Archguitar Duo

Friday, September 27

8:00pm

Tickets: $20 (general admission), $30 (preferred seating, limited), $15 (student with valid ID)

The Northampton Center for the Arts is thrilled to present Peter Blanchette bringing home his latest musical project which he started in Europe. Significantly, Blanchette has formed a new archguitar duo with renowned Spanish guitarist Mané Larregla. They will perform Blanchette’s arrangements of Bach, Scarlatti, Rameau, Vivaldi, and 15th and 16th century dance music.

Peter Blanchette is the inventor of the 11-string archguitar. Blanchette is an award-winning composer and veteran performer at high profile venues such as Spain’s Festival de Guitárra de Cordoba, NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion, WGBH, Boston Symphony Hall, The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and the Heifetz Institute. His diverse recordings appear in many prime time television and movies, including “Sex in the City,” “Royal Pains,”and John Turturro’s film, “Illuminata.”  

Mané Larregla is a native of Madrid, Spain and an acclaimed electric guitarist and producer. He is credited on dozens of recordings such as “Donde más Duele”, María Jiménez’s best-selling record. He toured with the great West African singer Mariem Hassan. He has composed for National Geographic's “El Latido del Bosque.” He and Peter Blanchette met while they both played in Sinfonity, the all-electric guitar orchestra based in Madrid.

Tickets for the concert are $20 (general), $30 (preferred), and $15 (students with valid ID). Advance purchase is recommended on Brown Paper Tickets. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door at 33 Hawley Street, Northampton one hour before the performance time.

Photo credits: Hugo Westerdahl and Dave Fried

The Selfish Giant, Children's Theater Performance

Sunday, September 15th 3pm-4pm

$8 for kids and $12 for adults 

Pre-order tickets ( $8 for kids $12 for adults) : https://www.pinproductionscompany.com/events/the-selfish-giant-1

Cash and credit cards will also be accepted at the door. 

The Selfish Giant
A classic tale by Oscar Wilde about a very selfish giant who builds a very big wall.

This tale is told by two Depression-era hucksters who, through storytelling and puppetry, perform the whole show out of two suitcases.

The Selfish Giant is a celebration of the power of stories!

For families and children 4 and up.

Disclaimer: This tale was written over 100 years ago. Any resemblance to actual events is purely coincidental. 

Created and performed by Susannah Dalton and José Ignacio Vivero. 

PinProductions is an NYC based theater company. This tour is made possible by National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, Queens Council on the Arts and, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with City Council. 

September Arts Night Out and Portraits of Pathlight Opening

Join us at the Center on Friday, September 13th from 5:00-8:00pm for our September Arts Night Out opening reception! We are thrilled to be presenting “This is Me: Portraits of Pathlight,” a photography project that focuses the camera lens on people served by Pathlight throughout Western Massachusetts. The Joyful Chorus will perform at 6pm, and building tours of 33 Hawley will be offered throughout the evening. This event is free and open to the public as part of Arts Night Out Northampton.

Renowned local photographers have partnered with Pathlight to shoot portraits that convey the strength, beauty, complexity and personality of people with intellectual disabilities and/or autism. The portrait subjects come from all parts of western Massachusetts and represent a broad spectrum of abilities, ages, and personalities.

Too often we see that people with disabilities are pushed to the edge of the frame, or are viewed through a sentimental filter that oversimplifies the fullness of the person. At Pathlight we believe that the people we serve are the directors of their own dreams and goals, and they are front and center as the stars in all we do.

This project, and the portraits individually and collectively as a show, are a stunning visual representation of the person-focused mission of Pathlight.

The Undesirables

Sunday September 8, 6:30pm

Have you been wanting to learn more about the refugee crisis in Europe?

This talk and slideshow presentation by two volunteers that recently worked in the refugee camp in Lesvos, Greece will inform you about the complex situation, and show you ways you can interact or help in ways small and large.

Vaudeville in the Valley

September 7

6:00 Pre-show festivities

7:00 Variety Show

Tickets $20, available in advance at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4289920 and at the door for cash or check only

Celebrate live performing arts at this Vaudeville style Variety show. Be prepared for an evening of entertainment with a pre-show happy hour complete with local brewery, food, and musical collaborations. Pre-show festivities commence at 6pm followed by a talent packed show to begin at 7pm. Be dazzled by a brilliant hand-selected group of performing artists who aim to create an unforgettable experience.

To support live entertainment by contributing to the life of this show: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/vaudeville-in-the-valley#/

Community Sing with Linda Stonestreet

Calling people who love to sing!

Music has purpose, to open hearts and grow consciousness.

August 24th, 2:00-6:00pm, with potluck following the workshop

Tickets: $45 in advance https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4273613, $65 day-of, if available

Linda Stonestreet presents a 4 hour workshop, or PlaYShop might be a better way to describe it! And a potluck will follow. We will SING and learn forms of creating music spontaneously. The main purpose of this workshop is to offer space for community members to come and fill your body with the beautiful light of music. After all; Universe=OneSong!

This workshop is an introduction to vocal improvisation. Vocal improvisation is a descriptor of an ancient way of singing. We all have the innate capacity of knowing how to share song. It is intended for those who wish to discover more about how to connect and collaborate with others via song to carry and grow value with purpose and intent.

You will be guided skillfully and lovingly to making spontaneous music in the moment. We will begin with the vocal river traditions (a series of exercises developed by Rhiannon for 40 years) as a gateway to connecting with each other, with the spirit of music and of place. Through these vocal practices and body movement we will step in to the magic of the “river of music” that may find you making discoveries of how to apply improvisation to other aspects of life. These methods are unique and universal and key to collaborative sovereignty. These rich practices can teach us how to be sovereign to ourselves while holding space for others in the circle.

Who this gathering is for:

This offering is meant for those who are or have been active in community, creation, creative process, bringing love into form and are being of service for the good of the whole.

BIO:
Earlier this year, Linda Stonestreet finished a 6-week stint with purposeful singers in Lisa Forkish's WeSing A-capella Choir. She studied Canoe Songs for 8 days, learning from Pura Fe & Rhiannon. She is in process of writing and recording her 4th album titled #SeedsAndAsh, an album about the River Fire, part of the Mendocino complex that scorched 400 Sq Miles of Northern California and burned over half of her land in 2018. This year she has been working in 2 bands. She was one of 9 singers in a vocal ensemble Outta Da Vox who coalesced an improv concert at beginning of June in Berkeley CA. She is co-lead singing with NAPA VALLEY Rock N Roll Band - Tall Order. Also she is leading a new offering, an immersion in vocal improv/ceremony in the Spirit of Water and Song which she introduced at California Worldfest in July.

A California Kid, Linda Stonestreet believes music has purpose; to open hearts and re-weave the fabric of society in harmony with mother Earth. Developing Song as ritual is her growing passion and is as important as the folk, gospel and vocal improvisation she loves. Of the 100 songs she's written, of which 40 are published, her favorites are the tunes about places that informed her music, places where wisdom is encoded in beauty. http://LindaStonestreet.com

From Mozart to Modern

WHAT: A History of Chamber Music is a live performance and all-ages educational program which will explore chamber music from the Renaissance through Classical, Romantic and 20th Century periods.

WHEN: Friday, August 23, 2019 from 4:00-6:00pm

PRICE: Free

Join us at the Northampton Center for the Arts from 4:00-6:00pm on Friday, August 23, 2019, for “From Mozart to Modern,” a History of Chamber Music in the form of a live performance and all-ages educational program which will explore chamber music from Renaissance through Classical, Romantic and 20th Century periods. We will learn about favorite composers including Mozart, Bartok, and the Beatles while also discovering new and exciting works. This program is free and open to the public, and will be held at the Northampton Center for the Arts, 33 Hawley St. Northampton, MA, 01060.

Concetta Abbate is a NYC based violinist and composer. She released her first solo album entitled Falling in Time in February 2015 on Waterbug Records. In 2019 she was a composer in residence at the artist Robert Rauschenberg’s home. As a performer she regularly plays violin and sings with a variety of ensembles in the New York area. She holds a Masters Degree in Music and Education from Columbia University.

Benjamin Engel is a percussionist and mandolin player from North Carolina. Coming out of a folk music tradition he has expanded his interest into the world of electronic music, free improvisation and world music. He most recently visited Dublin to work with composer Cal Folger Day on a historical Operetta. He has performed in long standing Brooklyn Based bands like Free Advice, Eamon Fogerty band and the Wyndham Baird band.

Founded in 1986, the Northampton Community Music Center is a not-for-profit arts organization whose mission is to foster the love and pursuit of music within our community through quality education, performances, and activities that are accessible to all. NCMC’s programming is made possible, in part, by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency (www.massculturalcouncil.org). For more information about NCMC, visit: www.ncmc.net

https://www.facebook.com/events/450489939068850/

Comedy Comedy Comedy Show with Jess Miller and Friends

This is an end of summer comedy show, headlined by Jess Miller who ran OMG comedy at the Hu Ki Lau for years and is a fierce comic with tenure and class! Before her are some of best local and out of town acts with a high level of diversity, including Ryan Arnold, Monk Danger, Ang Buxton, Jimmy Blair, and Ezra Prior. It's Arts Night Out and Comedy is an Art! So come on out and kick the blues with some professional comedy to end your night!

August 9th at 8 PM.

Tickets can be purchased on eventbrite at tinyurl.com/wmcgcomedy for $20. Portions of the proceeds go to fighting addiction.

Hustle & Flow: Day Party!

August 10, 2019 12 pm - 5 pm 

$15 general admission ticket / $25 general admission + food ticket 

Tickets can be purchased via Eventbrite using this link:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hustle-flow-day-party-tickets-64170299092?aff=ebdshpsearchautocomplete  or through Brenton Jenkins / Kristina Adamyan visionevents.contact@gmail.com

 Join us for some great food, music, and signature drinks while supporting your local Western, MA small businesses, artists, creatives and vendors. We're putting a spotlight on the many different businesses throughout the 413 all while enjoying a fun summer day party! These vendors will include: clothing, jewelry, desserts, eyelashes, skin care products, cosmetics, food, and much much more!  

Flamboyan

August 9, 7-10pm

Performance art from 8-9pm

Sliding scale $10-$25 tickets for performance art piece

Tickets can be purchased at the door or online: flamboyanathawley.brownpapertickets.com

Join us for a cultural event celebrating latinx community, artistry, and entrepreneurship. In Eli's Room, there will be a performance art piece- FLAMBOYAN- exploring Puerto Rican femininity, ancestry, and pain through the lens of a bruja. In the lobby, there will be several vendors and artists from within the latinx community showcasing or selling their work. Featured vendors and artists: Naranjeando, Leslie Saree, WoodChop Chains, BFF Gemz Fashions, and Sweetcakes by Aries Dluve.

The Key Dance Summer Intensive

August 5-8, 2019 5:30pm-8pm

Pre-registration is required

Visit: www.shakiathekey.com to register!

The Poetry Ritual: A Reading

Arts Trust Capital Campaign Kickoff Party!

Gasping Whiteness

Saturday, June 8th at 2pm

Tickets, sliding scale: https://gaspingwhitenessnoho.brownpapertickets.com/

A play and community workshop exploring white supremacy’s impact on parenting in progressive, middle class communities. All proceeds to benefit Western Mass Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ)’s reparations campaign.

Hallelujah! Poetry Book Launch and Party

Friday, June 7, 2019

7:00-10:30pm

Hallelujah! Come celebrate life with us! 

Meet with author Sabrina Suarez as she celebrates the launch of her poetry book, Hallelujah, which sheds light on the thoughts and experiences of those who are often forgotten in the struggle with mental illness — the supporters. This is more than your average launch party. This is a celebration a life, love, and happiness that can be found after mental illness! 

Food and refreshments will be available at the event along with live music by DJ Anomaly!

Admission is free with the purchase of a book. 

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/hallelujah-noho-launch-party-tickets-59164016165

POWER STRUGGLE Film Screening

Thursday & Friday, June 6 and 7

7pm to 9:30pm

Tickets: $12 advance online / $15 at the door / No one will be turned away for lack of funds.

More Info & Purchase Tickets: www.powerstrugglemovie.com/northampton-ma-screening

Invite friends: www.facebook.com/events/735944480133418/

A feature-length documentary chronicling a successful grassroots citizens’ effort to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear reactor in Vermont, directed by long-time Pioneer Valley filmmaker Robbie Leppzer. A timely, inspiring story of democracy in action; about whether citizens’ voices will be heard against big moneyed interests, and what people are doing locally right now to make a difference for a sustainable energy future. Featuring Frances Crowe and other local activists from western Massachusetts and Vermont. Original Music by John Sheldon.

Also featuring the premiere of a short film, FRANCES TURNS 100, chronicling Frances’ 100th birthday protest march through the streets of Northampton. Frances will also be a featured speaker. This is a benefit fundraiser to launch our national grassroots film campaign. For more information and to watch a film trailer, visit: www.PowerStruggleMovie.com.

Filmmaker Robbie Leppzer will speak and moderate post-screening discussion panels with film participants. Thursday, June 6 Post-Screening Panel: Features local activists talking about the current status and future of the Vermont Yankee decommissioning process, as well as the long-term public health hazards from high-level radioactive waste that will be stored indefinitely on the banks of the Connecticut River at the Vermont Yankee site. Panelists include: Deb Katz and Harvey Schaktman of the Citizen’s Awareness Network, and Clay Turnbull of the New England Coalition on Nuclear Pollution.

Friday, June 7 Post-Screening Panel: Features Frances Crowe and members of her Shut It Down Affinity Group (all women over 70), who will talk about their participation in the movement to shut down Vermont Yankee and reflect on their affinity group experiences for lessons learned that could apply to other grassroots political struggles.

“A genuine David vs. Goliath battle. A rich story of whether grassroots democracy, in the form of citizens and local government, can triumph over entrenched, powerful interests like the nuclear energy industry. Through a story with many twists and turns, Leppzer keeps the film’s focus on the individuals caught up in the drama.”

— Steve Pfarrer, DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE

“POWER STRUGGLE is the remarkable story about how people power overcame corporate power and government cover-ups to finally shut down an aging and dangerous nuclear plant. We see how small town citizens were transformed into tenacious environmental activists who triumphed against the odds. POWER STRUGGLE is a hopeful story that reminds us that citizen activism is not just possible, it is essential to saving our endangered planet.”

— David Goodman, best-selling author, journalist and radio host, THE VERMONT CONVERSATION

Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra Concert

The Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra performs their annual

Spring Concerts

presented by the Northampton Center for the Arts
Friday May 31st and Saturday June 1st at 8 pm

The Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra puts on their signature event of the season; two concerts over two nights at Northampton’s premiere venue for the arts, the newly opened 33 Hawley St. Presented by the Northampton Center for the Arts, the Valley’s finest avant-garde community music ensemble will perform music by James Brown, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Bela Bartok, Felix Mendelssohn, Heitor Villa-Lobos and surf guitar classics such as “Pipeline.” 

HVGO is an ensemble of 15 all-amplified electric, acoustic, classical and bass guitars (plus drums) made up of all locally based players from a wide variety of stylistic backgrounds, creating a unique sound that can only come from such an unusual combination.

HVGO’s program is centered around the music of James Brown and Antonio Carlos Jobim. Using as the starting point his own meticulous transcriptions of classic recordings from the 1960’s and 70’s (James Brown’s “Cold Sweat”, “Funky Drummer”, and “Ain’t it Funky Now” and four cuts from Antonio Carlos Jobim’s LP masterpiece Stone Flower), Artistic Director Joseph Ricker has created arrangements for the HVGO which highlight the work of Brown and Jobim as composers, a less well acknowledged aspect of the legacy of these music icons. The orchestra will also perform Ricker’s arrangements of selections from Gyermekeknek by Bela Bartok, Songs without Words Felix Mendelssohn, Suite Populaire Brasilienne by Heitor Villa Lobos as well as surf guitar classics such as “Pipeline.”

“The Spring Concerts are where we really get to strut our stuff,” says Ricker .“We’re  excited to present this fun, fascinating and beautiful repertoire and show off all the hard work we’ve been up to this season. Don’t miss it!”

Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4221116 $18 (adv.) $20 (door, cash or check only), $10 (under 18 and students with valid i.d) 

Performances: May 31st 2019 and June 1st 2019 at 8:00 PM, 33 Hawley St. Northampton, MA

More info: hvgo.org

Moving into Place

Moving Into Place 

May 24th, 7pm, 2019

Suggested $3 donation at the door

Leila Kaplan, Tess O'Day, Madeline Clyne, Sophie Abraham

Join us for the culmination of our embodied research investigation we have been working on for the last several months! As a group we have held space for one another to explore our relationship to the Connecticut River Valley through movement exploration and collaborative choreography. Our hope was to gain a more dynamic understanding of this area by moving through our own and others feelings and relationships to it. Come see what we've learned!

The event will be comprised of a short movement piece we created and an interactive activity that will explore how our bodies can be tools in understanding and relating to the place of the Connecticut River Valley and the people we inhabit it with.

GLOW :: Ecstatic Dance Northampton :: "Explore" w/DJ Ra So

May 19th, 7-9:30pm

Online & At the Door (sliding scale): $15-25
Low Income w/ EBT Card: $10
Students w/ valid ID: $10
Kids 3-12: $5

More financial information, including scholarships, available at event link on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/369177123695019/ or online at www.ecstaticnnortheast.com

“Explore your inner creative genius through the medium you love and enjoy the journey!” ~ Ken Poirot

Dance is love, community, nourishment, inspiration, connection, bliss...

Let's dance together and start the week off in movement and magic. GLOW invites an early evening gathering of community to co-create a journey together... with a mix of local and worldwide teachers, DJs, artists, and musicians to weave a rich experience with a worldwide community and our local family.

..come together and glow with us!


PROGRAM
6:45pm Doors open, Welcome
7:00 Opening Circle & Warmup w/Sarah Monette
8:15 - Second Dance Wave w/DJ Ra So
9:15 Live Musician Soundscape & Closing

❖ In honoring the dance and integrating the experience, we will conclude with humming of gratitude and silent departure ❖

Event Link: https://www.facebook.com/events/369177123695019/

Jazz Shares: Michael Formanek Quartet

Saturday, May 18, 7:30pm

Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares presents Michael Formanek Quartet, featuring Michael Formanek, bass, compositions, Tony Malaby, tenor and soprano saxophone, Kris Davis, piano and Ches Smith, drums. The Center for the Arts at 33 Hawley St., Northampton, MA. Tickets: $15

http://jazzshares.org/