucasus") consists of three Americans who together have more than 40 years of experience singing the traditional music of Georgia. In 1994, they formed a professional vocal trio dedicated to studying and performing that music. They have studied with singers in both professional ensembles and remote villages in Georgia. In 1997, each member was made a State Prize Laureate and was awarded the Silver Medal of the Georgian Ministry of Culture "for profound knowledge of the folk music of Georgia and his role in its popularization around the world." The group’s first album, "Songs of the Caucasus," is available from Well-Tempered World. Its second album, "O Morning Breeze," is available on the Naxos World label. Directions: 597-2736. Local filmmakers WILLIAMSTOWN — Local filmmakers Jesse and Todd Howard will present and discuss their film, “The Trouble With Boys and Girls” Saturday, April 10, at 1 p.m. at Images Cinema on Spring Street. Stylistically a cross between “Stand By Me” and “The Twilight Zone,” the film is a story about “gender rivalries, as told through the eyes of children on the playground,” filtered through the lens of an old black-and-white photograph. The film opened at Dances with Films Film Festival in July 2003. Admission is free. More information about the film and a trailer can be found at www.thetroublewithboysandgirls.com. Jesse Howard, director of the film, is the head of the secondary school theater and digital filmmaking department at Berkshire Country Day School in Lenox. Todd Howard, the film’s producer, is a freelance Web designer and video editor who teaches editing and design and plays in a band with his father. One of the few nonprofit, single-screen cinemas left in the country, Images Cinema has a mission to ever expand to entertain and educate with quality programming, while maintaining its strong dedication to independent film and media. Information: www.imagescinema.org . MoCA exhibit NORTH ADAMS — The Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art will present “Matthew Ritchie: Proposition Player,” the first major museum exhibition of the multimedia artist’s work, organized by Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, opening April 10 and continuing through spring 2005. The exhibition will include new pieces in the museum’s Tall Gallery on the first floor, as well as a selection of paintings, drawings and light boxes. “Matthew plies the full spectrum,” said Joseph Thompson, director of the museum, in a news release. “His project is immense in scale and yet intricately detailed, vast in theme and yet sharply and consistently rendered, insisting on certain forms of logic, lithe as they may be.” Ritchie’s works “The Fast Set,” and “Stacked,” both about the Big Bang and the origins of the universe, were exhibited at the museum as part of “Unnatural Science” in 2000. In the new exhibit, his version of the evolution of the universe is laid out in its entirety. The exhibit will include “Proposition Player” (2003), a game in which viewers throw dice on an interactive digital craps table to determine the history of the universe; “The God Impersonator” (2003), an enormous rubber floor mosaic that allows viewers to walk into the heart of the piece, in collaboration with “Fabric Workshop; The Fine Constant” (2003), a 100-foot-long map of the universe that comes off the wall, winding around the viewer; and new characters in the form of sculpted heads, which have been created by the artist in collaboration with schoolchildren. A catalogue, which contains essays by museum curator Laura Steward Heon, will be available. The exhibit is made possible in part by the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and Holly Angell Hardman. The galleries are open Wednesday through Monday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $9 for adults, $3 for children 6 to 16 and free for children under 6. Members are admitted free year-round. Information: 662-2111 or www.massmoca.org . Railway concert NORTH ADAMS — Brian Joseph will return to the Railway Café at St. John’s Episcopal Church on Saturday, April 10, at 8 p.m. Joseph, “a tall, funny guy,” who is often compared to Randy Newman and Paul Simon, gained many fans when he opened for Vance Gilbert last April. Joining him will be Melanie Hersch. He recently released his third CD, "The King of Echo Park." Hersch, who accompanied Joseph when he opened for Gilbert, combines folk, alternative country and a bit of blues and rock in her music. St. John's is next to the post office at 59 Summer St., with ample parking available in the former Kmart parking lot. Information: 664-6393 or www.fusf.org/railwaycafe. Museum concert PITTSFIELD — The Erin McKeown Trio will perform as part of the Berkshire Museum's “Originals in Song” concert series, sponsored by Berkshire Gas and Greylock Federal Credit Union, Saturday, April 17, at 8 p.m. McKeown began playing the piano at the early age of 3 and has since learned to play other instruments, including bass, drums and guitar. Her recent release is called “Grand,” and her full-length debut “Distillation” has sold nearly 30,000 copies. Advance tickets are $15 for members, $18 for non-members and $21 at the door: 443-7171, ext. 10. Information about the concert series: www.berkshiremuseum.org . Faculty poets NORTH ADAMS — Six poets and writers who teach at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts will read original work on Tuesday, April 13, beginning at 7 p.m. in the Smith House, in celebration of National Poetry Month. The public is welcome. Refreshments will be served. Smith House is directly next to Murdock Hall on Church Street. Abbot Cutler, whose most recent book is “The Dog Isn’t Going Anywhere,” teaches creative writing and literature. His poems have appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies. Mark Miller, a Robert Penn Warren scholar, has taught poetry and literature for 18 years. The New York Quarterly, The Pawn Review and other periodicals have published his poems. Ben Jacques teaches creative writing and journalism. His poems have appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Kansas Quarterly, The Mind’s Eye and others. Martha Graham Wiseman teaches part-time at MCLA and Skidmore College. Her poems have appeared in The Dexter Review, Many Mountains Moving and Standards. Kelly Newby teaches playwriting, creative writing and composition. A college alumna, she writes prose and lyrical poems. Jeffrey McRae teaches writing part-time at MCLA. While in the master of fine arts program at Washington University, he won the Academy of American Poets Prize. He co-founded and edited the journal “The Yellow Shoe,” and his poems have appeared in several publications. Poetry readings NORTH ADAMS — Papyri Books at 49 Main St. will host WordPlay, a monthly reading and open-mike series, on Saturday, April 10, at 7 p.m. Vermont poet Wendy Dorsel Fisher, whose work has appeared in Pif Magazine, The Berkshire Review, Malaprops, Dance of the Iguana, Hunger Mountain and elsewhere, will read her original verse. After the featured reading, there will be a WordPlay special event, a live poetry slam featuring local poets engaging in performance poetry for the title of “WordPlay Slam Champion.” The winner and runner-up of the slam will be awarded prizes. Frank Tempone, founder and director of Word Street, hosts the monthly reading series. There will be a reception with refreshments; the wine is donated by The Liquor Mart in North Adams. WordPlay is held on the second Saturday of each month. Information, or to be placed on Papyri Books mailing or e-mail list: 662-2099, e-mail browse@papyribooks.com or visit www.papyribooks.com . Fireworks to play WILLIAMSTOWN — The public is invited to Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall on the second floor of the Bernhard Music Center at Williams College at 8 p.m. on Friday, April 9, to hear one of New York City’s top contemporary ensembles, Fireworks. Admission is free and reservations are not required. Bassist Brian Coughlin, Williams class of 1995, directs the group. Other performers will be Jennifer Grim, flute; Kevin Gallagher, guitar; Benjamin Fingland, clarinet; James Johnston, keyboards; Julian Molitz, percussion; Tricia Park, violin; Leigh Stuart, cello; and Taimur Sullivan, saxophone. Fireworks looks and sounds like a rock band but performs with the virtuosity and sensitivity of a classical chamber music ensemble, according to the Williams music department. Each member in the amplified group is an established New York soloist and chamber musician. Each season Fireworks presents new pieces by emerging composers; it has premiered 10 pieces in its first three seasons. Works on the program will include Duke Ellington music and Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” Directions: 597-2736. Israeli choreographer NORTH ADAMS — After a week-long residency, ZviDance will present a showing of Zvi Gotheiner’s latest work-in-progress, “Territories,” a dance-theater performance exploring the connection between the land and the people who inhabit it, Friday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m., at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. The work will premiere in its final form at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival this August. The dance is set against a musical “soundscape” consisting of a collage of Middle Eastern songs combined with new music written by composer Scott Killian. Born and raised in Israel, Gotheiner was already a solo violinist and concertmaster at age 15 when he turned his musical talents to dance. ZviDance is a 10-member dance company. Its international performances include The International Kulturufer Festival in Germany, The Posthof Theater Series in Linz, Austria and the Theater X Series in Tokyo, Japan. The residency and work-in-progress showing are funded in part by the Bari Lipp Initiative for Dance and the National Endowment for Arts. Tickets are $7 and museum members will receive a 10 percent discount. Information: box office, 662-2111 or www.massmoca.org . Williams recital WILLIAMSTOWN — Joanna Kurkowicz, violin, and Doris Stevenson, piano, will perform in recital in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall at Williams College on Saturday, April 10, at 8 p.m. Works by Prokofiev, Bacewicz, Bartok, Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, Szymanowski and Wieniawski will be on the program. Admission is free and reservations are not required. Kurkowicz, artist-in-residence in violin at Williams and concertmaster of the Berkshire Symphony, has performed on many of the great concert stages of the world, including Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Jordan Hall, Boston and the Grosse Saal, Salzburg. She has performed with the Boston Philharmonic, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and the Vermont Symphony. An avid and sought-after chamber musician, she has collaborated with such eminent artists as Jaime Laredo, Charles Treger, Laurence Lesser, James Buswell, and James Dunham and is a founding member and Artistic Advisor of the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston. Stevenson, artist-in-residence in piano at Williams and artistic director of the Williams Chamber Players, maintains an active career as a recitalist and chamber musician. She has performed as a soloist with the Boston Pops, in New York at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Hall and Weill Hall, in major cities in 46 states, in Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Salle Pleyel in Paris, on National Public Radio and on Public Television. In recent years, she has collaborated with other chamber musicians to present the Bösendorfer Concerts at Williams Directions: 597-2736.
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Friends of Great Barrington Libraries Holiday Book Sale

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Friends of Great Barrington Libraries invite the community to shop their annual Holiday Good-as-New Book Sale, happening now through the end of the year at the Mason Library, 231 Main Street. 
 
With hundreds of curated gently used books to choose from—fiction, nonfiction, children's favorites, gift-quality selections, cookbooks, and more—it's the perfect local stop for holiday gifting.
 
This year's sale is an addition to the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce's Holiday Stroll on this Saturday, Dec. 13, 3–8 PM. Visitors can swing by the Mason Library for early parking, browse the sale until 3:00 PM, then meet Pete the Cat on the front lawn before heading downtown for the Stroll's shopping, music, and festive eats.
 
Can't make the Holiday Stroll? The book sale is open during regular Mason Library hours throughout December.
 
Proceeds support free library programming and events for all ages.
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