Bach and Bayou, Too

Good thing old Johann Sebastian had a last name that is so easy to play with in contemporary concert promotion — Bach to Bach, Bach on the Rocks, and so on.

   Anyway, the venerable Berkshire Bach Society is jumping on the bandwagon with a new program they call “Bach and Forth,†and their PR says it will be an evening of “Classical Music in a Night Club Setting — with a contemporary twist, much as the very trendy Le Poisson Rouge club in NYC has been doing.

   Well! Not just “trendy,†but “very trendy!†Okay, sign me up, I wanna be a very trendysetter, so let me tell you about the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), which is coming to Great Barrington on Aug. 13 to play selections from Bach’s Art of the Fugue along with two world premieres commissioned by BBS. It’s part of a whole evening that includes dinner during which a “breathtaking†multimedia display of Michael Luckman and Roger Johnston’s “Fractal Art in Motion,†(quite lovely, actually) will play on a big screen accompanied by a recording of Bach’s “Goldberg Variations†by pianist Simone Dinnerstein. Bear in mind that the “Goldberg Variations†were written to help Bach’s client with his insomnia. What did I say last week about appropriate music in public places?

   This all takes place at Crissey Farm in the Jenifer House Commons at 426 Stockbridge Road/Route 7, Great Barrington. Dinner, dessert and performance at 6:30 p.m. is $65. Subtract the dinner and it’s $40. Or just skip the food and come for the fugue and it’s $30.

   Reservations required for dinner or dessert. Cash bar. Advance tickets at the online site, Brown Paper Tickets or 800-838-3006. More information at berkshirebach.org or 413-528-9277.

   If you would rather spend Friday evening listening to Cajun music while you dine, there’s Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys at Club Helsinki in their new location in Hudson, NY. I am looking forward to making my way to 405 Columbia St. to see what was, once, a watering hole for Albany politicos looking for some very trendy entertainment. Ledet writes and sings some of her award-winning songs in authentic Creole dialect, and has garnered praise from The New York Times for her fresh Bayou sounds. Showtime is 9 p.m. $18.

   Saturday it’s Eliza Gilkyson, a Texas singer-songwriter new to me. She comes from a musical family and writes edgy lyrics. Not one of the many Joni Mitchell soundalikes, Gilkyson’s voice has a haunting, warm feeling and is worth hearing. Show begins 9 p.m. $20.

  

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