Berks County will be reflected in a unique concert combining music and images taken by students and community members when the Reading Symphony Orchestra presents “Berks In Focus: Symphony Of A Thousand Images” at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Santander Performing Arts Center, which is located at 136 N. Sixth St. in downtown Reading.
The orchestra will be joined by Westwater Arts and the Yocum Institute as they celebrate Berks County through a “visual concerto.”
The final performance piece will be produced from more than 1,000 local image submissions and then choreographed live by Westwater’s creative director, Nicholas Bardonnay, onto a 440-square-foot screen above the orchestra. Contributed images will accompany a live performance of Joseph Curiale’s evocative piece, “Awakening,” a work that beautifully captures the heart and spirit of Berks County.
In addition to Curiale’s “Awakening: Compassion, Forgiveness and Joy,” the concert program will include Gershwin’s “Cuban Overture,” Copland’s “Tender Land Suite: Movements 1 and 3,” and Bernstein’s “Symphonic Dances” from “West Side Story.”
Andrew Constantine conducts the Reading Symphony Orchestra.
Tickets start at $25.
Those who enjoy dinner at Cheers Bistro at the DoubleTree Hotel on Penn Street prior to the concert can take advantage of free parking and a shuttle to and from the Santander Performing Arts Center.
Also, a reception and gallery showing of the images — “A Community Portrait in Music and Light” — will precede the concert from 5 to 7 p.m.
Matilda at Civic
Civic Theatre will present “Matilda The Musical” at the 19th Street Theatre, which is located at 527 N. 19th St. in Allentown.
Civic’s production is based on the 1988 children’s novel “Matilda,” written by British author Roald Dahl. It is about a precocious child with uncaring parents who faces a tyrannical headmistress at school.
The Tony Award-winning musical, staged and directed by Civic artistic director William Sanders, will feature Tim Minchin’s energetic score and a cast of young and adult performers.
Neriah Cofield, left, and Helena Putney
Matilda, a role which is double cast with Neriah Cofield and Helena Putney, lives with her abusive TV-loving parents, played by Maxwell McCurdy and Mackenzie Lewis, and is an avid reader with a big imagination. When she starts school, a kind teacher, Miss Honey, played by Andrea Robles, tries to encourage Matilda’s intellect, but runs afoul of the school’s terrifying headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, portrayed by Jarrod Yuskauskasas. With the help of her friends and Miss Honey, however, Matilda learns that standing up for what is right can change everything.
The cast also features Parker Ryan, Dave Scarlatella,, Maelisa Quinn, Pat Birnbaum, Thomas McElhinny, Alex Pizolato. Beckett Edwards. Gabriella Beahm, Xavier Hetrick, Zori Sawyer, Connor Simmons, Cashton Morrow, Vivienne Escoto, Sarah Panettiere, Kristen Barbarito, Maria Diaz, Avante Kendall, Thomas McElhinny, Alex Pizolato, Maelisa Quinn, Dave Scarlatella, Quinton Shenemen, and Kiernan Ward.
The children’s ensemble features Nora Bloch, Asher Daniel Bristol, Peyton Dotter, Ellie Gray, Richard Krebs, and Melody Scarlatella.
The teen ensemble features Adalee Amaan, Liam Griffith, Ada Hendershot, Westley Lichtenwalner, Isel Mortensen, Weston Putney, Noah Saborsky, and Colton Shupp.
Music direction is by Nick Conti and choreography by Mackenzie Lewis.
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Oct. 12, 16, 22, and 23; at 3 p.m. on Sunday and Oct. 18 and 25; and and 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 17 and 24.
Tickets cost $35 for adults; $30 for students, seniors and military; and $13 for age 13 and under.
Murder mystery in Bethlehem
Pennsylvania Playhouse, which is located at 390 Illick’s Mill Rd. in Bethlehem, will stage “Murder on the Orient Express,” a murder mystery based on Agatha Christie’s 1934 novel “Murder in the Calais Coach,” which features Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
This stage adaptation is written by Tony Award-nominated playwright Ken Ludwig, who was commissioned by Christie’s estate.
Just after midnight on a winter’s day in 1934, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks as it travels through Europe. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning, it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed eight times and his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, the passengers rely on detective Hercule Poirot, played by Shaun Hayes, who happens to be on his way back to London from Istanbul. He is called upon to investigate the homicide.
The cast features Travis J. Nugent, Kate Hayes, Joemichael Luciano, Mariel Letourneau, Keith Moser, Doug Ace, Jen Rarick, Bryanna Pye, Jill Bormann, and Joey Troiano,
The play is directed by Mark Stutz.
Performances will be at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and Oct. 16, 17, 23, and 24, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday and Oct. 18 and 25.
Solo show at Touchstone
Touchstone Theater, which is located at 321 E. Fourth St. in Bethlehem, is presenting the Lehigh Valley premiere of “Milkdrunk,” an original one-woman show by Washington, D.C., playwright and performer Cathleen O’Malley. It will run through Saturday.
In the show, Cathleen is a first-time mother (and a geriatric one, according to her gynecologist) who only wants to be a one-time mother, so she is doing everything in her power to get it all right this time around. Seemingly sailing through her pregnancy, Cathleen is unprepared for post-natal hormonal swings and lack of sleep that await her when the baby upends all her best laid plans.
O’Malley tears back the curtain on childbirth, milk, and what it takes to be a mother in a modern world. Described as a “primal scream from the trenches of first-time motherhood,” the play premiered off-Broadway at the United Solo Theatre Festival at Theater Row and has since toured from Cleveland to Washington, D.C., to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Intimate and yet universal, O’Malley’s unflinching honesty bypasses taboos and mythologies about birth, breasts, and bonding. “Milkdrunk” is a theatrical experience for anyone who has ever known, been, or been birthed by a mother.
The performance is 60 minutes with no intermission.
“Milkdrunk” is recommended for ages 14 and older for adult language, dark humor, frank talk of human sexuality and childbirth, references to bodily fluids, and other potentially triggering themes.
Performances will be at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday and at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Tickets cost $35 for adults and $25 for seniors and students. Thursday’s performance is pay-what-you-will.
Bach at Noon
The Bach Choir of Bethlehem will present Bach at Noon next Tuesday, Oct. 13, at Central Moravian Church, which is located at 400 Main St. in Bethlehem.
October’s Bach at Noon will welcome Dan McCarthy on historical instruments from the viola family and soprano Clara Rottsolk, a familiar voice to The Bach Choir of Bethlehem audiences and featured soloist on the choir’s recording of Mendelssohn’s version of Bach’s “Saint Matthew Passion.” McCarthy will perform Bach’s “Sonata for Viola da Gamba in G Major, BWV 1027” on tenor viola, and the program also will include “Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn, BWV 152,” one of Bach’s few cantatas featuring the viola d’amore and part of the choir’s spotlight concert at the 2027 Bachfest Leipzig.
German-born recorder player Rainer Beckmann performs with a large variety of early music ensembles in the Philadelphia tristate area. He is a founding member of La Bernardinia Baroque Ensemble and New World Recorders. With recorder consorts Il Flauto Giocoso, Landini Consort, Ad Libitum, and others, he has extensively performed in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Italy, Israel, and Brazil.
Bass-baritone Brian Mextorf is in demand as a recitalist, concert singer, and ensemble performer. Recent seasons have included performances as soloist in Brahms’ Ein Deutches Requiem at Trinity Church in New York and with New Orchestra of Washington, Mozart’s Requiem at Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall, Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli and Schubert’s Mass in G at Carnegie Hall, Messiah with The Choir of Trinity Wall Street, and Raphael in Haydn’s Creation. A district and regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Brian has performed as soloist with Opera Theater of St. Louis, Virginia Opera, Opera Saratoga, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Richmond Symphony, and Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
Dan McDougall is the principal bassist of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, PostClassical Ensemble, Washington Concert Opera, and assistant principal of the Philadelphia Ballet Orchestra. He’s played three seasons with the Santa Fe Opera and performs regularly with Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Philly Pops, Opera Philadelphia, and others. Eclectic freelancing has placed him on stage with Julie Andrews, Luciano Pavarotti, Peter Gabriel, and The Who.
Rottsolk’s solo appearances have taken her across the United States, the Middle East, Japan, and South America. She has appeared as a soloist with prominent modern orchestras and period instrument ensembles under the direction of conductors including Grete Pedersen, Nicholas McGeegan, Jos van Veldhoven, Sir John Rutter, Stephen Stubbs, Andrew Megill, and Ruben Valenzuela.
Bach at Noon performances are free and open to the public.
ASO opens season
Acclaimed pianist Joyce Yang will take center stage in Prokofiev’s “Piano Concerto No. 3,” a thrilling showcase of virtuosity, energy, and lyricism in Allentown Symphony Orchestra’s “Fire & Passion: Prokofiev & Brahms” at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday at Miller Symphony Hall, which is located at 23 N. Sixth St. in Allentown.
This concert will open the ASO season with a compelling mix of American and European masterworks. The program will begin with “Can(n)ons of Freedom” by Chris Brubeck, the son of jazz legend Dave Brubeck, in its Pennsylvania premiere. Next is Prokofiev’s concerto which traces a dramatic journey from darkness to light. The program concludes with “Brahms’ Symphony No. 1,” a landmark work. Influenced by Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy,” the symphony builds from dramatic tension to a broad, affirming finale, making it a powerful opening to the season.
Diane Wittry conducts the ASO.
Tickets cost $30 to $84.
Hex sign tour
There’s still time for people to register for the “Backroads and Barn Stars Tour” at 9 a.m. on Friday. Participants will explore the vibrant barn stars or “hex signs” of the decorated barns of northern Berks County. Hex signs are a uniquely American art form and the best-known symbol of the Pennsylvania Dutch culture.
Guided by Patrick Donmoyer of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center and celebrated barn star artist Eric Claypoole, this charter bus tour will feature more than two dozen of the region’s finest decorated barns tucked away in the heart of Berks County’s farm country. Guests will experience the unique features of the Pennsylvania Dutch folk-cultural landscape and learn how barn-star artists shaped the region’s folk-art traditions.
The tour will be about 2-1/2 hours long and will depart from the Sharadin Farmstead, which is located at 22 Luckenbill Rd. in Maxatawny Township.
All proceeds will support cultural programming at the heritage center.
Tickets cost $35 and include a drawing for door prizes, including a signed copy of “Painter of the Stars: The Life and Work of Milton J. Hill” by Lee S. Heffner and Patrick J. Donmoyer; a signed copy of “100 Barns: Selected Works of Eric Claypoole” by Patrick Donmoyer and Eric Claypoole; a signed copy of “Hex Signs: Sacred and Celestial Symbolism in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Stars” by Patrick Donmoyer; and a signed copy of “Decorated Barns of the Pennsylvania Dutch in Northern Berks County” by Patrick J. Donmoyer and the Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania.