Classical music in Florence, Amherst and Springfield, roots rock in Northampton, and extra

As John Montanari sees it, the classical music subject today is awash with expertise, stuffed with artists who “are so good, versatile and simply damned good that they will pull off just about something,” as he famous in a latest e-mail.

Montanari, the inventive director of Valley Classical Live shows (VCC), was referring partly to a live performance the group produced final spring, when the pianist in a chamber music ensemble, The Lysander Trio, fell ailing just a few days earlier than the present. Her substitute, Montanari famous, stepped in and did the present with out lacking a beat.

Now VCC has produced a brand new chamber music live performance that’s additionally counting on a substitute musician — however Montanari’s assured this live performance might be with no hitch as effectively. It takes place Jan. 15 at 3 p.m. on the Bombyx Heart for Arts & Fairness in Florence and options pianist Orion Weiss, violinist William Hagen and cellist Nicholas ​​​​​​Canelkakis.

All three musicians, who will play alternatives by Dvorak, Haydn and Mendelssohn, have in depth expertise performing with a variety of orchestras, chamber ensembles, and different teams. They’ve additionally racked up many accolades: For example, the Dallas Morning Information wrote about Hagen, who’s 30, “Even in an age when sensible younger violinists appear to develop on timber, Hagen … is a standout.”

Hagen and Weiss additionally incessantly carry out as featured soloists. Canellakis, whose enjoying the New York Instances has known as “impassioned,” is the late addition to the Jan. 15 present at Bombyx, changing Romanian cellist Andrei Ionita, who was unable to make the gig.

Montanari, the previous classical music director at what’s now New England Public Media, says he’s unsure why Ionita can’t carry out. However he’s blissful to see the music go ahead: He notes that VCC initially deliberate to supply this live performance three years in the past however needed to cancel it due to the pandemic.

The Drake in Amherst may even function classical music in an upcoming present, this one by school members from the College of Massachusetts Amherst. It’s the primary efficiency in a collection of chamber music concert events on the downtown venue that can prolong into spring.

The collection, offered by Amherst’s Enterprise Enchancment District (BID), begins Jan. 22 at 4 p.m. and can function Bandwidth, a quintet made up of Romie de Guise-Langlois (clarinet), Cobus du Toit (flute), Jonathan Hulting-Cohen (saxophone), Joshua Michal (French horn) and Rémy Taghavi (bassoon).

That the 5 are in a position to get collectively to play isn’t any small feat, given their instructing duties and busy schedules gigging with a variety of musical teams in New England and additional afield. Du Toit, as an illustration, a local of South Africa, has carried out in Russia, Taiwan, Japan, Germany, Australia, Norway and France along with the U.S.

In line with program notes, Bandwidth performs, and likewise has additionally commissioned, music by plenty of modern composers comparable to Marcos Balter, a extremely acclaimed Brazilian author. Additionally they cowl work by composers comparable to Charles Loeffler, a German-American musician of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Becoming a member of the group on the Jan. 22 present might be visitor artist Kemp Jernigan, from the New York Metropolis space, on oboe.

The phrase “Will it play in Peoria?” has been round because the vaudeville period, when it grew to become a approach of asking if a creative occasion or concept had sufficient enchantment for a mainstream viewers — the type that was assumed to exist on this central Illinois metropolis.

The Manner Down Wanderers, who hail from Peoria, appear to have made the minimize, producing numerous followers of their hometown, their residence state, and elsewhere throughout the nation and in Nice Britain, maybe as a result of they’ve tapped into basic American roots music in their very own approach.

The five-piece band, which involves The Parlor Room in Northampton Jan. 22 at 7:30 p.m., is a little bit powerful to categorise. With percussion, mandolin, guitar, keyboards, bass, banjo and fiddle, they appear to straddle a line between indie rock and bluegrass/folks, however pop and jazz are additionally a part of their sound.

Because the Related Press writes, “Someplace on the spectrum between Outdated Crow Medication Present and Mumford and Sons lies the spirited bluegrass-based artistry of The Manner Down Wanderers. It’s joyful, daring and infrequently elegant.”

The band is particularly famous for its tight harmonies and songwriting, drawing reward from reviewers with No Melancholy and Rolling Stone Nation particularly. They’ve adopted their 2019 album “Illusions” with the newer “Extra Like Tomorrow,” with 10 songs written by lead singers Collin Krause and his brother-in-law, Austin Krause-Thompson.

The album covers lots of floor, together with Collin Krause’s restoration from alcohol abuse and different onerous classes, nevertheless it concludes with the deceptively titled “All the things’s Made Out of Sand,” a jaunty old-time flavored tune recorded reside within the studio that just about celebrates 5 guys having enjoyable making music round a single mic.

Extra music on faucet

Amherst native Mtali Banda and his band deliver their mixture of jazz, funk, soul, R&B and extra to The Parlor Room Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m. The present might be a tribute to the late South African anti-apartheid musician Hugh Masekela.

Tem Blessed and Blest Vitality will ship “socially aware” Hip Hop on the Drake Jan. 14 at 8 p.m.

Valley roots musician, ethnomusicologist, and creator Tim Eriksen, who’s at present the resident musician at Historic Deerfield, will carry out on the Deerfield Neighborhood Heart Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.

The Springfield Symphony Orchestra performs Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Springfield Symphony Corridor to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with performances devoted to Black composers.

The Winter Cajun/Zydeco Pageant, that includes the Again O’ City Cajun Band and Planet Zydeco, in addition to dance classes in each genres, runs from 1 to five p.m., Jan. 15 at Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Heart in Greenfield.

Valley Jazz Voices will maintain its annual fundraising live performance Jan. 15 at 3 p.m. within the Blue Room in CitySpace in Easthampton.

Get the Led Out, a Led Zeppelin tribute band, might be on the Calvin Theatre Jan. 20 and 21 at 8 p.m.

Wolfman Jack, an ongoing undertaking of assorted New England musicians who play the songs of the Grateful Useless circa 1965 to 1972, might be on the Divine Theater at Gateway Metropolis Arts in Holyoke Jan. 21 at 8 p.m.

Mud Bowl Revival brings its mixture of Americana, soul and r&b to the Drake Jan. 26 at 8 p.m. Valley soul specialists The Mary Jane Jones will open the present.

Steve Pfarrer might be reached at spfarrer@gazettenet.com.