by Mark G. Auerbach
The Five College New Music Festival
The UMass Amherst Department of Music and Dance will host the 2017 Five College New Music Festival on September 8-10, featuring four concert programs of music by Five College faculty composers, as well as world premieres, electro-acoustic works and pieces by modern masters from the 20th and 21st centuries. In addition, the winning piece from the festival’s nationwide composition competition will be performed; this year’s winner, Sato Matsui, will be in attendance.
The Festival includes nearly 50 performers and composers, primarily current and former Five College faculty but also current students and community musicians. Returning as organizers of the Festival are Elizabeth Chang, assistant professor, UMass, Salvatore Macchia, professor, UMass; and Eric W. Sawyer, professor, Amherst College. All four concerts will take place in Bezanson Recital Hall in the UMass Fine Arts Center, and are free and open to the public.
David Sanford, composer
This year’s Festival will feature premieres by Five College composers David Sanford (Mount Holyoke College), Dan Warner (Hampshire College), and Salvatore Macchia, along with works by Don Wheelock (Smith College), George Crumb, György Kurtág, Henri Dutilleux, Gunther Schuller, and Charles Wuorinen. In addition, both Sanford and Wheelock will be on hand to conduct their compositions. Saturday’s New Duos performance will also include works by Five College alumni, including Dayton Kinney (Smith), Bruce Quaglia (Hampshire) and Stan Charkey (UMass).
“The Five College New Music Festival is a celebration of the tremendous diversity and variety of the classical new music scene and also of the accomplishments of our composition and performance faculties,” commented Macchia. “This year’s festival will include performances by over 20 Five College faculty members in a wide variety of settings from solo to large chamber ensembles.”
For details: http://www.5cnmf.com/
Sam Rush in Building The Wall at The Academy of Music.
Northampton’s Academy of Music Announces Season
The Academy of Music Theatre in Northampton has announced its eclectic season, which opens later this month with Robert Schenkkan’s Building The Wall. Also scheduled are: Albatross, a new adaptation of The Rime of The Ancient Mariner from Mathew Spangler and Benjamin Evett of Poets Theatre on October 14; National Geographic Live: On The Trail of Big Cats with famed photographer Steve Winter on October 21. and Jack Fry’s Einstein! on November 18. The musical Annie Jr. plays Northampton on March 8-9, and The Moth Mainstage returns to The Academy on April 14.
Jack Fry in Einstein! at The Academy of Music. Photo by Ze Castle Photography.
Building the Wall, the newest play by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Robert Schenkkan, author of The Kentucky Cycle, has its New England premiere at Northampton’s Academy of Music on September 21-24. Sheila Siragusa stages the play set in the very near future, where the Trump administration has carried out his campaign promise to round up and detain millions of immigrants. A writer (Shannon Lamb) interviews the supervisor of a private prison (New Century Theatre’s Sam Rush) as he awaits sentencing for carrying out the federal policy that has escalated into the unimaginable.
Les Miserables at The Bushnell. Photo by Matthew Murphy.
For details: 413-584-9032 ext.105. or www.aomtheatre.com
Plan Ahead…
Les Miserables. Cameron Mackintosh presents the new production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg’s Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, Les Misérables at Hartford’s Bushnell on October 3-8. With its glorious new staging and dazzlingly reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo, this breathtaking new production has left both audiences and critics awestruck, cheering “Les Miz is born again!” No doubt, this will be a hot ticket. For details: www.bushnell.org
The Fab Faux, one of the best Beatlescover bands around, salute the the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ seminal recording Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, by performing the album in its entirety on September 23, as the season opener of the UMass Fine Arts Center in Amherst. For details: www.fineartscenter.com
David Sedaris, the humorist and commentator, has a new book coming out this Fall, so he’s on the road bringing his quirky humor to theatres around and about. There are two chances to see him in the area: October 13 at The Latchis in Brattleboro, VT or October 14 at The Bushnell in Hartford. For details: http://www.davidsedarisbooks.com/tour.html
Keep in Mind…
Ellen Harvey in Company at Barrington Stage. Photo by Daniel Rader
Arts Beat Radio talks with Aleander Dodge, award-winning set designer of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder and Anastasia on Broadway, and Rear Windowat Hartford Stage, where’s he’s currently designing A Midsummer Night’s Dream; and TheaterWorks’ director Eric Ort, who stages their new season opener The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe, and Capitol Steps actor and Hartford CT native Mike Thornton, who’s recording a new jazz album at Egremont Barn. on Wednesday, September 13 from 9AM-10AM, on 89.5FM/WSKB. Note the new day and time. Tune in live on the airwaves, on Comcast ch. 15,www.wskb.org or at www.westfieldtv.org
Company, the George Furst and Stephen Sondheim landmark musical, has been held over through September 10 at Barrington Stage in Pittsfield for good reason. It’s great material, well directed by Julianne Boyd. The performances izzle, especially Aaron Tveit as Robert. Also, Jeff McCarthy stars in Kunstler, a late Spring hit at Barrington Stage returning to Pittsfield September 13-24. Endless summer. For details: 413-236-8888 or .www.barringtonstageco.org
The Mark Dresser Seven launches the 29th Magic Triangle Jazz Series, produced by the UMass Fine Arts Center, on September 10 at Bexanson Recital Hall. The ensemble features Mark Dresser (bass, composition), Michael Dessen (trombone), Nicole Mitchell (flute), Marty Ehrlich (reeds), David Morales Boroff (violin), Joshua White (piano) and Jim Black (drums). Mark Dresser makes music in a vast variety of settings and contexts, but the dauntingly prolific bassist always seeks to create space for the unpredictable play between form and freedom. For details: 413-545-2511 or www.fineartscenter.com.
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Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio. He produces and hosts ArtsBeat Radio on 89.5fm/WSKB.
