To navigate the venues for and genres of live music around the Upper Valley this fall, I think I’m going to need a compass.
Here in the central hub of Hanover/Lebanon/White River Junction, the choices range from roots explorer Martha Redbone and the Mexican fusion band Troker at Dartmouth College’s Hopkins Center to blues legend Buddy Guy and jazz phenom Esperanza Spalding at Lebanon Opera House, as well as the Camerata New England chamber quartet at the Unitarian Universalist church in Norwich.
To the north, Court Street Arts is hosting three roots shows at Alumni Hall in Haverhill, among them comedian Rusty DeWees’s homage to country-music icons Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Charlie Daniels.
At our southern rim, a mix of veterans (Harvey Reid) and emerging talents (Shawna Caspi) will fill the Sunapee Community Coffeehouse with folk rhythms and insights, while the Claremont Opera House features a Beatles tribute ensemble.
To the east, the fall parade of performers at New London’s Flying Goose Brewpub and Grille includes Scottish-Canadian folk master David Francey.
And to the west, Michael Doucet’s Cajun powerhouse BeauSoleil is among the acts offering an antidote to the approaching winter at Chandler Music Hall in Randolph.
If you don’t already have tickets for Lake Street Dive’s Oct. 1 show at the opera house, you’re probably out of luck, unless you can make it to Troy, N.Y., on Oct. 4, Providence, R.I., on Oct. 6, Boston on Oct. 7 or New York’s Radio City Music Hall on Oct. 8, before the pop-soul it group heads to the Iceland Airwaves Festival.
“The tickets went quickly after we announced it, and it’s been completely sold out for a few weeks now” opera house Director Heather Clow said on Monday. “I’d been trying to get them for years.”
Clow said that good tickets do remain for performers familiar and new for this first leg of LOH’s 2016-2017 season, starting this Sunday night with Buddy Guy, the elder statesman of the blues guitar now that B.B. King is gone. Before Guy takes the stage, Matt Anderson, “a super bluesman from Canada,” steps to the mic at 8 to establish the mood, Clow said. “I’m super-excited about Matt. This will be a great combination of an up-and-coming performer and an icon.”
In the midst of her transition from up-and-comer to icon, Esperanza Spalding plays out her concept album Emily’s D+Evolution on Oct. 15, a particular treat for those of us who were hoping to see and hear more of her when she played bass for Dr. Lonnie Smith’s In the Beginning Octet.
“It’s all her this time,” Clow said. “She’s gotten a little funkier as she’s gone along.”
Additional opera house dates worth marking are Nov. 10, when folk singer Martin Sexton performs a concert benefiting the addiction-recovery nonprofit Second Wind Foundation; Oct. 12, with the Dark Star Orchestra playing a concert benefiting Lebanon’s Rusty Berrings Skatepark; and Nov. 13, when Symphony New Hampshire takes on Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.
To reserve tickets and learn more about these and other performances at the opera house this fall, visit lebanonoperahouse.org or call 603-448-0400.
An already swingin’ season accelerates at Dartmouth on Friday night at 8, with rising jazz star Cecile McLorin Salvant singing with the instrumental support of the Aaron Diehl trio at Spaulding Auditorium. She is expected to devote much of the concert to songs from 2015’s For One to Love, for which she collected the Grammy Award for best jazz vocal album.
Martha Redbone and her band hit Spaulding on Sept. 30 with her acoustic song cycle Bone Hill, exploring her Native American, African-American and Appalachian roots.
“Her show is going to sell out,” Hopkins Center Program Director Margaret Lawrence predicted this week. “Last time she was here in 2014, people were in rapture. She could have sung for two more hours, and they would have gladly paid the babysitter.”
Lawrence hopes that fans of world and roots music also turn out on Oct. 15 for a concert by Troker, a band she happened to catch on a beach in the Mexican state of Oaxaca several years ago and had been aiming to book ever since.
“I would describe it as hard-groove, jazz, alternative, rock band,” Lawrence. “If Salvador Dali ever made a heist movie, Troker would have played the soundtrack. … They are going to shake things up in a great way.”
Among the many classical shows on tap for the coming season, Lawrence particularly looks forward to the Oct. 25 concert at which tenor Ian Bostridge and pianist Thomas Ades tackle Winterreise, the cycle of songs that Franz Schubert composed to go with 24 poems by Wilhelm Muller, a poet, soldier and librarian who died young.
“He is probably the single most sought after classical singer right now,” Lawrence said. “His voice is pure and haunting. He’s published a book about the cycle, and really immersed himself in the context of the piece — the weather at the time Schubert was writing it, the house he was living in — to get the full feeling.”
The season at the Hop will close Dec. 15, 16 and 17 with the annual Christmas Revels, on the theme of “A French Canadian Celebration of the Winter Solstice” at Spaulding Auditorium. As an appetizer for this extravaganza, Revels North hosts a mini-festival Sunday afternoon at the East Thetford Pavilion, with a rehearsal at 1, a demonstration of French-Canadian culture at 4, a potluck meal of poutine and other regional delicacies at 5:15 and a community dance at 6. Yann Falquet, guitarist and accordionist for the folk band Genticorum, will lead the demonstration at 4 and the dance at 6.
For tickets and more information about fall concerts at the Hop, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-727-3304.
A year into her tenure as executive director of the Chandler, fiddler Katie Trautz is trying not to wish the time to fly before Grammy-winning Cajun master Michael Doucet brings BeauSoleil to the main music hall of the Chandler on Oct. 15.
“I had to have a Cajun band play here this year,” Trautz said. “They’re one of my favorites.”
Fans of old-timey Americana music will have something to celebrate when Molsky’s Mountain Drifters, with guitarist Stash Wyslouch and banjoist Allison de Groot joining Grammy-nominated fiddler Bruce Molsky, come calling on Nov. 12.
“They’re a phenomenal trio,” Trautz said. “They play southern-Appalachian music, more like bluegrass.”
And they like to share: Before the 7:30 p.m. show, Molsky will lead a fiddle workshop at 2.
Speaking of strings, the Lark Quartet will play a chamber concert at the Chandler on Nov. 4, mixing works of Debussy, Dvorak and Gershwin with Chinese folk songs. And on Oct. 21, a string quartet from the Vermont Symphony Orchestra will perform a kid-friendly show in concert with a narration of the Steve Schuch book A Symphony of Whales.
Tickets also remain for folk-singer/songwriter Greg Brown’s show on Oct. 28, and for the Beatles tribute band Hard Days Night on Oct. 1. “They dress the part and they play the music note for note,” Trautz said. “We’re really hoping this will hook a new generation on the Beatles.”
In addition to shows in the main hall, the Chandler also hosts acts in its Upper Gallery, with the Americana band Haywire kicking off this fall’s schedule on Saturday night at 7.
For tickets and more information about fall shows at the Chandler, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464.
The Quebecois group Le Vent du Nord launches the fall season of music at Alumni Hall with a show on Oct. 29.
Then, for something completely different, consider the Nov. 12 convergence of The Fellers, to which Vermont comedian Rusty DeWees has enlisted South Newbury, Vt. fiddler Patrick Ross and guitarist Pete Wilder to play country music.
And on Dec. 3, the Brattleboro-based Americana trio Low Lily joins forces with seven-time all-Ireland accordion champion John Whelan and Scottish-style fiddler Katie McNally for a concert on the theme of “The Turning of the Year.”
To reserve tickets and learn more about autumn shows at Alumni Hall, visit alumnihall.org or call 603-989-5500.
The Camerata ensemble of cellist Linda Galvan, pianist Evelyn Zuckerman, violinist Omar Chen Guey and violist Peter Sulski tackles Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G minor and Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E flat major on Oct. 8 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation’s new church in Norwich. To reserve tickets and learn more about the coming season, including an Oct. 9 performance of this program in Colebrook, N.H., visit cameratanewengland.org or call 802-785-4833.
The new season of performances at ArtisTree opens Friday night at 7:30 with Hartland singer-songwriter Jim Yeager celebrating the release of his new CD, The Beauty of Imperfection, with accompaniment from western Massachusetts singer-guitarist Dylan Keith. The admission of $15 includes a copy of the new album.
Subsequent shows include pianist Chris Bakridges and bassist Shigefumi Tomita playing music inspired by painter Henri Matisse on Oct. 2; and accordionist Jeremiah McLane and bagpiper Timothy Cummings unveiling their new CD Wheezer and Squeezer on Oct. 7.
To learn more about shows at ArtisTree this fall, visit artistreevt.org.
Starting tonight at 8 with a solo performance by Pousette-Dart band founder Jon Pousette-Dart and concluding with folk veteran Harvey Reid on Dec. 15, Flying Goose will host eight Thursday-night shows this fall. The run includes troubador-humorist Vance Gilbert next Thursday night, Scottish-Canadian folk master David Francey on Oct. 27 and guitarists Tom Pirozzoli of Goshen and Kit Creeger of Meriden teaming up on Nov. 17 for a show benefiting the YMCA’s Camp Coniston, .
For tickets ($25 a show) and more information on the series, visit flyinggoose.com/music.
The regular Friday gatherings hit full stride on Friday night with Canadian folk singer-songwriter Shawna Caspi commanding the microphone. Still to come are shows by troubador Harvey Reid on Sept. 30, the Twangtown Paramours duo, with their self-described repertoire of “sophisticated Americana” on Oct. 14 and David Francey’s former accompanist/arranger Craig Werth with a solo guitar show on Dec. 2.
Admission to all coffeehouse shows in the basement of the Sunapee Methodist Church is by donation. To learn more about the series, visit sunapeecoffeehouse.org.
Beatlemania Now celebrates the music of the Fab Four at the opera house on Oct. 28; this show is the make-up date for a performance postponed from Friday.
And on Nov. 5, the U.S. Army’s official touring big band, the Jazz Ambassadors, take the stage.
For tickets to these shows, and more information, visit claremontoperahouse.org or call 603-542-4433.
Flutist Leslie Stroud and pianist Matthew Odell collaborate on “A Paris Afternoon in Woodstock” on Oct. 2, performing chamber works of Albert Roussel, Michael Merlet, Francis Poulenc, Olivier Messiaen and Cesar Franck at the North Universalist Chapel.
And as part of Pentangle’s classical-music series, Louis Burkot leads the annual recital of Handel’s Messiah on Dec. 11 at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church, to wrap Woodstock’s Wassail Weekend.
For more information about Pentangle-sponsored musical events, visit pentanglearts.org
During Columbus Day weekend, South Newbury, Vt., fiddler Patrick Ross will lead his Hot Flannel ensemble of bassist Pat Melvin, mandolin master Matt Flinner and guitarist Doug Perkins on a marathon of Americana concerts in the Upper Valley. Performances are scheduled for The 7 Stars Center in Sharon on Oct. 7 at 7 p.m., at Damon Hall in Hartland on Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. and at Tunbridge Town Hall on Oct. 9 at 3 p.m. For tickets ($20) and more information, visit patrickrossmusic.com.
As a tune-up for its mini-tour, Hot Flannel will join Bow Thayer’s band at the Oct. 2 festival benefiting the Northeast Slopes ski area in East Corinth. Other groups performing at the festival, on the grounds of the ski area, between noon and 7 p.m. include Hi-Way 5, the Bayley-Hazen Boys and the Stovepipe Mountain Band. Proceeds from the admission of $6 for kids and $15 for adults go toward children’s programs at the ski area. To learn more, visit northeastslopes.org.
Pianist Michael Arnowitt will perform works of Beethoven and give a lecture on the composer’s sketchbooks on Oct. 5 at Norwich Congregational Church, as part of the Vemont Humanities Council’s series of First Wednesdays presentations. To learn more about the series, visit vermonthumanities.org.
Beyond the boundaries, but within a reasonable drive of, the Upper Valley, the Vermont Symphony Orchestra introduces Norwich-born composer Zach Sheets’ in clarion fields six times over the next two weekends, during its Made in Vermont tour. With works of Mozart, Copland and Borodin also on the program, performances with conductor Anthony Princiotti are scheduled for Friday night at 7:30 at Johnson State College’s Dibden Center, Saturday night at 7:30 at the Vergennes Opera House and Sunday afternoon at 4 at the Haskell Opera House in Derby Line. Subsequent shows will take place Sept. 28 at Castleton University, Sept. 29 at Lyndon State College and on Sept. 30 at Brattleboro’s Latchis Theater. For tickets ($10 to $25) and more information, visit vso.org or call 802-864-5109.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.