Sizzling for Summer

The weather is not the only thing turning hot. The summer music season is heating up with a sizzling variety of concerts. Close Encounters with Music celebrates its 20th anniversary with Fiesta! A Latin Splash of Music and Dance. Based in Great Barrington, CEWM has become a much-beloved local institution for fascinating excursions into classical and contemporary repertoire, fused with art and culture. Cellist and artistic director Yehuda Hanani is a mainstay of the Berkshires’ cultural scene. The Fiesta! program includes Chick Corea’s jazzy, flamenco-inspired “La Fiesta!,” performed by accordionist Bill Schimmel, one of the principal architects of the tango revival in America; Astor Piazzolla’s “Grand Tango,” choreographed by David Parsons as a 2001 CEWM commission; “Ropa Vieja,” a hypnotic work by composer-in-residence Jorge Martin and also a CEWM commission; and works by Granados, Ginastera and Villa-Lobos. The concert takes place this Saturday, June 4, at 6 p.m. at Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood in Lenox, MA. Tickets are $50 for orchestra seats, $40 for balcony. Call 800-843-0778 for tickets, or go online to www.cewm.org. A relative newcomer to the area, Now! Concerts is in its second year of bringing contemporary chamber music to the area. An offering of the 3Corners Contemporary Music Project in Millerton, NY, it was founded by musicians Dianne Engleke and Mark Liebergall, with help from Music Mountain founder Nick Gordon and chairman of the Indian Mountain School music department Anton Kuskin. A week from this Saturday, a trio consisting of Jennifer Frautschi, violin; Beth Guterman Chu, viola; and Sophia Shao, cello, will perform works by living composers including Annie Gosfield and Krzysztof Penderecki, as well as Paul Hindemith’s Sonata for Solo Viola and Zoltan Kodaly’s Duo for Violin and Cello. The concert is Saturday, June 11, at 2 p.m., at the North East-Millerton Library Annex on Century Boulevard in Millerton. Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students and can be purchased on the website www.nowconcerts.org, at Kamilla’s Floral Boutique or Little Gates Wine Shop in Millerton, by email at 3cornerscontemporarymusic@gmail.com, by phone, 518-789-0617 or at the door.