Knights Orchestra to Return to Clark Art Sept. 4

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Knights Orchestra returns to the Clark to celebrate the current Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern exhibition. This free outdoor concert takes place on the Fernández Terrace near the Clark’s Reflecting Pool at 4 p.m. on Sept. 4. 

The concert program features a selection of music from French composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. A special arrangement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Kreutzer Concerto completes an afternoon of music, providing an overview of the transition from the Classical to the Romantic and the Romantic to the Modern. 

Based in New York City, The Knights are a collective of musicians dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audience and music. They seek to engage with contemporary culture through vibrant performances that honor the classical tradition and their passion for musical discovery. 

The collective was founded and is directed by violinist Colin Jacobsen and conductor and cellist Eric Jacobsen, who, together, also founded the Brooklyn Rider string quartet. Since their founding in 2007, The Knights have toured and recorded with prominent soloists including Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Béla Fleck, Itzhak Perlman, and Gil Shaham, and have performed at Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, and the Vienna Musikverein.

This concert complements the Clark’s special exhibition Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern. On view through September 18, 2022, the exhibition explores how American museums and collectors embraced Auguste Rodin’s sculptures and drawings, and traces the arc of the artist’s reputation and legacy since the first U.S. museum acquisition was made in 1893 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

With more than seventy works from more than thirty museum and private collections, this is the largest Rodin exhibition presented in more than forty years.

The event is free and open to the public. No registration is required. Bring a picnic and your own seating. Inclement weather postpones this event until Monday, Sept. 5 at 4 p.m. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.

This performance is presented through the generous support of Mela and Paul Haklisch.

Lanesborough Officials Review Schools' Budgets

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:49AM / Thursday, April 09, 2026

Mount Greylock Superintendent Joseph Bergeron, left, addresses the Lanesborough Select Board and Finance Committee as School Committee member Curtis Elfenbein looks at the projection of a slide in the district's budget presentation.

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Town officials Monday appeared generally receptive to the fiscal year 2027 spending plans for the two public school districts that serve the town.

 

Superintendents from the Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School District (McCann Technical School) and Mount Greylock Regional School District presented their respective FY27 budgets to a joint meeting of the town's Finance Committee and Select Board.

 

Both districts are sending significantly higher assessments for approval at Lanesborough's annual town meeting in June.

 

McCann Tech, which constituted a $317,109 expenditure for the town in the current fiscal year, is seeking $463,978 for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 even though the school's operating budget is up just 3.2 percent year to year.

 

The 46 percent increase in Lanesborough's share of McCann Tech's budget is is due to two factors: a rise in enrollment of town residents at the vocational school from 20 in 2025 to 29 in this school year and a capital assessment for the first round of payments — for interest only — for a roof and window replacement project on the North Adams campus.

 

The Mount Greylock assessment, a much larger component of Lanesborough's property tax bill, is up 10.99 percent from FY26 to FY27, from $6.8 million to $7.6 million.

 

Mount Greylock Superintendent Joseph Bergeron gave a budget presentation similar to one he has delivered twice to the district's School Committee and again last month to the Williamstown Finance Committee, explaining that while the FY27 budget maintains level services to students with a net reduction of three positions, a series of factors are driving much larger assessments to Mount Greylock's two member towns.