Philadelphia Orchestra

It’s time to say goodbye to Charles Dutoit (pictured), longtime summer music director conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Both he and Saratoga Chamber Music Festival director Chantal Juillet are moving on after a long and artistically satisfying run at SPAC. Dutoit is going out in style with tonight’s program, aptly titled The Farewell Celebration Concert.

The centerpiece of the show will feature soloist Juillet on Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s lush, romantic Violin Concerto. But, as they say on TV, that’s not all: Tonight’s musical journey also will include Shostakovich’s Festival Overture, Debussy’s Le Mer and Respighi’s crowd pleaser, The Pines of Rome.

Really, this is the best ticket in town.

The Philadelphia Orchestra will perform tonight (Thursday, Aug. 12) at 8 PM at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (Saratoga Spa State Park, Saratoga Springs). Tickets are $18 (lawn) to $72.50. For tickets and info, call 587-3330.

 

Solid Sound Festival

Following last year’s Wilco (The Album), which featured “Wilco (The Song),” this show might deserve the billing Wilco (The Festival).

It seems like concert organizers are finally starting to get it: A good music festival is a focused music festival, so rather than booking a zillion unrelated bands, they’ve started to give curatorial control over to their headlining acts. For three days, Wilco have been given free run of the galleries and grounds of MASS MoCA and a fair bit of North Adams itself. They’ll headline Saturday night, bring all of their side projects, including Jeff Tweedy solo, the Nels Cline Singers, On Fillmore, the Autumn Defense and Pronto, as well as a good number of their friends. On the bill are Mavis Staples, the Books, Vetiver, Mountain Man, the Baseball Project, Sir Richard Bishop, Avi Buffalo, Brenda, and Bread and Puppet.

On top of all this, admission to the festival gets you into the MASS MoCA galleries, where Nels Cline will have an interactive effects pedal display, Glenn Kotche will have an interactive drum head exhibit, and Pat Sansone will be displaying Polaroid photography, not to mention Wilco-curated films, a concert poster retrospective and a Kidspace. Wander into North Adams for a farmers market and more events.

The Solid Sound Festival runs from 8 PM on Friday (Aug. 13) to 8 PM on Sunday (Aug. 15) at MASS MoCA (North Adams, Mass.). Tickets are $91 for the weekend, and no single-day passes will be sold. For more info call (413) 662-2111.

 

Mabee Farm Canalfest

Mabee Farm proudly claims the title of oldest standing home in the Mohawk Valley. The Dutch Farm has stood on the banks of the Mohawk River for more than three centuries—since before the Erie Canal was built, before the United States of America was founded. Fur trading and farming have made way for nanotech, but Mabee Farm has endured it all. And this weekend, you can step back in time at the historic site and steep in the musical strains of days gone by.

Mabee Farm’s Canalfest presents an impressive lineup of established and emerging roots musicians, balladeers, storytellers and celtic crooners to indulge your Americana cravings, along with food, hayrides and historic boat tours on the Wooford. Saturday’s offerings include Christopher Shaw, Sloan Wainwright, Kevin & Kate McKrell and Beaucoup Blue; Sunday presents the Quickstep, Woods Tea Company, Lost Radio Rounders and Kyle Miller.

What better way to spend a slow summer afternoon than soaking in song and history on the banks of a rolling river?

Canalfest kicks off at Mabee Farm Historic Site (1080 Main St., Rotterdam Junction) at noon on Saturday (Aug. 14) and continues through Sunday. General admission is free; a nominal donation is requested for house tours. The historic boat tours are $15 per person and depart at 2 PM both days. For more info call 887-5073 or visit mabeefarm.org.