Arts Fuse critics select the best in music, theater, visual art, and film that’s coming up this week. A new feature!

By The Arts Fuse Staff.

Rock

Savages
July 12
The Middle East-Downstairs, Cambridge, MA

Few bands are as intense as London post-punk quartet Savages, who will be making their first appearance in the Boston-area this week at The Middle East in Cambridge. Unless their popularity takes an unexpected nosedive, this is probably the last time you’ll be able to see them at such an intimate venue.

San Cisco
July 15
Brighton Music Hall, Boston, MA

In January, Australian four-piece San Cisco played a well-received opening set for the Vaccines at Paradise, and in March, they headlined Great Scott. Now, they’re bringing their Vampire Weekend-inspired pop rock to Brighton Music Hall. Nice to see a band progressing.

Furthur (featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir)
July 17 & 18
Bank of America Pavilion, Boston, MA

Deadheads rejoice! Phil Lesh and Bob Weir (of Grateful Dead fame) bring their latest band, Furthur, to Boston for two nights. Now, don’t get confused: this isn’t the Grateful Dead, or the Dead, or the Other Ones. It isn’t RatDog, or Phil Lesh and Friends. It’s Furthur, which is a lot like those other bands, only not. Because it’s a different band. Called Furthur. Don’t worry though. They still play Grateful Dead songs.

— Adam Ellsworth

---

Visual Arts

PLATFORM 12: Aaron Stephan Secondhand Utopias
Through October 1
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA

Do not miss this new sculpture exhibit. The Maine-based artist recreates iconic twentieth-century sculptures, turning them into an idealized or utopian space through the playful expression of form.

James and Audrey Foster Prize
Through July 14
Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA

Check out Katarina Burin, winner of the 2013 James and Audrey Foster Prize, the biennial award recognizing a Boston-area artist of exceptional promise. The exhibition presents Burin’s work, with three other finalists: Sarah Bapst, Mark Cooper, and Luther Price. The exhibition promises works of “innovation, conceptual strength, and skillful execution.”

Stephan Haley, Madeline Denaro, and Janis Sanders
Through July 27
Soprafina Gallery, Boston, MA

See exceptional paintings (acrylic and oils) from a trio of artists who depict objects and settings from everyday life.

— Renée E. Caouette

---

Jazz

Jazz in July, Week One
July 11, 7:30 p.m.
Bezanson Recital Hall, UMass-Amherst, Amherst, MA

UMass-Amherst’s midsummer Jazz in July program always includes a couple of performances by its estimable faculty members, this year including Greg Caputo, Bob Ferrier, Tom Giampietro, Winard Harper, Jeff Holmes, Catherine Jensen-Hole, Sheila Jordan, Barry Ries, Genevieve Rose, Felipe Salles, Avery Sharpe, and Helen Sung.

Rebecca Parris at Marblehead Summer Jazz
July 13, 8 p.m.
Unitarian-Universalist Church, 28 Mugford Street, Marblehead, MA

The annual appearances by vocalist Rebecca Parris (with her fine trio, I assume) to kick off Marblehead Summer Jazz have become a welcome tradition—this year is the 29th!

Natraj with Carl Clements
July 14, 4 p.m.
The 1794 Meetinghouse, New Salem, MA

Somewhat under the radar (but it’s on mine now), the 1794 Meetinghouse in New Salem has been bringing an eclectic mix of outstanding performers to north central Massachusetts for almost 20 years. This event pairs classical bamboo flute master Carl Clements with world-jazz veterans Natraj (saxophonist Phil Scarff, bassist Mike Rivard, drummer Bertram Lehmann, and percussionist Jerry Leake).

Winnie Dahlgren Project
July 17, 9 p.m.
Ryles, Cambridge, MA

Vibraphonist Winnie Dahlgren’s original compositions range across Latin jazz styles and beyond. She and her excellent band (saxophonist Daniel Ian Smith, trombonist Jeff Galindo, guitarist Steve Kirby, bassist Daniel Day, drummer Steve Langone, and percussionist Eguie Castrillo) come to Ryles as part of the World Wednesdays series.

— J. R. Carroll

---

Classical Music

Britten and Shostakovich
Presented by the Boston Symphony Orchestra
July 15, 8 p.m.
Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood, Lenox, MA

As a general rule, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra presents more interesting programs at Tanglewood than does the BSO. And so it is here: two pieces by Benjamin Britten (the Pas de six from The Prince of the Pagodas and the magnificent Les Illuminations) share a bill with one by his pal, Dmitri Shostakovich (the mighty Symphony no. 11, “1905”).

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Bolcom and Morris
Theatre & Cabaret Songs ~ recalling Piaf
Mohawk Trails Concerts
July 12 at 7 p.m.
Charlemont, MA

William Bolcom, piano, and inimitable Joan Morris, mezzo-soprano, are always fun to hear. This performance includes Bolcom’s Sonatina for violin and piano Masako Yanagita will be featured on the violin.

Russell Sherman and Wha-Kyung Byun, piano, Sooyun Kim, flute
Rockport Music
July 13, 8 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, MA

The performers reprise their unusual Jordan Hall concert. Schubert’s Divertissement a la Hongroise, D. 818 (for piano duet) and Mahler Symphony No. 4 in G major (arr. for two pianos and flute obbligato).

Canadian Brass
Rockport Music
July 14, 5 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performance Center, Rockport, MA

The excellent and entertaining Canadian Brass come to Rockport. The program will include arrangements of work by Bach, Brahms, Schumann, and Bizet, as well as popular works by Ellington, Jelly Roll Morton, and McCartney/Lennon.

— Susan Miron

---

Film

A Band Called Death
July 12–14
Brattle Theater, Cambridge, MA

This new documentary has been called both a rock documentary and an epic family story. It follows the resurrection of a band whose 1974 demo tape made its way out of an attic. The music helped the group find an audience several generations after the its demise. In the early 1970s, it was a pioneering (the first), black punk band.

Your Day Is My Night
July 15
Brattle Theater, Cambridge, MA

This is a fascinating idea—a mix-and-match approach to the documentary. The film’s site describes it: “Immigrant residents of a ‘shift-bed’ apartment in the heart of New York City’s Chinatown share their stories of personal and political upheaval. As the bed transforms into a stage, the film reveals the collective history of the Chinese in the United States through conversations, autobiographical monologues, and theatrical movement pieces. Shot in the kitchens, bedrooms, wedding halls, cafés, and mahjong parlors of Chinatown, this provocative hybrid documentary addresses issues of privacy, intimacy, and urban life.” In-person Q&A with director Lynne Sachs as part of the Docyard Series. (An Arts Fuse review to come)

First Comes Love
July 18
Harvard Film Archives, Cambridge, MA

Nina Davenport (Always a Bridesmaid, Operation Filmmaker) found herself single at the age of 41 and decided to have a baby on her own. As if that wasn’t enough, she was going to do this while living in New York City. Filming the entire process, she reveals the joys and pains of becoming a parent as she confronts her own family history. The director is a Harvard graduate and a wonderfully candid and engaging filmmaker in first person style of Ross McElwee. Davenport will appear in person at the screening.

— Tim Jackson

---

Theater

I Am Just Like You — I Like Apples
Presented by the German Stage
July 15
Goethe-Institut, Boston, MA

The intrepid German Stage, as part of the Outside the Box 2013 Festival, presents the American premiere of Theresia Walser’s “grotesque comedy,” which asks “What do three wives of former dictators talk about when they meet? Are they as evil as ever?” This staged reading features an impressive cast: Karen MacDonald, Marianna Bassham, Bobbie Steinbach, and Nael Nacer. Guy Ben-Aharon directs Ingrid MacGillis’s translation. (An Arts Fuse feature is forthcoming.)

Pygmalion
Williamstown Theater Festival
July 17–27
Main Stage, Williamstown, MA

Back in the day, it was relatively easy to find a production of a George Bernard Shaw script in New England somewhere, particularly Arms and the Man. But it seems to me that he is beginning to be nudged aside. This is a long way of saying that I suspect that serious productions of one of the greatest dramatists in the English language will be increasingly hard to come by, so this promising staging of one of his finest plays is a must for self-respecting Shavians. Award-winning director (and former Huntington Theatre Company honcho) Nicholas Martin (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) is at the helm with Robert Sean Leonard as Henry Higgins and Heather Lind as Eliza Doolittle. (I will review it for The Arts Fuse.)

— Bill Marx

---

Roots and World Music

Bastille Day Party
July 12
French Cultural Center, Boston, MA

This annual outdoor block party takes a sharp departure from its recent tradition of featuring touring Afropop artists. Instead, all-female Quebec twangers Madame Moustache headline, giving country classics a French twist. African – or at least its northern top – is still represented via local rai rockers Atlas Soul.

Luciano
July 12
Kay’s Oasis and Function Hall, Dorchester, MA

In the mid-90’s Luciano established himself as something of a roots reggae savior with his sweeping performances. Visa problems kept him off American stages in recent years, and his longtime bandleader Dean Frasier has decamped to head up Taurus Riley’s aggregation, but there are still many reggae fans who rank “Messenjah” as one of the genre’s top live acts.

Outside the Box Festival
July 13 through 21
Boston Common and City Hall Plaza

This new free event has taken its lumps from us and other outlets, but there’s no denying its programming makes up in quantity what it lacks in adventure. Saturday’s pairing of Los Lobos and Alejandro Escovedo is certainly worth catching, as is bluegrass star Ricky Skaggs on Monday. Organizational woes resulted in some interesting lunchtime shows being announced late, like Cuban star Isaac Delgado on July 20 and surf rock curios The Jan and Dean Show featuring Dean Torrence on July 16.

Caliente Festival
July 13
City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA

This annual gift from the Mayor’s Office kicks off three straight weekends of free Latin music events. Headliner Jerry Rivera is a mainstream sasa crooner making a return visit to the Government Center stage. Stay tuned for updates on the Festival Betances in the South End next weekend and the Puerto Rican Day Parade and Festival at the end of the month. The later event has been moved from its usual Franklin Park digs to City Hall Plaza.

Kobotown
July 16
Johnny D’s, Somerville, MA

One of the only young calypso groups around, this Canadian unit keep the wit and rhythm of Trinidadian music alive. Stay tuned for a full Arts Fuse feature on this show.

Fatoumata Diawara
July 17
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

One of last year’s best concerts took place at Johnny D’s when Malian singer and guitarist Fatoumata Diawara made her Boston debut. Diaware manages to bring an electric sensibility to her music without ever falling into the slickness trap that many of her fellow Parisian Afropop stars stumble into. Regardless of the weather, Diawara and her band should have no trouble turning either the Calderwood Courtyard or the rain location Remis Auditorium into a dance party.

Paul McKenna Band
July 17
The Burren, Somerville, MA

The ongoing series of intimate shows by Celtic stars has been quite busy of late because bands are looking to fill in gaps on their summer festival tour schedules. This week features rising Glasgow quintet the Paul McKenna Band just a few weeks after the release of their new recording “Elements.”

— Noah Schaffer