As the crisp fall air settles in, the Berkshires’ music offerings remain hot, with 50 live performances across the county. This week’s lineup spans genres from classical and jazz to rock, blues, folk, and even Scottish tunes, ensuring there’s something for every musical taste. Below are some highlights for the week ahead, followed by our comprehensive show rundown.
Classical and Opera
It’s a busy week for classical performances, with six in the county. On Thursday evening, you can listen to Lucie Robert, violin and Jeffrey Cohen, piano as part of the Visiting Artist Series at Williams College. They will perform works by Dvõrák, Janáček, and Brahms. On Saturday afternoon, The BBS Harpsicord Festival: Elliot Figg and Caitlyn Koester play ‘Skeletons of the Opera’ at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Stockbridge. The performance will include compositions by Purcell, Handel, Jacquet de La Guerre, and Lully.
Sunday is packed with four afternoon performances. You’ll find Coronation Music For Choir, Organ and Brass at Trinity Episcopal Church in Lenox. The concert will feature music by Handel, Purcell, and John Rutter, as well as music from the coronation of King Charles with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tarik O’Regan. Tanglewood just announced a new series of performances at the Tanglewood Learning Institute, with the first being a TLI Chamber Concert, in which Schubert Octet in F, D.803 will be performed. You can also enjoy Close Encounters With Music: Drama & Melodrama – The Schumanns at the Mahaiwe in Great Barrington. The performance features seldom-heard works by Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. And finally, you won’t want to miss the West Stockbridge Chamber Players Harvest Concert at West Stockbridge Old Town Hall. The program will feature three pieces by Mozart.
Jazz
We have six jazz performances this week. On Tuesday night, catch Jazz Night with Paul Ostermayer and Friends at Tito’s Mexican Bar and Grill in Pittsfield. On Wednesday night, you’ll find the Luke Franco Trio at The Lion’s Den in Stockbridge. Thursday night, The Lucky 3 performs at the Ostrich Room at Apple Tree Inn in Lenox, while early Friday night, the Inn hosts Piano with Harris MacDonald.
Sunday midday, you can chill at the Jazz Brunch with Natalia Bernal & Jason Ennis at Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield. On Sunday night, you’ll find Michael Junkins and Friends at The Lion’s Den. This week, Michael features Charlie Tokarz on Saxophone.
Popular (Rock, Pop, Folk, Blues, etc.)
The popular music category dominates our calendar this week, with over 35 performances. We can’t highlight them all, but we will mention a few (see our calendar or show rundown below for all the performances).
The music starts Wednesday with local favorites Colby Lewis & Steve Ide at the Ostrich Room at Apple Tree Inn in Lenox. Thursday night, you’ll find the rock, blues, soul, and R&B band StompBoxTrio at The Lion’s Den in Stockbridge. The Stationery Factory in Dalton hosts Indie Night: Sasha K. A, featuring the roots and folk singer-songwriter. At Dream Away Lodge in Becket, Jenna Nicholls & Jon Ladeau perform. We saw Jenna open for Sean Rowe last weekend at The Egremont Barn, and she blew us away with her beautiful voice and blend of styles ranging from folky ballads to catchy tunes played on the ukulele, reminding us of Ingrid Michaelson. Speaking of The Egremont Barn, there you’ll find folk-rockers Sophia St. Helen and Michael Lesko. And up at Tourists, in North Adams, the pop-rock duo Savoir Adore performs.
Friday night, you’ll find the Misty Blues Band at the October Supper Club at Dottie’s and Dorothy’s in Pittsfield as part of their month-long residency. Local favorite Hot Sauce performs at The Lion’s Den, while Easy Honey and Connie Danger come to The Egremont Barn. In North Adams, you’ll find Railway Concerts at Studio 9 Presents: Sloan Wainwright. Sloan, whose brother is Loudon Wainwright and nephew is Rufus Wainwright, creates her own unique blend of pop, folk, jazz, and blues. The Strawberry Runners, a project of the Hudson Valley-based folk songwriter Emi Night, performs at Dream Away Lodge. Fans of Van Morrison will want to head over to the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield to hear Moondance: The Ultimate Van Morrison Tribute Concert.
Saturday afternoon and into the evening, the Deadfall 3 Music & Arts Festival takes place at The Stationery Factory, featuring Dead Man’s Waltz, Mystic Dead, A Phine Connection, Just Garcia Band, and The Picky Bastards. Rock and psych band Vaguely Pagan plays at The Lion’s Den, while Taylor Aston (pictured above) performs at The Egremont Barn. Check out Taylor’s beautiful cover of “Loretta,” sung with Aoife O’Donovan, which has nearly 16M streams on Spotify – he’s also collaborated with Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive and others. You’ll find the Bobby Sweet Trio in the Cabaret at the Sandisfield Arts Center. Joining Bobby are pedal steel guitarist Pete Adams and vocalist Lara Tupper. Lisa Michelle Anderson performs with G Winnard on Drums and Vocals and Simon Guthrie on Keys at Dream Away Lodge. Fans of Tom Petty will want to see The Broken Hearted – A Tribute To Tom Petty at the Adams Theatre, and fans of Bon Jovi and Journey can catch BonJourneyNY at the Colonial Theatre.
Sunday afternoon, on the “winery and brewery circuit,” you’ll find Livio Gravini at Antimony Brewing in Lenox and Erik Erikson at Balderdash Cellars in Richmond. Up the road at portaVia in Dalton, local favorite Melissa Brinton will perform. Sunday evening, The Dove Guns are at Dream Away Lodge. The band is the passion project of close friends and local musicians Will Malcolm and Zach Booz, and their music draws heavy influence from American folk classics, British rock icons, and West African rhythms.
Something Else
We have four performances in our Something Else category this week. Friday night, lovers of Scottish and global music won’t want to miss An Evening with Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas at The Stationery Factory in Dalton. Fraser is known as “the Michael Jordan of Scottish fiddling.” Haas, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, is considered to be one of the most sought-after cellists in traditional music.
Saturday evening, you’ll find Steven Santoro Presents: here. gone. at The Foundry in West Stockbridge. The program is a contemporary song cycle for string quartet and voice, written and performed by vocalist, songwriter, composer, and Berklee professor Steven Santoro. Also on Saturday, you can watch and listen to Philip Glass Ensemble: Koyaanisqatsi Live at MASS MoCA in North Adams. The Ensemble performs Philip Glass’ score live alongside the screening of the cinematographic masterpiece Koyaanisqatsi.
And on Sunday morning, the Brazilian band Quarteto de Samba performs at Dottie’s and Dorothy’s in Pittsfield. The band, led by Tarcisio (Taz), is a kaleidoscope of Brazilian sounds from Samba to Bossa Nova, from Brazilian funk to Choro and Forró.
You can read about all of these performances and more in our day-by-day show rundown below or jump right to our music calendar. Please note that our deadline for inclusion in the weekly narrative above and the day-by-day listing below is Wednesday at noon. Check our music calendar for shows we’ve added after our weekly publication deadline. Use the subscribe button below to receive this free weekly rundown of upcoming performances in your inbox each Monday. And if I missed a performance, please contact me, and I’ll add it to the calendar.
Monday
No Performances.
Tuesday
5:30 pm – 8:30 pm Jazz Night with Paul Ostermayer and Friends @ Tito’s Mexican Bar and Grill, Pittsfield.
Wednesday
6:30 pm – 9:30 pm Luke Franco Trio @ The Lion’s Den, Stockbridge.
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm Colby Lewis & Steve Ide @ Ostrich Room at Apple Tree Inn, Lenox.
Thursday
6:30 pm – 8:30 pm The Lucky 3 @ Ostrich Room at Apple Tree Inn, Lenox.
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm StompBoxTrio @ The Lion’s Den, Stockbridge.
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm Indie Night: Sasha K. A @ The Stationery Factory, Dalton.
7:30 pm Lucie Robert, violin and Jeffrey Cohen, piano – Visiting Artist Series @ Williams College, Williamstown.
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm Jenna Nicholls & Jon Ladeau @ Dream Away Lodge, Becket.
7:30 pm – 10:30 pm Sophia St. Helen And Michael Lesko @ Egremont Barn, South Egremont.
8:00 pm – 9:30 pm Savoir Adore @ Tourists, North Adams.
Friday
4:00 pm – 7:00 pm Piano with Harris MacDonald @ Ostrich Room at Apple Tree Inn, Lenox.
5:00 pm – 8:00 pm Les Chrostowoski @ Balderdash Cellars, Richmond.
6:00 pm – 10:00 pm Misty Blues Band October Supper Club @ Dottie’s and Dorothy’s, Pittsfield.
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm Hot Sauce @ The Lion’s Den, Stockbridge.
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm Pug + John @ Antimony Brewing, Lenox.
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm An Evening with Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas @ The Stationery Factory, Dalton.
7:30 pm – 10:30 pm Easy Honey and Connie Danger @ Egremont Barn, South Egremont.
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm Moondance The Ultimate Van Morrison Tribute Concert @ Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield.
7:30 pm Railway Concerts at Studio 9 Presents: Sloan Wainwright @ Studio 9, North Adams.
8:00 pm – 10:00 pm Strawberry Runners @ Dream Away Lodge, Becket.
8:00 pm – 10:00 pm Fall Music Series: Joe Adee & the Lug Nuts @ Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort, Hancock.
Saturday
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm Jack Waldheim @ Balderdash Cellars, Richmond.
3:00 pm – 11:00 pm Deadfall 3 Music & Arts Festival @ The Stationery Factory, Dalton.
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm The BBS Harpsicord Festival: Elliot Figg and Caitlyn Koester play ‘Skeletons of the Opera’ @ St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Stockbridge.
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm Tom Savoy @ Antimony Brewing, Lenox.
7:00 pm Peter Apple @ Route 8 Pub, Becket.
7:00 pm – 10:00 pm Vaguely Pagan @ The Lion’s Den, Stockbridge.
7:30 pm Steven Santoro Presents: here. gone. @ The Foundry, West Stockbridge.
7:30 pm – 10:00 pm Taylor Aston @ Egremont Barn, South Egremont.
7:30 pm – 10:00 pm The Broken Hearted – A Tribute To Tom Petty @ Adams Theatre, Adams.
7:30 pm – 9:00 pm Bobby Sweet Trio in the Cabaret @ Sandisfield Arts Center, Sandisfield.
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm BonJourneyNY @ Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield.
8:00 pm – 11:00 pm The Liquid Courage @ Locker Room Sports Pub, Lee.
8:00 pm Chalk Dust @ Knox Trail Inn, East Otis.
8:00 pm – 10:00 pm Lisa Michelle Anderson with G Winnard on Drums/Vocals and Simon Guthrie on Keys @ Dream Away Lodge, Becket.
8:00 pm – 10:00 pm Fall Music Series: Livio Gravini @ Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort, Hancock.
8:00 pm Philip Glass Ensemble: Koyaanisqatsi Live @ MASS MoCA, North Adams.
Sunday
10:00 am – 12:00 pm Quarteto de Samba @ Dottie’s and Dorothy’s, Pittsfield.
12:00 pm – 3:00 pm Livio Gravini @ Antimony Brewing, Lenox.
12:00 pm – 3:00 pm Jazz Brunch with Natalia Bernal & Jason Ennis @ Race Brook Lodge, Sheffield.
1:00 pm – 4:00 pm Melissa Brinton @ portaVia, Dalton.
2:00 pm – 5:00 pm Erik Erikson @ Balderdash Cellars, Richmond.
3:00 pm Coronation Music For Choir, Organ And Brass @ Trinity Episcopal Church, Lenox.
3:00 pm TLI Chamber Concert @ Tanglewood, Lenox.
4:00 pm – 7:00 pm Kollin Kozlowski @ Route 8 Pub, Becket.
4:00 pm Close Encounters With Music: Drama & Melodrama – The Schumanns @ Mahaiwe, Great Barrington.
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm West Stockbridge Chamber Players Harvest Concert @ West Stockbridge Old Town Hall, West Stockbridge.
6:30 pm – 9:30 pm Michael Junkins and Friends @ The Lion’s Den, Stockbridge.
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm The Dove Guns @ Dream Away Lodge, Becket.
Please get out and support your local musicians and venues!
— Mark @ Music in the Berkshires