Christopher Cullen of the Springfield Chamber Players Clarinet Quintet. (SPRINGFIELD CHAMBER PLAYERS / SUBMITTED)The Westfield News
The Springfield Chamber Players, launches its 2025 Westfield Athenaeum season with a performance by the Springfield Chamber Players Clarinet Quintet on Feb. 27. The musicians of the Springfield Chamber Players Clarinet Quintet include: Christopher Cullen, clarinet; violinists Masako Yanagita and Miho Matsuno; violist Ellen Gronningen; and cellist Patricia Edens. The program features: “Six Studies in English Folk Song” by Ralph Vaughan Williams; two movements from Alexander Borodin’s String Quartet in D Major (which inspired the score of the Broadway musical “Kismet”); selections from Paul Chihara’s (Duke) “Ellington Fantasy;” and “Souvenirs de Voyage” by Academy Award-winning film composer Bernard Herrmann (“Psycho,“ “Fahrenheit 451.”) For details: westath.org.
Miho Matsuno of the Springfield Chamber Players Clarinet Quintet. (SPRINGFIELD CHAMBER PLAYERS / SUBMITTED)The Westfield News
A Chorus Line, the legendary musical about “kids” in the chorus who audition for a show, celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. The Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winner, created by Michael Bennett, with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Ed Kleban, and book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, is Goodspeed-bound next fall, with Rob Ruggiero directing and Parker Esse recreating Bennett’s choreography. Meanwhile, the ambitious Opera House Players in Enfield presents the show, Feb. 7-23 with Sarah Rose Stack directing. For details: operahouseplayers.org/show-info-acl.
Lucinda Kidder. (SILVERTHORNE THEATER / SUBMITTED)The Westfield News
Listening for Love, Silverthorne Theater Company’s second annual Valentine’s Cabaret, Feb. 15, at CitySpace in Easthampton, celebrates the life of late Silverthorne Co-founder Lucinda Kidder. Musical theatre favorites on the theme of love, including some of Kidder’s faves will be sung by Frank Aronson, Stephanie Carlson, Willow Cohen, Tahmie Der, Michael Garcia, Gina Kaufmann, Rose Schwietz Malla, Aaron Mancaniello, Chris Rohmann, and Sam Samuels, accompanied by Lauren Bell on piano. For details: https://tinyurl.com/kmev2w9z.
Chris Rohmann. (EMILY THURLOW / SUBMITTED)The Westfield News
Road Trip. Odyssey Opera and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project present the area premiere of Mark Adamo’s opera, Lysistrata, or The Nude Goddess, at Jordan Hall in Boston on Feb. 15. It’s inspired by Aristophanes’ satire where Ancient Greek women withhold sex from their soldier partners to stop a war. Gil Rose leads an internationally accomplished cast including baritones John Moore and Kevin Deas, mezzo-sopranos Katherine Beck, Sandra Piques Eddy, and Lucy Schaufer, tenor David Portillo, soprano Anya Matanovic playing the lead role of Lysistrata. Mark Adamo made his mark on the opera world in 1998 with the debut of his first work “Little Women.” His second opera “Lysistrata” premiered 20 years ago in 2005 by the Houston Grand Opera. According to Backtrack, it is “an engaging, coherent, and beautiful work … Adamo has an extraordinary ear for vocal writing and a knack for theater.” For details: bmop.org.
Mark Adamo. (DANIEL WELCH / SUBMITTED)The Westfield News
Valley Classical Concerts presents pianist Jiayan Sun and The Lydian String Quartet on Feb. 9, at Smith College’s Sweeney Concert Hall in Northampton. They will play one of the supreme expressions of French Romanticism, César Franck’s Quintet in F minor. The Lydian will also perform Claude Debussy’s Quartet in G and Joseph Haydn’s Quartet in C, op. 33/3, known as “The Bird.” Prior to the performance, at 2 p.m., there will be an on-stage Q & A with the artists and VCC’s Artistic Director, longtime NEPM host John Montanari. For details: valleyclassicalconcerts.org.
The Lydian Quartet and Jiayan Sun. (VALLEY CLASSICAL CONCERTS / SUBMITTED)The Westfield News
Fan-atic, an exhibit by Maxim T. Schmidt showcasing sports fandom and some good old-fashioned post-game debauchery, is on display at TheaterWorks Hartford through March 21. The exhibit is in conjunction with the theatre’s presentation of Rajiv Joseph’s play King James. For details: twhartford.org.
The Springfield Science Museum hosts The Robot Zoo, three enormous robot animals that illustrate fascinating real-life animal characteristics, revealing the magic of nature as a master engineer. They prowl Springfield through May 4. For details: springfieldmuseums.org.
Jason Wolfe, the Westfield artist, is featured in Unfolding Convention, his first solo exhibition, on display through March 7, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Augusta Savage Gallery. The exhibition will showcase paintings that unfold the conventional form into the unknown. Taking what has previously been learned, seen and practiced, Wolfe relinquishes control and relies on his instincts to create works that are enigmatic distortions of reality. For information on Wolfe: jasontwolfe.com/bio.
For exhibition details: fac.umass.edu.
A Passing of Note: Jacques Cartier, founder of Hartford Stage in 1964, has died at the age of 94. Cartier had also taught at Smith. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/jacques-cartier-obituary?id=57341728&fbclid=IwY2xjawIA1idleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHYQ2PBECRtvr_PwZpaxImRU1U90xKzWt26qzFxS_qSoghA3yxlaXZPCeZQ_aem_-_tdQdQcLv-FGL02xLFYEQ.
Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and The Yale School of Drama. He has worked for arts organizations nationwide, and reported on the arts for print and broadcast. Mark produces and hosts Arts Beat, Survivor Stories, and On The Mark for WCPC15 and 89.5fm/WSKB. He’s a regular contributor to Berkshire onstage and a member of the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association.
