Knights Orchestra to Return to Clark Art Sept. 4

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Knights Orchestra returns to the Clark to celebrate the current Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern exhibition. This free outdoor concert takes place on the Fernández Terrace near the Clark’s Reflecting Pool at 4 p.m. on Sept. 4. 

The concert program features a selection of music from French composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy. A special arrangement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Kreutzer Concerto completes an afternoon of music, providing an overview of the transition from the Classical to the Romantic and the Romantic to the Modern. 

Based in New York City, The Knights are a collective of musicians dedicated to transforming the orchestral experience and eliminating barriers between audience and music. They seek to engage with contemporary culture through vibrant performances that honor the classical tradition and their passion for musical discovery. 

The collective was founded and is directed by violinist Colin Jacobsen and conductor and cellist Eric Jacobsen, who, together, also founded the Brooklyn Rider string quartet. Since their founding in 2007, The Knights have toured and recorded with prominent soloists including Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw, Béla Fleck, Itzhak Perlman, and Gil Shaham, and have performed at Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, and the Vienna Musikverein.

This concert complements the Clark’s special exhibition Rodin in the United States: Confronting the Modern. On view through September 18, 2022, the exhibition explores how American museums and collectors embraced Auguste Rodin’s sculptures and drawings, and traces the arc of the artist’s reputation and legacy since the first U.S. museum acquisition was made in 1893 by the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

With more than seventy works from more than thirty museum and private collections, this is the largest Rodin exhibition presented in more than forty years.

The event is free and open to the public. No registration is required. Bring a picnic and your own seating. Inclement weather postpones this event until Monday, Sept. 5 at 4 p.m. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.

This performance is presented through the generous support of Mela and Paul Haklisch.

Menorah Lighting Begins 8 Days of Hanukkah, Thoughts of Gratitude

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
01:14PM / Thursday, December 26, 2024

Mia Wax gets some helping light as she works the controls. The full ceremony can be seen on iBerkshires' Facebook page. 

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With a boost from her dad, Mia Wax on Wednesday turned on the first candle of the more than 12-foot tall menorah at the Williams Inn. 

 

Around 40 people attended the community lighting for the first night of Hanukkah, which fell this year on the same day as Christmas. They gathered in the snow around the glowing blue electric menorah even as the temperature hovered around 12 degrees.

 

"We had a small but dedicated group in North Adams, so this is unbelievable," said Rabbi Rachel Barenblat of Congregation Beth Israel in North Adams. "This is honestly unbelievable."

 

Barenblat had earlier observed the lighting of the city's menorah in City Hall, which the mayor opened briefly for the ceremony. 

 

In Williamstown, Rabbi Seth Wax, the Jewish chaplain at Williams College, with his daughter and her friend Rebecca Doret, spoke of the reasons for celebrating Hanukkah, sometimes referred to as the Festival of Lights. 

 

The two common ones, he said, are to mark the single unit of sacred olive oil that lasted eight days during the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem and the military victory over the invading Greeks.

 

"For the rabbis of antiquity, who created and shaped Judaism, these two events were considered to be miracles," said Wax. "They happened not because of what humans did on their own, but because of what something beyond them, what they called God, did on their behalf.