SO MUCH GOOD STUFF, UPPER VALLEY!

Friday, Oct. 16

Family weekend reception for Joseph Csatari: Painter of the American Spirit at Colby-Sawyer’s Davidow Fine Art Gallery. The exhibition of the local artist’s work opened in September, but this is a reception to mark homecoming as well as a welcome to mark the installation of a Robert Friedman sculpture on the building’s exterior, and a new sculpture by Wilmot artist Jay Aubertine. 4:30-6 pm.

Hood Museum Fall Opening. As they describe it, “Explore the galleries, see new exhibitions, re-discover familiar works, pick-up free museum swag, enter raffles, and more!” You’ll need to register, and there are just a few tickets left. 5-6:30 pm.

Dartmouth’s Rockefeller Center hosts Owen Zidar with The Everywhere Millionaire: Who is Really Rich in America and How They Got There. A Princeton economics prof and Dartmouth grad, Zidar will talk about his research with co-author Erich Zwick into how changes in the business world allowed “a multitude of Americans [to build] staggering fortunes by running often unglamorous businesses far from the spotlight.” 5 pm in Rocky 003.

“Winds in Motion”: a free community concert in Windsor with a VSO quartet. Four VT Symphony Orchestra principals—Nancy Dimock, oboe; Janet Polk, bassoon; Kelli O’Connor, clarinet; Melissa Mielens, flute—play music by Gounod, McDowell, Alyssa Morris, Gershwin, and others. 6 pm in the Old South Church.

Wu Man at the Hop. The virtuoso player of the Chinese pipa is in residence with the Kronos Quartet (their concert is next weekend), but she’s also a solo artist whose repertoire, “heard in the world's foremost venues and on Grammy Award-winning recordings, spans traditional Chinese music, cross-cultural fusion and contemporary works by today's leading composers,” the Hop writes. 5:30 and 8:00 pm in the Morris Recital Hall, with a public talk at the Top of the Hop at 7 pm.

Gallery Night at the Enfield Shaker Museum with artists Tammi DeFelice and Tim Jennings. An evening of “art, conversation, and community.” 7-9 pm on the second floor of the Great Stone Dwelling.

Hop Film screens Forgotten Founder: The Untold Story of Samson Occom and Dartmouth. Local filmmaker Signe Taylor worked with co-director Melissa Tantaquidgeon Zobel, a direct descendant of Occom, on the documentary about the Mohegan minister, educator, and intellectual whose fundraising efforts “were instrumental in the founding of Dartmouth College”—and largely ignored for centuries. Members of the Mohegan film team will be on hand for post-screening discussions. Friday at 7 pm, Saturday at 1 pm in the Loew Auditorium.

Pat Alger with Jim Rooney and Colin McCaffrey at Seven Stars Arts in Sharon. The legendary Nashville songwriter for everyone from Nanci Griffith and Dolly Parton to James and Livingston Taylor (songs like “Once In A Very Blue Moon,” “Goin’ Gone,” “Small Town Saturday Night,” and lots more) joins up with Rooney and McCaffrey as their concert series, McCaffrey & Rooney Present, starts up again. 7 pm.

“Autumn Leaves” at the United Church of Strafford, with pianist Annemieke McLane and tenor Cameron Brownell. The duo will be performing French music by Claude Debussy, Reynaldo Hahn, Erik Satie, Gabriel Fauré, and more. 7 pm, no link.

Fairlee Arts screens The Cat and the Canary. The silent film series continues with Paul Leni’s 1927 Gothic thriller about a group of distant relatives trying to survive the night in a haunted house “to learn the secret of a madman's will.” Silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis provides the sound. 7 pm in Fairlee Town Hall.

Saturday, Oct. 17

Etna Library Apple Cider Festival. An apple press on site, with a chance for kids to help out making cider. Plus home-baked goods. 11 am to 1 pm in the library’s Reading Garden.

Hop Film screens the Met Opera in HD production of Verdi’s Macbeth. In a production directed by rising star Louisa Proske, “Following past triumphs in many of Verdi's signature baritone roles, Quinn Kelsey is the Scottish king haunted by the ghosts of his murderous ascent to the throne, opposite Lise Davidsen—the world's reigning dramatic soprano—as the power-mad Lady Macbeth, whose ruinous ambition damns them both.” 1 pm in Spaulding.

Upper Valley Baroque performs two Upper Valley concerts of Giovanni Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater and arias from Handel’s Giulio Cesare. Filippo Ciabatti leads UVB’s period instrument chamber orchestra with soloists Chelsea Helm, soprano, and Cody Bowers, countertenor. Local cabaret artist Bob Wetzel also takes the stage as narrator. 3 pm Saturday at the Chandler Center for the Arts in Randolph, and 3 pm Sunday at Lebanon Opera House.

Apple Hill String Quartet in Lebanon. Upper Valley Music Center hosts the internationally acclaimed quartet for a concert of works by Swedish composer Andrea Tarrodi, a world premiere by Broadway artist Cenovia Cummins (Julie & Julia), the Studio Ghibli film music of Joe Hisaishi arranged by violinist Jesse MacDonald, and Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Major Op. 18 No. 5. 4 pm at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon.

Enchanted Forest in Windsor’s Paradise Park. As they write, “Our town forest will be alive with fire-side storytellers along the darkening path. A flashlight isn’t a bad idea, and donations are always welcome. Although geared toward children, all participants are sure to be entertained!” No charge, but you’ll need a timed ticket from the Windsor Public Library. 5-6:30 pm at the County Road entrance.

Learn to Curl. Yep, brooms, stones… This doesn’t come along often. The Upper Valley Curling Club is holding two sessions this fall—Saturday and again on Nov. 7—each followed, if you want, by two subsequent Saturday evenings for more coaching and playing. One night is $50; 3 nights $90. At the Wendell Barwood Arena, 6-8:30pm, all equipment provided, and you’ll need to register at the link (scroll down to “What’s Happening” to choose.)

Mountainfilm On Tour at the Hop. Seven shorts, from a Diné runner in the Western States 100 mile Endurance Run to an office drone’s hell-bent daily mountain bike break to Texas mountain guide Lindsey Hamm’s first free-climbing project in Yosemite. 7 pm in Spaulding.

Author Howard Mansfield gets the 2026 Sarah Josepha Hale Award in Newport, NH. The Richards Free Library’s award for distinguished contributions to New England arts and letters has been given out every year since 1956. Mansfield is the engaging and perceptive Hancock, NH-based essayist and writer of books such as In The Memory House, The Same Ax Twice, Invisible Monuments, and many others. 7 pm in the Newport Opera House.

Brooks Hubbard at Court Street Arts. The locally based national touring artist takes the stage at Alumni Hall in Haverhill at 7:30 pm.

Harvest & Rust: A Tribute to Neil Young at the Claremont Opera House. The band’s concerts “are a journey through Young’s prolific career, featuring songs from his solo work as well as his time with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.” 7:30 pm.

Sunday, Oct. 18

Windborne at Roots & Wings. The coffeehouse at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley kicks off its new season with the Brattleboro-based vocal quartet: “Windborne’s captivating show draws on the singers’ deep roots in traditions of vocal harmony, while the absolute uniqueness of their artistic approach brings old songs into the present. Known for the innovation of their arrangements, their harmonies are bold and anything but predictable.” There are just a handful of tickets left. 4 pm.

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