Arts Fuse critics select the best in film, dance, visual arts, theater, music, and author events for the coming weeks.

By The Arts Fuse Staff

Film

Israeli American Council Documentary Series
Through July 6
Merkaz IAC, 1320 Centre Street, Newton, MA

The DOC.IL documentary movie series — from The Israeli House, The Boston Jewish Film Festival & IAC Boston — is an opportunity to watch thought-provoking Israeli documentaries that reveal different facets of Israeli society and their challenges. Each screening will be followed by a discussion. June 24: The Queen Has No Crown; July 6: Tinghir-Jerusalem.

The Complete Jean Renoir
June through August
Harvard Film Archives, Cambridge, MA

The HFA presents a retrospective of works from one the masters of cinema. Arts Fuse feature.

The Little Fugitive
Saturday July 15 at 3 p.m.
Harvard Film Archives, Cambridge, MA

A rare screening of a marvelous gem of a film from the 1950’s. After being tricked into thinking he has killed his older brother Lennie, seven-year-old Joey runs away to Coney Island. While Joey has his own adventures on the beach, the very alive Lennie is looking everywhere for his lost little brother. Winner of the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival and nominated for an Academy Award for best story, this landmark film is famous for its naturalistic, detailed depiction of 1950s Brooklyn; its innovative use of on-location shooting, portable equipment and low-budget workarounds heavily influenced the French New Wave.

The 22nd Annual Boston French Film Festival
July 13-30
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

This year features 17 feature films opening on Thursday July 13 with a FREE outdoor screening of the comedy Divorce French Style on the museum’s Huntington Avenue lawn

Other festival highlights include:

Personal Shopper on Friday, July 14, 7:30 pm and Thursday, July 27, 8:00 pm

Olivier Assayas won Best Director at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival for this seductive ghost story with Kristen Stewart. Arts Fuse Review

False Confessions on Friday, July 14, 5:30 pm and Saturday, July 15, 4:30 pm

The last film directed by the late Luc Bondy was adapted from a hit play of the same name, directed by Bondy himself. Isabelle Huppert, Louis Garrel, and Bulle Ogier shot the movie version during the day while performing the same play in the theater by night, resulting in a self-reflexive piece of cinema that blurs the line between theater and film.

Frantz on Sunday, July 16, 6:30 pm and Friday, July 28, 5:30 pm

François Ozon’s drama is set in Germany and France in the immediate aftermath of the First World War. Anna (a wonderful Paula Beer) is German woman whose fiancé, Frantz, was killed during trench warfare. She forms a close friendship a young French veteran who appears in town to place flowers on Frantz’s grave. This is a slow burn of a film with unexpected twists and a powerful conclusion. Highly recommended. Frantz won the César Award for Best Cinematography and was nominated for eight more, including Best Film, Best Director, and Best Original Score. Arts Fuse review

A Woman’s Life on Thursday, July 20, 8:00 pm and Friday, July 21, 3:00 pm

Adapted from the novel Une vie by Guy de Maupassant, this is a delicate portrait of a young aristocrat, Jeanne, living in 19th-century Normandy. After finishing her schooling in a convent she is compelled by her parents to marry local Viscount Julien de Lamare who soon reveals himself to be unkind and unfaithful.

Swagger on Saturday, July 22, 7:00 pm and Saturday, July 30, 4:30 pm

Swagger takes us inside the astonishing minds of 11 teenagers living in underprivileged housing projects in Aulnay and Sevran, France. Using a mix of genres including science fiction, musical, and teen movie, Babinet brings the words and fantasies of these extraordinary kids to life. The result is a surreal documentary that focuses on the talents and aspirations of its subjects, rather than their hardships and fears. Musician Jean-Benoît Dunckel, half of the electronica duo Air, provides a dreamy soundtrack. Swagger was nominated for Best Documentary prize at the 2017 César Awards.

Tomorrow on Sunday, July 23, 7:00 pm and Saturday, July 29, 2:00 pm

Mélanie Laurent (director of Breathe, and lead actress in Inglourious Basterds) teamed up with author and environmental activist Cyril Dion to create this uplifting film about climate change that focuses on solutions rather than problems.

Slack Bay on Thursday, July 27, 5:30 pm and Friday, July 28, 8:00 pm

From the mind of Bruno Dumont (Li’l Quinquin) comes a beautiful, pitch-black comedy about cannibalism and class warfare in an idyllic seaside village, starring Fabrice Luchini, Juliette Binoche, Valeria and Bruni Tedeschi. Slack Bay becomes both magical and gruesome—but the brilliant slapstick never stops.

The Midwife on Saturday, July 29, 7:00 pm

Catherine Deneuve gives one of her best performances as a brassy, boozing free spirit in the comedy-drama by Martin Provost (Seraphine).

Closing Night: The Odyssey on Sunday, July 30, 7:00 pm

Jérôme Salle’s biopic takes a clear-eyed look at the famed explorer, admiring his ambition and magnetism while probing the darker side of his obsessive nature. Crystalline underwater cinematography and sun-drenched shots of Cousteau’s boat, the Calypso, set the stage for strong performances. With Lambert Wilson (Of Gods and Men), Audrey Tautou.

Complete lineup: mfa.org/film

— Tim Jackson

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Visual Arts

No Rules: Helen Frankenthaler Woodcuts
Through Sept 24
Manton Research Center, Clark Art Institute, 225 South Street, Williamstown, MA

“There are no rules, that is one thing I say about every medium, every picture… that is how art is born, that is how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules, that is what invention is about”– Helen Frankenthaler in a 1994 interview with master printer Ken Tyler. Collaborating with woodcutters and papermakers outside of her studio, she mastered a traditionally graphic, rigid medium to the point that she could create luminous images of abstracted beauty. In tandem with As in Nature: Helen Frankenthaler’s Paintings, an exhibit that explores nature in her paintings, Clark Institute will display 17 of the artist’s large scale prints on loan from the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation and Williams College.

Memory Unearthed – The Lodz Ghetto Photographs of Henryk Ross
Through July 30
Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

“I buried my negatives in the ground in order that there should be some record of our tragedy.”  Confined to the Lodz Ghetto in 1940, Henryk Ross was forced to work as a photographer taking photos for identification cards and Nazi propaganda. Placing himself in great peril, he secretly documented the brutality of daily life, providing a provocative, chillingly intimate record of Nazi rule, which would lead to the deportation of thousands to death camps at Chelmno and Auschwitz. In 1944, Henryk buried negatives for upwards to 6000 photographs — over half have been preserved. In this crucial exhibition, the MFA has displayed 200 of these black and white photographs, giving viewers intimate looks into the horrors of history.

Keith Sonnier – Three Neons/ Three Decades
Through October 8
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum, 600 Main St, Hartford, CT

A trailblazer (for over five decades) in the use of industrial neon as a medium for art, Keith Sonnier  has continuously  experimented with illuminated color. The three works on exhibit showcase three decades of his evolving practice. Expanded Sel IV (1979) plays with neon as signage — not in its traditional form, but as a means to serve up artificial blazes of colored luminance that replicate the strokes of Sel Chinese calligraphy.

Shih Chieh Huang – Reusable Universes
Through November 12
Worcester Art Museum, 55 Salisbury St, Worcester, MA

Taiwanese artist Shih Chieh Huang left the confines of his Brooklyn studio to make use of the Worcester Art Musuem’s 18-foot ceilings. The result is his most ambitious improvisational show to date — it is made of over 100 moving parts. He draws on contemporary industrial materials: LED lights, mass produced computer fans, and plastics. The exhibition’s robotic, alien-like creations serve as startling bridges between art and technology.

2017 James and Audrey Foster Prize
Through July 9
Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser and Fontene Demoulas galleries, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA

Five exceptionally talented Boston area artists — Sonia Almeida, Jennifer Bornstein, Lucien Castaing-Taylor, Véréna Paravel, and Lucy Kim — will have their work on display at the ICA’s biennial showcase of the 2017 James and Audrey Foster Prize. The media includes painting, sculpture, printmaking, film, and video. Each artist presents a major work, or series of works, that engages the human body.

Somewhere: Jason Bard Yarmosky
through September 2
University of Maine Museum of Art, 40 Harlow St, Bangor, ME

“These large scale portraits study expressions of dementia, confronting the viewer with psychological vulnerability. They respond to the loss of control and the subconscious mind, speaking to a dream-like state – a place intangible to those not experiencing it.”- Brooklyn based artist, Jason Bard Yarmosky. The meticulously rendered oil paintings are accompanied by graphite drawings, photographs, and video. The work boldly addresses the universal fear of getting older and comments on art history’s negligence to feature the aging. The focal point of the exhibit, a triptych, Wintered Fields (2015), depicts his grandmother poised for action in a ‘Wonder Woman-esque’ leotard, and superimposed over a gesturally rendered winter field.

Nick Cave – Until
through August 31
Mass Moca, 1040 Mass Moca Way, North Adams, MA

Entering into this almost football-field-sized utopia, one walks through a ceiling to floor cascade of glistening metallic wind toys, to approach a towering centerpiece of blackface lawn jockeys, and deconstructed chandeliers. “I had been thinking about gun violence and racism colliding,” Mr. Cave said. “And then I wondered: Is there racism in heaven? That’s how this piece came about.” Famous for his wearable sculptures (known as “sound suits”), the artist shocks all with this immersive breathtaking exhibition. It’s his largest installation to date, and, sadly, coming down in August.

Terry Rose: USA>China>Mexico 2007 – 2016
through July 13
Gallery NAGA, 67 Newbury St, Boston, MA

Moving his studio from the US to Shanghai, to his most recent two year stay in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Terry Rose’s ceramics and non-representational paintings brim with his restless stirrings. His experimental processes are inspired by the traditions and cultures within which he has become immersed. Laying his paintings flat on their backs, Rose mixes oil and pigments into a thick layer of varnish initiating the “natural processes of the materials” creating bursts of energy which he cannot fully control. Commissioned to make a new line of sculpture in Jingdezhen, often referred to as the “porcelain capital of the world”, he rose to the challenge before further exploring the medium in Mexico.

Modern Art from the Middle East
through July 16
Yale University Art Gallery, 1111 Chapel St, New Haven, CT

Joining in the campus-wide celebration of the 175th anniversary of Arabic Studies at Yale, and honoring Edward Elbridge Salisbury, B.A. 1832, the first professor of Arabic and Sanskrit in the Americas, this installation of sculptures and paintings, from artists rarely shown in the US, penetrates the viewer with highly articulated work fusing modern art aesthetics with politics and ancient history. The work dwells meaningfully in the tension between the figurative and the abstract. Showcasing the highlights of birthing art movements in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria in the second half of the 20th century, it’s a “must see” for the curious and well-informed.

The Nude in Print
July 6 through August 20
Childs Gallery, 169 Newbury St, Boston, MA

An exhibition on 20th and early 21st century prints of the nude draws well-deserved acclaim to this established gallery located in Boston’s Back Bay. The show features work of an edgy modernist twist as well as softer classical depictions. The techniques span from etching and mezzotint to wood graving and lithography. Anders Zorn, Swedish (1860-1920), The Swan, 1915, depicts a softly etched angelic view of a nude woman with the wrappings of her towel emulating folded white wings, while the wood engraving of Rockwell Kent, American (1882-1971), The Lovers, 1928, consists of strong lines and a darker, more provocative, Symbolist-inspired portrayal of an abstracted couple lying outdoors entangled next to one another.

Julie Blackmon – The Everyday Fantastic
through August 27
Hood Museum of Art, Hood Downtown Exhibition Space, 53 Main Street, Hanover, NH

While Dartmouth’s Hood Museum of Art undergoes new construction, the summer exhibitions have been moved to their alternative space downtown. This one features work from Missouri-born-and-raised Julie Blackmon’s most recent, and ongoing, series, Homegrown—“a title both revealing and appropriate to the images.” The major American photographer’s images stage the possibility for darker narratives percolating beneath the unsuspecting locales of suburban family barbecues and garage sales. Her richly detailed mise-en-scènes are inhabited by children busy in their own imaginative worlds of invention and make belief. The photographs invite viewers to a moment of investigation into the too often overlooked emotional complexities of everyday life.

Nari Ward: Sun Splashed
through September 4
West Gallery, Institute of Contemporary Art, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, MA

“My work isn’t about abstract society, but is about making us all aware of our role in authoring that society. We are all creators rather than passive receivers.” The Jamaican-born, Harlem-adopted rising star presents the largest collection of his work to date, inspired by the Street, the Sky, and the Sun. In the making of these awe-inspiring large-scale installations, he actively engages with local sites, creating from the most unexpected of materials. We The People, 2011, made of dangling colorful shoelaces and installed with the help of the ICA Teens, reinvigorates and personalizes the sleepy text of American history with community and learning.

— Aimee Cotnoir

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Dance

Jessica Lang Dance
July 5-9
Ted Shawn Theatre, Becket, MA

Jessica Lang Dance performs at Jacob’s Pillow this week with a Pillow-commissioned world premiere work. The program also includes Lang’s Thousand Yard Stare, inspired by military veterans and set to Beethoven; the east coast premiere of Lang’s Lyric Pieces, set to Norwegian composer and pianist Edvard Grieg’s short piano works, with impressive set design by Molo Designers Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen; as well as Lang’s Solo Bach, Sweet Silent Thought, and The Calling.

Boston // Tracks // Where will dance take you?
July 15-16
Green Street Studios, Cambridge, MA

Tracks // Where will dance take you? provides select artists an opportunity to grow beyond their home cities. The initiative debuted in January 2017 during the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) conference in NYC and now tours to Pittsburgh, Boston, and Lehigh Valley, PA. This event features four showcases, special classes, and artist talk-backs, all open to the public.

REACH!
Wednesday, July 19, 7-9 p.m. (Rain date: July 26)
Bishop Allen Drive Lot #5 (behind H-Mart), Cambridge, MA

REACH!’s intergenerational dance company presents an energetic and free outdoor performance, showcasing the diversity of their training as well as their personal and cultural backgrounds. The performance highlights the program’s 15 teens hailing from neighborhoods both urban and suburban, including Cambridge, Dorchester, Hyde Park, Winchester, Needham, and Sudbury.

And further afield…

East End Open Studio
July 7-9
Ipswich Moving Company Studio, Ipswich, MA

Ipswich Moving Company hosts the fourth annual East End Open Studio this weekend, featuring fourteen visual artists, musicians, and dancers who live and work in Ipswich’s historic “East End.” Visitors are invited to peruse the art show and watch free performances of both dance and music.

— Merli V Guerra

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Theater

4000 Miles by Amy Herzog. Directed by Nicole Ricciardi. Staged by Shakespeare and Company at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, Lenox, MA, through July 16.

“This Pulitzer Prize finalist and Winner of the 2012 Obie Award for Best New Play explores growing up, growing old and the moments in between.” The cast includes Annette Miller and Gregory Bower. Arts Fuse review

Blood on the Snow by Patrick Gabridge. Directed by Courtney O’Connor. Staged by The Bostonian Society at the Old State House, 206 Washington Street, Boston, MA, through August 20.

Historical drama with a kick. Gabridge’s play “dramatizes the events immediately following the infamous Boston Massacre and is staged in the Council Chamber of the Old State House, the very room where the discussion took place nearly 250 years ago. This site-specific play sold out its critically-acclaimed World Premiere in the spring of 2016.” This is an opportunity to catch an encore presentation.

Dusty and the Big Bad World by Cusi Cram. Directed by MJ Bruder Munafo. At the Vineyard Playhouse, 24 Church Street, Vineyard Haven, MA, through July 29.

This could be interesting: “Based on a 2005 scandal in the world of children’s television known as ‘Bustergate,'” the script is “a darkly funny, no-holds-barred yet even-handed look at PBS, government censorship, gay marriage, and what it takes to ultimately step up and fight for what you believe in.”

The Effect by Lucy Prebble. Directed Sam Weisman. Staged by the Gloucester Stage Company at 267 East Main Street, Gloucester, MA, through July 8.

The New England premiere of what could be seen as a romantic thriller: “Tristan and Connie, volunteers in a controlled drug test, fall in love, but is their chemistry real or induced?” The cast includes Lindsay Crouse, Brad Hall, Susannah Hoffman and Mickey Solis.

Everything is Established by Hannah Kenah. Directed by Brenda Withers. Staged by the Harbor Stage Company at 15 Kendrick Avenue on Wellfleet Harbor, MA, through July 8.

“After a wealthy landowner dies, his bewildered servants and mail-order bride struggle to confront a newly unregimented world.” The script is proffered as a wild comedy about class, courage, and the conflicted clown in all of us.”​ A regional premiere whose cast includes Robin Bloodworth, Danielle Slavick, and Brenda Withers.

The Whipping Man by Matthew Lopez. Directed by Howard Millman. Staged by the Peterborough Players at 55 Hadley Road, Peterborough, NH, through July 2.

This drama has been making the rounds of regional theaters: “It is April, 1865 and the Civil War is drawing to a close. Caleb DeLeon, a Jewish Confederate soldier, returns wounded from the battlefield to his home in Richmond only to find it in ruins. The house has been abandoned by everyone except Simon and John, two former slaves, who were raised as Jews in the DeLeon home. As the three men reunite, they uncover deep-buried secrets… ties that bind them together and that, ultimately, could cost each man his freedom.” Arts Fuse review

The Roommate by Jen Silverman. Directed by Mike Donahue. Staged by Williamstown Theatre Festival in its Main Stage, Williamstown, MA, through July 16.

It is billed as “a comedy about self-discovery.” “Empty-nested and alone in her Midwestern home, Sharon (S. Epatha Merkerson) takes on a roommate, Robyn (Jane Kaczmarek), who has just arrived from New York City. Before she has even unpacked, Robyn challenges everything about Sharon’s way of life. Book clubs, 80s pop music, and the occasional shared toke complicate their unlikely but enduring relationship, even as they venture into dangerous territory.”

The Model American by Jason Kim. Directed by Danny Sharron. Staged by Williamstown Theatre Festival in its Nikos Stage, Williamstown, MA, through July 9.

World premiere of a play whose subject sounds promising: “In 2017, what does it take for an immigrant to achieve the American Dream?” “Young, Latino, gay and unapologetically ambitious, Gabriel (Hiram Delgado) arrives in New York seeking work, friendship, love and mentorship. But, before he can move forward, he must honestly determine if he is running toward success or away from what he left behind.”

Where Storms Are Born by Harrison David Rivers. Staged by the Williamstown Theatre Festival on the Nikos Stage, Williamstown, MA, July 12 through 23.

The world premiere of a drama by a 2016 WTF Playwright-in-Residence: “With wit and empathy, this play reminds us of the courage and resilience it takes to chart a better way forward for the ones we love.”

The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Directed by Danielle Fauteux Jacques. Staged by Apollinaire Theatre Company/Apollinaire in the Park 2017 at PORT Park, 99 Marginal St., Chelsea, MA, July 12 through 30.

An apt time for a revival of this scathing play about social breakup by a grievously neglected master of the tragicomic. A marvelous tale of greed, revenge, sex, and anarchy — diabolically engineered by a member of the 1%. Ann Carpenter stars.

A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare. Directed by Jonathan Croy. Staged by Shakespeare & Company’s Northeast Regional Education Tour and Riotous Youth Faculty at The Dell at The Mount, 2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, MA, July 11 through August 19.

“In this 40th Anniversary Season, this production brings Shakespeare & Company back to where it all began, honoring the company’s inaugural production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Mount in 1978.”

Cymbeline by William Shakespeare. Directed by Tina Packer. Staged by Shakespeare & Company at the Tina Packer Playhouse, Lenox, MA, July 4 through August 6.

The first time that the Bard’s wild, wonderful, and wooly trip has been presented on Shakespeare & Company’s Main Stage. The script is in good hands: Tamara Hickey and Jonathan Epstein head the cast, while veteran Tina Packer is at the helm.

Skeleton Crew by Dominique Morisseau. Directed by Awoye Timpo. Staged by the Chester Theatre Company at the Town Hall, Chester, MA, July 13 through 23.

The New England premiere of play that is “in the spirit of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle.” This is “the third play from Dominique Morisseau’s Detroit Trilogy, which explores the hard choices facing Americans barely squeezing by.” A play that deals with economic inequality? A rarity, so it may be worth a look, if only to see how far it dares to go.

Constellations by Nick Payne. Directed by Gus Raikkonen. Staged by the Peterborough Players, 55 Hadley Road, Peterborough, NH, July 5 through 16.

“Science and romance collide in this unusual love story,” which is receiving its New Hampshire premiere. “A spellbinding journey begins with a simple encounter between a man and a woman: Marianne and Roland. Their relationship then unfolds across time and space, defying the boundaries of the world we think we know, delving into the infinite possibilities of their relationship and raising questions about the difference between choice and destiny.”

Waiting for Waiting for Godot by Dave Hanson. Directed by Paula Plum. Staged by the Hub Theatre Company at Club Cafe, 209 Columbus Ave., Boston, MA, July 14 through 29.

Sounds like an amusing spoof/homage to Samuel Beckett. (Or could it be about Trump’s cabinet?) “Hapless yet devoted understudies Ester and Val ponder art, life and theatre while they wait backstage, certain that one day their big break will come. Will tonight be their night? This madcap, laugh-filled love letter to theatre and hysterical homage to Samuel Beckett’s classic drama makes its Boston debut after critically acclaimed runs in both New York and London.”

I and You by Lauren Gunderson. Directed by Kristen van Ginhoven. Staged by the Chester Theatre Company in Chester Town Hall, 15 Middlefield Road in Chester, MA, through July 9.

“Anthony arrives at Caroline’s door bearing a beat-up copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, an assignment from their English teacher. Due tomorrow. As the two let their guards down, this seemingly straightforward poetry project unlocks a deeper mystery that has brought them together.” Arts Fuse review

5th Annual Mad Dash: A Theatrical Endeavor in 24-Hours. Presented by Fresh Ink at the Lyric Stage Company of Boston, 140 Clarendon Street, Boston, MA on July 8.

“In the winter of 2013 Fresh Ink staff members devised a plan to bring together writers, actors, and directors from all over the city for a community building event taking place over the course of 24-hours. In just one day, 16 playwrights, 8 directors, and over 20 actors bring to the stage eight new plays, hot off the press. After four years in different venues, Fresh Ink is excited to bring this event to the Lyric Stage.”

— Bill Marx

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Jazz

Deelee Dube
July 7 at 8 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston, MA

The London-born singer Deelee Dube, winner of the 2016 Sarah Vaughan International Jazz Vocal Competition, digs into the mainstream with hints of blues and R&B.

Olson Pingrey Quartet
July 7 at 8 p.m.
Third Life Studio, Somerville, MA

Baritone saxophonist Kathy Olson and trombonist Randy Pingrey’s quartet might suggest other “chordless” band matchups between sax and ’bone, whether it’s Mulligan and Brookmeyer or Lacy and Rudd. In fact, while the bari/bone matchup suggests the former, the gestalt of bluesy free harmony and swing are closer to the latter. Anyway, there are your points of comparison – now go! (For this event, Olson and Pingrey are joined by bassist Aaron Darrell and drummer Austin McMahon.)

Tribute to Ralph Peterson: Coming Home
July 8 at 8 p.m.
Outpost 186, Cambridge, MA

This crew studied with the estimable drummer-composer-bandleader Ralph Peterson at Berklee in his Advanced Originals Ensemble. They pay tribute to him with this show. Bandmembers are trombonist Brandon Lin, keyboardist Rina Yamazaki, bassist Noah Harrington, and drummer Dean David Albak.

Marialuisa Capurso
July 11 at 8 p.m.
Outpost 186, Cambridge, MA

The Italian vocalist and electronic music artist Marialuisa Capurso finishes a month-long tour of Canada and New England, and a planned recording date, with this stop at Outpost 186. She’s joined by The Last Taxi: pianist and Fender-Rhodes player Pat Battstone, bassist and synth player Kit Demos, flutist Ilona Kudina, reed player Todd Brunel, and drummer Richard Poole.

Peace Meal/Quartet
July 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Lilypad, Cambridge, MA

As part of his .01% series, Eric Rosenthal again lines up another avant double-header: Peace Meal, with pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, trumpeter Forbes Graham, and bassist Jacob William; and Quartet, with Jorrit Dijkstra on alto saxophone and Lyricon, guitarist Eric Hofbauer, and accordionist Ted Reichman. Rosenthal holds the drum chair in both bands.

Mirella Costa
July 13 at 8 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston, MA

The distinguished Peruvian-born bassist and Berklee prof Oscar Stagnaro is curating this Thursday night Latin jazz series, each week focusing on a different country. Tonight it’s Brazil, with singer Mirella Costa paying tribute to Ellis Regina.

Marianne Solivan
July 14 at 8 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston, MA

The long-time Boston resident Marianne Solivan returns from her home town of New York, where she’s been singing with the best — Christian McBride, Jeremy Pelt, etc. — doing not just the standard standards, but choice bits like the Betty Carter original “I Can’t Help It.” Well-schooled, Solivan also has chops and smarts.

Jazzmeia Horn
July 15 at 8 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston, MA

The Dallas-born winner of the 2015 Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition, Jazzmeia Horn scats with acrobatic flair, unforced charisma, a firm grounding in church music, and a taste for pushing boundaries.

— Jon Garelick

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Classical Music

Rockport Chamber Music Festival presents Garrick Ohlsson
Thursday, July 6, 2017, 8 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performing Arts Center, 37 Main Street, Rockport, MA

Ohlsson’s Rockport program features two of Schubert’s expansive piano sonatas (in A minor, D.784, and in A major, D.959) framing a set of shorter but edgier works by Alexander Scriabin (Etude, Op. 65, No. 1; Etude in D-flat Major, Op. 8, No. 10; Prelude, Op. 59, No. 2; Poeme, Op. 32, No. 1; Sonata No. 5, Op. 53).

Rockport Chamber Music Festival presents the Boston Camerata
Saturday, July 8, 2017, 8 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performing Arts Center, 37 Main Street, Rockport, MA

The Camerata travels to Cape Ann for a presentation of “Tristan & Iseult: A Medieval Romance in Poetry and Music”, based on original medieval sources with texts from Gottfried von Strassburg (ca. 1210) & Thomas de Bretagne (ca. 1155-1160). Baritone Sumner Thompson (Tristan), mezzo-soprano (and stage and musical director) Anne Azéma (Iseult the Blonde), mezzo-soprano Clare McNamara (Brangane), and tenor Jason McStoots (King Mark) are joined by music director emeritus Joel Cohen, narrating and playing lauta, and Susanne Ansorg on vielle, citole, and lauta. The concert will be preceded by a pre-concert talk with Gillian Hurst at 7 p.m.

Society for Historically Informed Performance presents Twa Corbies
Tuesday, July 11, 2017, 8 p.m.
St. Anne’s in-the-Fields, 147 Concord Road, Lincoln, MA
Wednesday, July 12, 2017, 8 p.m.
The Chapel at West Parish (inside the cemetery grounds), 210 Lowell Street, Andover, MA
Thursday, July 13, 2017, 8 p.m.
First Lutheran Church, 299 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA

The duo of Brian Kay (voice, lute, and harp) and Peter Walker (voice, bagpipes, and harps) present “Out of the Mist: Early Medieval Music of the British Isles,” a program of songs and poetry of the Norse and Anglo-Saxon raiders and settlers, chants of the Celtic monks, and songs in the emerging Middle English language, as well as instrumental music of medieval England.

Morningside Music Bridge presents Chamber Music of Dvorak
Saturday, July 15, 2017, 7:30 p.m.
Jordan Hall/New England Conservatory, 30 Gainsborough Street, Boston, MA

Artists in Residence at NEC, the Calgary-based ensemble offers an evening of chamber works by Antonin Dvorak, including the lesser-known Sonatina for Violin and Piano in G major, Op. 100/B 183, and Terzetto for 2 Violins and Viola in C major, Op. 74/B 148. The program concludes with one of Dvorak’s masterpieces, the Sextet for Strings in A major, Op. 48/B 80.

— Susan Miron

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Rock, Pop, and Folk

Woods
July 2 (doors at 7, show at 8)
Brighton Music Hall, Allston, MA

The Brooklyn quintet Woods has released an average of an album per year since its 2007 debut, At Rear House. Critical and audience reception has remained invariably enthusiastic with each new offering, and there remains no general consensus of if or when the band reached its peak. This year’s Love Is Love is a 6-song, 32-minute collection that Woods intended to act as a salve in the aftermath of the 2016 election. In addition to playing keyboards for the July 2 Brighton Music Hall headliners, John Andrews fronts opening act The Yawns, who unveiled their own album (Bad Posture) this past March.

The Sadies with Governor
July 7 (doors at 8, show at 9)
ONCE Ballroom, Somerville, MA

I said much of what I had to say about The Sadies in this Arts Fuse piece that I wrote in advance of the Toronto quartet’s appearance with Justin Townes Earle in May. With their return to the area approaching, I let bassist Sean Dean speak for himself and the band in an interview in the current issue of The Somerville Times. The latest Sadies album, Northern Passages, includes 11 tracks that each sound like they were recorded through the aural equivalent of an Instagram filter. It will be the focus of their show with the Boston group Governor at ONCE Ballroom on Friday.

Dave Mason with Marti Jones & Don Dixon
July 8 (doors at 7, show at 8)
The Cabot, Beverly, MA

Dave Mason’s six-decade career highlights include being a co-founder of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Traffic, an in-demand session musician, a successful solo artist, and a short-time member of Fleetwood Mac. He will make a return visit to The Cabot on Saturday to celebrate his 1970 debut album, Alone Together. While Mason’s offerings will surely be enough to fill seats, openers Marti Jones & Don Dixon should seal the deal for some undecideds. The married couple have each recorded several critically acclaimed solo records, but Jones is also an accomplished painter and Dixon a prolific producer known for his work with R.E.M., Tommy Keene, The Smithereens, Marshall Crenshaw, James McMurtry, Amy Rigby, and…Marti Jones.

(Sandy) Alex G and Japanese Breakfast with Cende
July 5 (doors at 7, show at 8; SOLD OUT)
The Sinclair, Cambridge, MA

This unsurprisingly sold-out double bill at The Sinclair on Wednesday pairs up acts that have released some of the most highly praised lo-fi/indie albums of the past few years. Japanese Breakfast is the solo project of Michelle Zauner, formerly of Little Big League. She released Psychopomp last year and will be previewing the forthcoming Soft Sounds from Another Planet at this show. (Sandy) Alex G is the stage name of Alex Giannascoli, a musical auteur and DIY-er who played on both of Frank Ocean’s 2016 releases and has drawn comparisons to Elliott Smith. His stop in Harvard Square is part of his tour in support of his new album, Rocket.

Gorillaz
July 12 (show at 7:30)
Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, Boston, MA
It’s been seven years, but Gorillaz is back with a new album, Humanz. This time around, masterminds Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett collaborated with two unrelated Staples singers (Vince and Mavis), Grace Jones, De La Soul, Pusha T, and—gulp!—Noel Gallagher (apparently he and Albarn can get along as long as neither is concurrently working with Oasis and Blur, respectively). Gorillaz’s sure-to-be-triumphant return to the stage includes a visit to Blue Hills Bank Pavilion.

Eric Gales
July 14 (doors at 7, show at 8)
9 Wallis, Beverly, MA

Eric Gales released his first two albums as the leader of The Eric Gales Band while he was still a teenager. Like Jimi Hendrix, Gales plays a right-handed guitar with his left hand. Unlike Jimi, Gales is actually right-handed, having learned the instrument as a child from his left-handed older brother. Since 2001, the Memphis native has recorded 9 more albums, including this year’s Middle of the Road, and guested on dozens of tribute recordings and several by other artists. Fans of blues-infused hard-rock guitar can experience Gales’s approach up close at Beverly’s 9 Wallis on July 14. (He will also be at Bull Run in Shirley, MA, on July 16.)

Violent Femmes and Echo & The Bunnymen
July 15 (show at 7:30)
Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, Boston, MA

Despite sharing an overlapping period of recording activity between 1983 and 1990, Violent Femmes and Echo & The Bunnymen do not have a lot in common stylistically. Yes, each of them recorded their share of post-punk classics. However, Milwaukee’s Violent Femmes were quirky, cheeky, and lyrically rather straightforward with a folky inclination. Liverpool’s Echo & The Bunnymen, meanwhile, were dark, gloomy, and lyrically cryptic new wavers with a pinch of psychedelia. Those in attendance will be divided over who deserves to be the “real” headliner at Blue Hills Bank Pavilion on July 15, but the co-headlining date allows each of them to perform before a much larger crowd than either could individually. (Although the Bunnymen have been more productive in the new millennium, the Femmes are the ones with new songs to play this year courtesy of Two Mics, which comes out on July 7.)

— Blake Maddux

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Roots and World Music

The Sadies
Friday, July 7, 2017, 9 p.m. (doors open at 8 p.m.)
ONCE, Somerville

When Toronto’s Sadies opened for and backed Justin Towles Earle at the Sinclair last month, they blew away the headliner with their mix of twang and pop. They’ll return to play a full set this week.

Soca in the Park
Saturday, July 8, 2017, 6:30 p.m.
Franklin Park, Boston, MA

After running the successful Reggae in the Park for a few years, Lion Entertainment has added a soca edition headlined by some of the genre’s younger stars: Lyrikal, Skinny Fabulous and Olatunji. Take note that the flyer does not mention whether the artists will use a backing band or pre-recorded tracks.

Festival Betances
July 15-16
Villa Victoria, South End, Boston, MA

Other Latin music events have bigger stars, but this long-running, low-key fest boasts free admission and a huge variety of Latin sounds from bachata to reggaeton. Salsa crooner Jerry Rivera headlines on Sunday night.

— Noah Schaffer

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Author Events

Alexandra Fuller
Quiet Until the Thaw
July 6 at 7 p.m.
Odyssey Bookshop, South Hadley, MA
Free

Fuller is the author of the acclaimed Don’t Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight, which told the story of her African childhood. This time she focuses on contemporary Native American issues, by telling the Cain and Abel-inspired story of two Lakota cousins, Rick Overlooking Horse and You Choose Watson. They are connected through ancestry and landscape, but deal with the injustices perpetrated on their people in strikingly different ways.

Thomas Kitson, Steph Burt, Ernst Karel, Gilmore Tamny
Rapture by Iliazad
July 7 at 7:30-9:30 p.m.
Center for the Arts, Armory Cafe, Somerville MA
Free

Kitson is the translator of the mysterious 20’s era Russian author “Iliazad” whose book Rapture was described in the Fuse as a “Modernist bellwether reflecting (rather than mastering) the yen for iconoclasm that was energizing European bohemians at the time, the call for the radicalization of life, psychology, literature, art, and politics.”

Jonny Sun
Everyone’s a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too: A Book
In conversation with Alexander Tang
July 12 at 6 p.m. (Doors open at 6:30)
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge MA
Tickets $17.75 with book, $5 without

The title isn’t a misprint—Sun is an award-winning playwright, comedian, performer, artist and illustrator. His book (based on his very popular Twitter account) tells the story of a lonely alien sent to observe earth, and encounters all manner of creatures with a variety of perspectives on life, love and happiness.

Lindsay Hatton
Monterey Bay
July 14 at 7 p.m.
Porter Square Books, Cambridge, MA
Free

Hatton’s debut novel reimagines her native Monterey California and the creation of its famous aquarium, whose raucous lab was guided by Ed Ricketts, a scientist and close friend of John Steinbeck’s. Hatton tells the aquarium’s colorful creation story along with the intrigues of Steinbeck’s inner circle.

Julia Glass and Edward Kelsey Moore
A House Among the Trees and The Supremes Sing the Happy Heartache Blues
July 19 at 7 p.m.
Newtonville Books, Newton Centre MA
Free

Two acclaimed novelists will read from their latest work in Newton. Glass’s novel concerns an elderly world-famous children’s book author and his assistant, who must reckon with his hero’s fame and the morally disturbing record of his life. Moore’s novel is a family chronicle, tracing the generations that follow from the unlikely union of the owner of a gentleman’s club and the woman who used to picket the club with cries of damnation and sin.

Billy Bragg
Roots, Radicals, and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World
July 20 at 7 p.m.
Brookline Booksmith, Coolidge Corner, MA
Free

The great radical British songwriter and activist comes to Brookline to read from (but not, alas, to perform) his new book about skiffle, the often-overlooked genre that mixed country twang with the jittery pulse of rockabilly. Skiffle was all the rage in the fifties and early sixties, especially in England, and its energy inspired the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and David Bowie to first pick up guitars.

— Matt Hanson