Fringe Music

A Free Contemporary Music Series

Bazaar Productions is proud to announce that we are launching a new music series called Fringe Music in collaboration with Shire City Sanctuary and the City of Pittsfield’s First Friday Artswalk. The monthly series will present sonic innovators from across the Northeast that break down genre barriers and come from a wide array of stylistic backgrounds. The new series will start in September 2015 and is a direct offshoot of the 30 Live! series that has been the music presentation portion of The Berkshire Fringe since 2006.

Eleonore Oppenheim, solo bass
Friday, September 4, 2015 - 7:00pm

The Fringe Music series kicks off its season with soloist Eleonore Oppenheim presenting new works for the double bass that she has commissioned from some of today's brightest young composers.  Each work was composed within the past decade and the collection has been recently recorded for the upcoming release of her debut solo album Home.

"We as bassists have a conundrum," says Oppenheim. "As our technique evolves, and as we explore the ever-expanding possibilities of our instrument as a voice that can stand on its own, we need music to play that will grow and evolve with us. I am fortunate enough to have a number of talented and adventurous composer friends who all have an interest in pushing the limits not just of the instrument, but of preconceived ideas of genre and form."

“Quietly virtuosic” –Alan Kozinn, The New York Times

http://eleonoreoppenheim.com/

 

Friday, September 4, 2015

5pm - Gallery Opening
Susan Pettee, botanical artist

7pm - Concert
Eleonore Oppenheim, solo bass

Free
Shire City Sanctuary
40 Melville Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201

Fringe Music is made possible by the generous collaboration with Shire City Sanctuary and by the support of the Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development and the Local Cultural Councils of Pittsfield, New Marlborough, Stockbridge, Lenox, Hinsdale-Peru, Washington and West Stockbridge.

The Hands Free
Friday, October 2, 2015 - 7:00pm

The Hands Free is an acoustic quartet comprised of four of today's most astonishing and multi-talented contemporary musicians: James Moore (guitar/banjo), Nathan Koci (accordion), Eleonore Oppenheim (bass) and Caroline Shaw (violin). Their music draws from a twisted array of folk, jazz and classical traditions to create lush sonic textures, intricate compositions and wild improvisations.

The impressive biographies of this group's members are impossible to ignore. Amongst Moore's constant flurry of musical activity was this summer's collaboration between his electric guitar quartet Dither and Yo La Tengo at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors festival. Koci plays both accordion and french horn extensively with chamber groups such as Red Light New Music and The Opposite of a Train, and also is frequently a music director on and off broadway including the recent critically-acclaimed bluegrass-infused reimagining of Oklahoma at Bard SummerScape. Oppenheim tours internationally with groups such as Philip Glass Ensemble, Victoire, Shara Worden, Bryce Dessner and Tyondai Braxton. Shaw, in addition to her violin prowess, is also a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and a vocalist with Grammy-winning ensemble Roomful of Teeth.

Yet the on- and off-stage vibe of The Hands Free remains free of pretense and speaks to what the group truly is: a close-knit bunch of friends who get together to create and play music because they truly love it.

Friday, October 2, 2015

5pm - Gallery Opening
Carri Skoczek, portraiture artist

7pm - Concert
The Hands Free

Free
Shire City Sanctuary
40 Melville Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201

Fringe Music is made possible by the generous collaboration with Shire City Sanctuary and by the support of the Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development and the Local Cultural Councils of Pittsfield, New Marlborough, Stockbridge, Lenox, Hinsdale-Peru, Washington and West Stockbridge.

Tongues In Trees
Friday, November 6, 2015 - 7:00pm

"Indie dream pop and Indian rhythms collide"
– John Schaefer, Soundcheck (WNYC)

Samita Sinha, vocals (Kaash)
Sunny Jain, drums (Red Baraat)
Grey Mcmurray, guitar (Meshell Ndegeocello, Tyondai Braxton, itsnotyouitsme)

Drummer Sunny Jain's beats, informed by Indian rhythms, drum & bass and jazz, and Samita Sinha's voice, at once raw and refined in spirit and expression, find immediate chemistry, all supported by guitarist Grey McMurray's lush harmonies and compelling musical sensibility.

Listen to this group and it quickly becomes clear that each member knows how to lead and how to support, and each had a unique compositional approach rooted in their own instrument.  

Friday, November 6, 2015

5pm - Gallery Opening
Cindy Hoose and Jacinta Bunnell present 52 game piece artworks. More info at http://shirecitysanctuary.com/calendar-and-events/

7pm - Concert
Tongues In Trees

Free
Shire City Sanctuary
40 Melville Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201

Fringe Music is made possible by the generous collaboration with Shire City Sanctuary and by the support of the Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development and the Local Cultural Councils of Pittsfield, New Marlborough, Stockbridge, Lenox, Hinsdale-Peru, Washington and West Stockbridge.

Meaghan Burke and Carlos Cordeiro
Friday, December 4, 2015 - 7:00pm

Musical co-conspirators Meaghan Burke (cello, voice) and Carlos Cordeiro (clarinets) present a wide swath of new music in this program, which runs the gamut from free improvisation to stochastics to song.  Interspersing Burke´s "impossibly beautiful but in no way forgiving" songs (The Deli) with wildly imaginative improvisations and cornerstone contemporary music duos, Burke and Cordeiro will text the sonic boundaries of their instruments and delve deeply into the human and acoustic possibilities of the duo.

Friday, December 4, 2015

5pm - Gallery Opening

7pm - Concert
Meaghan Burke and Carlos Cordeiro

Free
Shire City Sanctuary
40 Melville Street, Pittsfield, MA 01201

Facebook Event

"…rhythmic, raucous, brutal, intense, and sensuous…"



Fringe Music is made possible by the generous collaboration with Shire City Sanctuary and by the support of the Pittsfield Office of Cultural Development and the Local Cultural Councils of Pittsfield, New Marlborough, Stockbridge, Lenox, Hinsdale-Peru, Washington and West Stockbridge.