
Opera singer John Viscardi Courtesy of Close Encounters With Music
Close Encounters With Music invites its audience to embrace the magic and mysticism of December’s darkness with a thematic concert titled “Nocturne — Night and Dreams,” held at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass., on Sunday, Dec. 3, at 4 p.m.
With selections that include Frédéric Chopin’s “Nocturnes” piano solos and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s original composition of his ensemble chamber serenade “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” (“A little night music”), Close Encounters’ artistic director and internationally acclaimed cellist Yehuda Hanani has organized an evening based around the connective poetry of these pieces.
“In one aspect, night represents the sun going down; there’s quiet, silence, and a sense of healing,” Hanani said. “People draw close together, and you get a release from the brightness of the sun’s heat. You get into the domain of the subconscious. So, this one aspect is soothing, peaceful, and full of fantasy and dreams. And then there is the other side, the ‘dark side of night,’ if you like. And that’s when you get a sense of the sinister, the menacing, the terrifying, the unpredictable things that go bump in the night. There’s a scary part of the night, and ancient mythology and artists all recognize this duality. The same is true for the moon, which represents rebirth, regeneration, and the lunar cycle, but also presides over lunacy and death.”
No night-themed concert would be complete without Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 14,” later popularized in Germany as “Mondscheinsonate,” or “Moonlight Sonata” in English. Famous for its melancholy opening adagio sostenuto, a ghostly, wordless chant, the sonata is both morbid and romantic.
“‘Moonlight Sonata’ is, of course, a magical piece of music, and it starts with a hypnotic slow movement,” said Hanani. “Beethoven was a classical composer. He started as a student of [Austrian composer Joseph] Haydn, but he had such a forceful personality and an amazing, audacious imagination. He bent the whole of music history. He started as a Haydn follower, and he ended up being a romantic hero.”
The ensemble will include Hanani joined by pianist Fabio Bidini, violinists Kobi Malkin and Grace Park, violist Luke Fleming, and double bassist Lizzie Burns. Baritone John Viscardi, who has sung with the New York City Opera, will perform arias from Charles Gounod’s French opera, “Roméo et Juliette.” William Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy has been adapted to music many times, including the oft-performed “Romeo and Juliet” ballet composed in 1935 by Russian pianist Sergei Prokofiev and an orchestral work by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Still, Gounod’s opera, which had its premiere at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris in 1867, remains sweepingly passionate with its grand melodies.
In addition to arias and sonatas, Close Encounters With Music will display prints of a few evocative works to enhance the mood further. “The Sleeping Gypsy” by post-Impressionist French painter Henri Rousseau is an 1897 oil painting depicting a passing lion in a moonlit desert and a slumbering mandolin player, unaware of any danger. Rousseau was a self-taught artist who painted in the flat style of Primitivism, with simple, two-dimensional compositions. The other hanging work will be “The Nightmare” by Swiss artist Henry Fuseli, who was a professor of painting at London’s Royal Academy of Arts. Drawn to darkness and infatuated with the supernatural, Fuseli’s 1781 oil painting is a memorable depiction of a midnight haunting, with a demonic incubus hunched over a woman restless in sleep. The painting was prominently featured in the 1986 period film “Gothic,” a fictional account of Percy Shelley and Mary Godwin’s fateful stay with Lord Byron at Villa Diodati. Hanini fittingly described Fuseli’s beguiling work as “a pre-Freudian, psychosexual kind of terrible dream.”
For tickets to “Nocturne — Night and Dream” at Mahaiwe Performing Arts, go to www.cewm.org
Warriors left-fielder James Singleton, no. 4, made it to base on all four at-bats he had Tuesday at Beekman Park.
AMENIA — The Pine Plains boys baseball team travelled to Beekman Park in Amenia to face off against the Webutuck Warriors.
The game ended with a Pine Plains win of 13-7.
The Bombers' Austin Mielich, no. 35, only made one hit in three at-bats, but it was productive. Mielich secured two runners batted in and a run himself in a later play.Photo by Nathan Miller
The Bombers racked up an early lead in the first two innings, scoring four runs in the top of the first and a fifth in the top of the second before the Warriors managed to score two runs in the bottom of the second.
Webutuck defenders held back the Bombers in the third inning and scored another run, bringing the score to a manageable 5-3 Pine Plains lead going into the fourth inning.
Then the Bombers let it rip. Six more runs in the fourth inning brought the score to 11-4 Pine Plains going into the fifth.
Webutuck managed to score another three runs before the end of the game, but the Bombers nearly matched with two more of their own for a finishing score of 13-7.
Bombers catcher Matthew McGhee, no. 10, put out six batters, including Webutuck's Albert Bailey as he tries to cross home plate on Tuesday, May 13, at Beekman Park in Amenia.Photo by Nathan Miller
The Bombers’ pitchers — Warren Lounsbury, no. 11, and Luke Blackburn, no. 4, only gave up four hits to Warrior batters through the game. Between the two pitchers, the Bombers struck out 13 of Webutuck’s batters. The Warriors’ pitchers — Zach Latrell, no. 1, Gabe Domingez, no. 9, and Pearse Williams — managed to strikeout 11 of the Bombers’ batters.
Mickey Stringer of of North East, left, checks in with Chris Virtuoso, volunteering on Saturday, May 12 at the Old Town Garage on South Center Street as a Climate Smart Task Force member. Stringer’s loaded pickup was part of a long line of vehicles along South Center as residents used the opportunity to dispose of air conditioners, mattresses, lumber, and other bulk items. Town Supervisor Christopher Kennan said he didn’t recall seeing such a long line of vehicles in past years.
Elm Drive Elementary School in Millbrook.
MILLBROOK — Preparing for the village-wide vote on the proposed 2025-26 school budget scheduled for Tuesday, May 20, the Millbrook Central School District held a public hearing on Tuesday, May 6, to review the budget and hear residents’ comments.
The CSD proposed 2025-26 budget to be voted upon as Proposition 1, showed total expenditures of $35,649,651, an increase of $1,074,576 (3.11%) over the current year.
“We’re trying to trim as much as we can,” said Elliott Garcia, Assistant Superintendent for Business, during his budget summary.
Two additional propositions are included on the ballot, both anticipating a bond issue to fund repairs, renovations and improvements to school buildings.
Proposition 2 would bring repair to the Middle and High School buildings, with more work at the middle school estimated to cost $37,381,383. Work would include HVAC, electrical, window replacement, roof and ceiling repair, elevator service and doorway improvements.
The high school work would include HVAC at a total estimated cost of $1,883,099.
The total amount would, however, be reduced by $12 million in currently available funding, so that a bond issue would be needed to cover a total of $27,264,482, to be repaid over a number of years. Taxpayers would need to pay the annual interest on the bonds during the life of the bonds.
Separate funding of energy efficiency improvements at the middle school and high school would carry at total estimated cost of $3 million that would also need to be bond-financed, but that funding would return to the school budget in the form of energy cost savings.
Proposition 3 would bring HVAC, electrical and window replacement at the elementary schools at an estimated cost of $21,779,259, also to be financed by bond issue.
Students from the Middle School Student Council presented a report on a recent survey they conducted and analyzed. Their report was titled, “Repair Our School.”
For their building conditions study, the nine students conducted an in-school survey of students, teachers and staff, receiving 228 responses.
Interpreting the responses as percentages, the students reported that 90% indicated that the middle school does not look as good as it could; more than 80% said they were concerned about the state of the building; 67% had classes interrupted by roof leaks; 75% said it was difficult to learn because of the roof leaks; and 94% said that if the school were their home, they would not stay.
“Our student government never stops working,” said Principal Steven Cabello, adding that the students’ efforts have been invigorating.
School superintendent Caroline Hernandez-Pidala praised the students’ project, the time and care invested in their survey study and their reporting of the results.
“I’m super impressed,” Hernandez-Pidala told the students.
The May 20 polling location is at the Middle School, in the Band room adjacent to the auditorium. Polls will be open between noon and 9 p.m.
The proposed budget, details of the propositions and a copy of the ballot are posted on the CSD website at www.millbrookcsd.org.
Voters in two other school districts will decide on higher spending plans for the coming school year on Tuesday, May 20.
Webutuck Central School District and Pine Plains Central School District propose higher K-12 budgets for the 2025-2026 school year.
The proposed budget for Webutuck, with an enrollment of 637 students from K-12, shows a 5.96% increase from the previous year to $28,665,850. Pine Plains proposes spending $38,712,336, an increase of 2.71%.
Ray Nelson, Earthwise Architecture, requested two variances for 7-9 Main St., one to allow a 9-unit floorplan and another to waive the parking requirements for the building, at a public hearing held by the village Zoning Board of Appeals on Tuesday, May 6.
MILLERTON — Ray Nelson of Millerton presented two possible updated floorplans for the apartment building at 7-9 Main St. to the Zoning Board of Appeals at a public hearing on Tuesday, May 6.
Nelson, on behalf of the building’s owner, is seeking two variances for the property: one allowing a density increase and another waiving the parking requirements for the property.
Village code requires at least 5,000 square feet of lot space per unit for multi-unit properties and 1.5 parking spaces per unit.
The building was configured with 12 units under previous ownership, a non-conforming use.
Nelson submitted a 9-unit plan and a 6-unit plan. He argues the 9-unit plan, which would house one fewer total bedroom than the 6-unit layout, would not require additional parking because the smaller units attract tenants that use fewer parking spaces — young couples, single people and very small families.
“There’s a need for apartments that are in the village,” Nelson said.
The submitted 9-unit floorplan is a reduction from a previously declined 12-unit plan that sought to maintain the current number of units in the property.
Zoning board members concluded the public hearing after brief discussion with the three Millerton residents that attended the meeting.
Zoning board members could not reach a final decision on the variances that night, citing required further deliberation, but they indicated a positive attitude to Nelson’s new plans.