Clark Presents Concert by Continuo Band Ruckus with Emi Ferguson and Keir GoGwilt

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Flutist Emi Ferguson and violinist Keir GoGwilt join the continuo band Ruckus in Fly the Coop! Bach / Sonatas and Preludes, an outdoor concert at the Clark Art Institute at 3 p.m. on July 17. 

Ruckus’s core members form the baroque equivalent of a rhythm section: guitars, keyboards, cello, bassoon, and bass. The ensemble aims to fuse the early-music movement’s questing, creative spirit with the grit, groove, and jangle of American roots music, creating a unique and vital sound.

Emi Ferguson can be heard live in concerts and festivals with groups including the Handel and Haydn Society, American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), the New York New Music Ensemble, and the Manhattan Chamber Players. Her debut album, Amour Cruel, an indie-pop song cycle inspired by the music of the seventeenth-century French court, was released by Arezzo Music in September 2017, spending four weeks on the Classical, Classical Crossover, and World Music Billboard Charts.

Her 2019 album, Fly the Coop: Bach Sonatas and Preludes—a collaboration with continuo band Ruckus, debuted at number one on the iTunes classical charts and number two on the Billboard classical charts, and was called “blindingly impressive...a fizzing, daring display of personality and imagination” by the New York Times. In addition to her solo recordings, Ferguson has also been featured on recordings for New Focus Records, Old Focus Records, Canteloupe Music, National Sawdust Tracks, Brontosaurus Records, Coro, and MSR Classics.  

Keir GoGwilt is a violinist known as a "formidable performer" (New York Times) with an "evocative sound" (London Jazz News) and "finger-busting virtuosity" (San Diego Union Tribune). He has soloed with groups including the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Chinese National Symphony, Orquesta Filarmonica de Santiago, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.

As a founding member of the American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), GoGwilt has performed original, collaboratively-devised music, dance, and theater works at the Clark, the 92nd Street Y, Luminato Festival, PS 122 COIL, Stanford Live, the American Repertory Theater, Carolina Performing Arts, the Momentary, and the Ojai Music Festival. His recompositions of renaissance and medieval music with violinist Johnny Chang have been released on Another Timbre; his improvising duo with bassist Kyle Motl has released their music on 577 Records, and acclaimed for their "rhapsodic gestures" (The New Yorker) and "keen musical intellects" (The Wire).

The concert is free; no registration is required. Bring a picnic and your own seating. In the event of rain, the event moves to the Clark’s auditorium, with seating provided on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.

Reverend: Christian Nationalists Make Jesus Victim of 'Identity Theft'

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
08:08AM / Sunday, October 04, 2026

David Langston introduces the Rev. Darrell Goodwin on Wednesday morning. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Rev. Darrell Goodwin told attendees at Wednesday's "PrayAction Breakfast" that they need more action to make their prayer effective.

 

"Sometimes prayer causes us to be in deep reflection," Goodwin told the group gathered at the Williamstown Meetinghouse. "And years and years and years pass, and we've actually done nothing about it.

 

"Our physical belief system is somehow: Say the words to God, and it becomes God's responsibility, and we've done our part because we've told God exactly what to do."

 

Goodwin, the president of the United Church of Christ's Southern New England Conference, was invited to Williamstown by First Congregational Church to speak on "The Challenge of Christian Nationalism."

 

And Goodwin challenged his listeners to take meaningful action to confront and address the ideology in their daily lives.

 

Christian Nationalism, which Goodwin referred to as White Christian Nationalism, is a perversion of Christ's teachings, he said.

 

"What does it mean to be spiritually grounded but practically committed?" Goodwin asked rhetorically. "This morning I've been asked to come here to talk about Christian Nationalism, but I think it would be remiss if I didn't say White Christian Nationalism. I want to name all three of these words because each tells us something that we must do.