It’s a stellar week for classical music in Berkshire County, with Tanglewood in full swing, plus many other outstanding classical performances in intimate venues happening across the region. But that’s just the beginning—this week’s lineup features over 85 events, including jazz, folk, rock, Cajun, and the one-of-a-kind Bang on a Can: LOUD festival at MASS MoCA. Dive into this week’s highlights below, and don’t forget to check out the full schedule to plan your next musical outing.
- Music Mondays: Soren Smedvig Quartet at Berkshire Botanical Garden. Catch the Berkshire’s own Smedvig and his quartet performing outdoors in the gorgeous botanical gardens.
- Moonlight Sonatas Concert at Bard College at Simon’s Rock kicks off on Monday with additional performances on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and three performances on Saturday. This series features talented students and distinguished faculty of the High Peaks Festival presented by Close Encounters With Music (CEWM).
- Joe Iconis + Family at Barrington Stage Company on Monday and Tuesday. Iconis is best known for writing the Tony-nominated musical Be More Chill. He returns to the BSC with his Rogue’s Gallery of showtune renegades.
- A Very Special Evening with Emmylou Harris & Graham Nash (pictured above) at Tanglewood on Tuesday. Don’t miss these two legends performing together – we’ll be there! And before you go, check out “The Dream Lives On” about Nash in the July issue of Berkshire Magazine.
- Summer Concert: Cedric Watson at The Clark Art Institute on Wednesday. Catch the four-time Grammy-nominated fiddler, singer, accordionist, and songwriter who performs Cajun, Creole, and Zydeco music.
- Easy Honey at Tourists on Wednesday. From Charleston, SC, this band is known for their fusion of surf rock & indie pop. Check out their upbeat song “Orbiter,” which has over half a million streams on Spotify.
- Bang on a Can: LOUD Weekend 2025 at MASS MoCA kicks off Thursday and runs through the weekend. The event is “a fully loaded, three-day, eclectic super-mix of creative, experimental, and unusual music.”
- Jazz of the Gilded Age at Ventfort Hall on Thursday. Presented by the Prima Music Foundation, the Gilded Age concert will feature works from the Great American Songbook by Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, and other notable composers.
- Star Wars: Return of the Jedi in Concert at Tanglewood on Friday. Bring the entire family to watch the iconic film with the score performed by the Boston Pops Orchestra.
- On Saturday afternoon, there are three intimate classical performances to choose from: Stockbridge Sinfonia: Overtures and More at the Duffin Theatre, the Terra String Quartet at the New Marlborough Meeting House, or the Sherman Chamber Ensemble at Chesterwood.
- Summer Stomp Country Festival at Bousquet on Saturday. Catch this one-day outdoor country music festival featuring four local bands: Whiskey City, Lindsay Anne, The Hotshot Hillbillies, and Colby Robb, an impressive and charismatic young singer-songwriter who we recently saw at the Dream Away Lodge.
- Elim Chan Conducts Rachmaninoff Symphony No. 2 and Korngold Violin Concerto with Leonidas Kavakos at Tanglewood on Saturday night. The event title pretty much says it all.
- Emanuel Ax, Leonidas Kavakos, Yo-Yo Ma, and Antoine Tamestit at Tanglewood on Sunday afternoon. With all these classical superstars under one roof, this is a must-see concert.
Interested in more classical performances? Check out the list of all this week’s Tanglewood shows here. And don’t miss the incredible local musicians performing around the county this week, including Andy Wrba & Friends, Colby Lewis & Steve Ide, Johnny Irion US Elevator, The Wild Weeeds, and Melissa Brinton. Plus, Berkshire Busk week 6 is taking place outdoors in downtown Great Barrington.
You can learn more about all of these performances in our day-by-day show rundown below, or jump right to our music calendar. Use the subscribe button below to receive this free weekly rundown of upcoming performances in your inbox each Monday.
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No Performances.Please get out and support your local musicians and venues!
— Mark @ Music in the Berkshires