MCLA Presents Newest Music Series
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| Jamie Choquette at the launch of the MCLA Presents! lineup on Wednesday. |
NORTH ADAMS — With dance, film and spoken word just a few of the additions to the lineup this year, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts couldn't wait to announce its newest performance and event schedule for the upcoming school year.
Called "MCLA Presents!" the performance series follows in the tradition of the Patrons of the Arts series, which brought musicians from all over the world to the city for festivals, special events and shows for students and local residents alike.
MCLA Presents! will also feature up-and-coming artists as well as veteran acts to the school but will expand the offerings to include more varied forms of performance art.
"This is no longer just chamber music, no longer just music. Now, it encompasses dance, theater, maybe film. MCLA Presents! seems to do the trick of bring these all together," said Jonathan Secor, the college's director of special events Wednesday at a launch event for the series held at Gallery 51.
"We have seen the series steadily grow from a small music series in Smith House and the evolutionary process continues to grow," Secor said.
The lineup includes the college's annual GospelFest, a festival of Celtic music, the fourth annual Blues and Funk Festival, a night of cabaret and Songs of the Spirit, an event meant to celebrate the music of different faiths and traditions.
Unlike the Patrons of the Arts events, MCLA Presents! will not be limited to the Church Street Center and will branch out into other venues — both on the MCLA campus and into the community. Williams College's '62 Center for Theatre and Dance has also partnered with MCLA to bring the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company to the area.
The series begins on Oct. 2 with "A Night in New Orleans," which will feature Joe Krown, Papa Grows Funk and Walter "Wolfman" Washington.
Secor said Papa Grows Funk was a huge hit when they performed at the school several years ago..jpg)
"We will welcome back to campus John Gros on the organ with his band, Papa Grows Funk," he said in a statement. "They are pure southern funk, in the tradition of Dr. John and the Neville Brothers. The last time they played at MCLA, students and residents alike packed the aisles of the Church Street Center, dancing."
On Oct. 24, MCLA Presents! will hold the Margaret A. Hart GospelFest, produced in association with the African, Latino, Asian and Native American Association. GospelFest is an annual event that brings together the local black community with students from MCLA and Williams College; this year's headliners are The Persuasions.
A lifelong Berkshire County resident, Hart was the first black student to graduate from State Teachers' College at North Adams in 1935. All proceeds from GospelFest support the Margaret A. Hart Scholarship, which is offered to an MCLA junior or senior who demonstrates academic excellence and service to the community.
Anne Galjour, who came to the school last year with her show "Hurricane" will return on Nov. 10 with "Class Divide," a new work exploring class and culture throughout New England. Galjour has led story circles and interviews with Upper Connecticut Valley locals, as well as North Adams residents, from farmers to filmmakers.
Galjour will work in residency in North Adams, lecturing at MCLA classes, meeting with members of both local and campus communities and giving acting workshops. Her time at MCLA will culminate in an informal performance of "Class Divide" in MCLA Gallery 51.
On Dec. 3, MCLA Presents! will host Songs of the Spirit, which will feature many of the musicians who took part in the sold-out New state tour in 2007. The performers — which include klezmer greats Frank London and Lorin Sklamberg, violin virtuoso Tracy Grammer and sufi psychedelic rocker Haale — will be reuniting for this one-time only event.
The annual Blues and Funk Festival on Feb. 6 and 7 will bring together musicians with a background in the rich, diverse history of the blues in the Church Street Center. The two-night event will feature performances by Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentleman, Maya Azucena and the MCLA jazz band.
Opening each evening, and, under the leadership of Jamie Choquette, the jazz band will explore multiple genres of music, from James Brown to Frank Zappa to Dizzy Gillespie. In addition, local jazz/funk group Unfulfilled Desires will perform.
On Feb. 27, at the '62 Center and in collaboration with Williams College, MCLA Presents! will feature the Denver-based professional multicultural dance/arts institution Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company.
In addition to the performance, the dance company will hold workshops with MCLA's Dance Company, a student-run club made up of dancers from the college who have varied experience.
Celtfest will take place on March 19, through a partnership of MCLA Presents! and MCLA's Student Activities Council. Featuring Black 47, the evening is being touted as a "show for all audiences, from the lovers of the fiddle's jigs and reels to the traditional bagpipes and contemporary Celtic punk rock."
On April 21, "The Sekou Sundiata Evening of Poetry and Spoken Word," dedicated to the life and work of Sekou Sundiata, featuring Carl Hancock Rux, local and student poets, will kick off. This event also will feature a short screening of segments from Sundiata's last work, "The 51st (Dream) State," an interlaced tapestry of poetry, music, dance and videotaped interviews that explores what it means to be an American in the wake of Sept. 11.
To wrap up the MCLA Presents! 2008-09 season, MCLA will celebrate with an "Open Mic Cabaret Dinner Party" at a local restaurant to be announced on May 1. This evening will feature cabaret star Brandon Cuttrell, host of the highly successful open microphone held each week at the West Bank Café in Times Square in New York City, Secor said.
Students, local residents and regional musicians will come together at what Secor is dubbing "Broadway meets North" to take their turn at the mic, with a few ringers in place like MCLA graduate Katie Johnson.
Tickets for events will be $13, $5 for MCLA faculty and staff, and free to Patrons and MCLA students. For more information, 413-664-8718, or MCLA Presents! To become a Patron, call 413-662-5220.
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Haale |
Sekou Sundiata |
