Patch Picks: A Weekend of Arts in the Hudson Valley

The Hudson Valley is alive with arts and culture this weekend, from live music to Shakespeare in the Park.

Here's a guide to some of this weekend's nearby live entertainment:

The Caramoor International Jazz Festival is a three-day event, beginning at 8 p.m. Aug. 5, that attracts music lovers from throughout Westchester and beyond.

This weekends performers include pianist Renee Rosnes with Steve Nelson, Peter Washington and Lewis Nash; Bassist Christian McBride, Guitarist Juan Carlos Formell and his quartet; Johnny’s Dream Club; James Farm with Joshua Redman, Aaron Parks, Matt Penman and Eric Harland; José James; Jason Moran; Guitarist John Scofield, Harpist Edmar Castaneda and his quartet; Fred Hersch with Nico Gori and The Robert Glasper Trio.

The PEAK Street Team (Radio 107.1 WXPK) will be in Caramoor’s backyard on Saturday afternoon.

For information, a video preview and to purchase tickets click here.

Artists have been celebrating the beauty of the Hudson River Valley for centuries, and the tradition continues this Saturday at the first Plein Air Paint Out & Auction at Shattemuc Yacht Club in Ossining. Organizers expect 35 artists from Westchester and Putnam counties will be setting up their easels and creating new works in several media.

Check-in begins at 7 a.m. when artists begin a day on location, painting Hudson River scenes. Their art will be available for preview at 3:30 p.m. and the auction begins at 5 p.m. Admission is free.

Summer Nights with Ingmar Bergman continues at The Tarrytown Music Hall with Persona, starring Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann, on Aug. 6. The film series, selected and introduced by David Schwartz, Chief Curator, Museum of the Moving Image continues on Aug. 13 with Fanny & Alexander and concludes on Aug. 20 with Smiles of a Summer Night. Susan Sontag described Persona as Bergman's masterpiece. Tom Milne writing in Time Out called it “Bergman at his most brilliant...Not an easy film, but an infinitely rewarding one."

Admission to all screenings of the films in the Summer Nights with Ingmar Bergman series is $5. For more information click here.

Aug. 7 is River Day at Van Cortlandt Manor in Croton-on-Hudson. The festival is devoted to the history and ecology of the area’s watershed. At 3 p.m. the Hudson River Ramblers will perform “Once Upon the Hudson,” a journey through four centuries of river heritage in authentic songs and stories.

There will be kayak demonstrations and test runs for beginners and those with more experience, hosted by Hudson River Recreation. Every is invited to enjoy hands-on activities in woodcraft, tinsmithing, origami, pottery and watercolor painting throughout the afternoon. Interpreters dressed in period appropriate costumes will demonstrate how 18th century Hudson Valley residents performed activities like fishing and net making, and will perform and explain tasks such as open-hearth cooking, brick making and blacksmithing.

Ecologically based exhibits and activities will be hosted by numerous groups including Saw Mill River Audubon, Riverlovers, Peekskill Boat Works, Hudson River Ferry Sloops, and the Toll House Museum. Local archeologists MALFA will bring artifacts from digs in the lower Hudson region. The Traditional Small Craft Association will display a wooden Adirondack guide boat.

Admission is $12 for adults; $10 for seniors; $6 for children 5-17; and free for children under 5 and Historic Hudson Valley members.
Tickets are available at www.hudsonvalley.org. Van Cortlandt Manor is located at 525 South Riverside Ave. in Croton-on-Hudson. 914-631-8200.

The Small Town Theatre Company presents Shakespeare’s “As You Like It" on Aug. 7 at 6 p.m. in Wampus Brook Park in Armonk. Seating is "B-Y-O" casual. Folding chairs or blankets are most appropriate. For more information about this local theatre arts organization founded by Armonk residents Donna Garr and Sam Morell, click here.