"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything." ― Plato
Art, music, community, imagination, creation, friendship, nature, relaxation, and rejuvenation. That describes my Happy Place and how I feel when I head to the Berkshires and southern Vermont. Have you ever found a place you've never been before but it feels like home? That's how I felt the first time I visited MassMoCA in North Adams, MA and stayed at my secret getaway hidden in Vermont's Green Mountains National Forest. I'm drawn to return each summer for art, theater, music, dance - entwined with breathtaking drives through the mountains, over brooks, and past fields of wildflowers.
Which weekend I choose to visit depends on my schedule, and this year I'm so glad I planned it again around Bang on a Can's LOUD Weekend, a three-day new music festival held at MASS MoCA. I secured a VIP pass and got front row seats to a marvelously diverse line-up including cellists Maya Beiser and Maya Fridman (who performed a favorite of mine by Michael Gordon called Light is Calling, which makes me cry), pieces with the iconic Meredith Monk, the superb Bang on a Can All-Stars, and this awesome Balinese gamelan concert (pictured above) set inside the museum's largest gallery.
The best part was reconnecting with the Bang on a Can community of composers, musicians, administrators, and friends I've known over 20 years, going back to their first music marathon at BAM in my Artist Services days. I grasped the gap in time from the pandemic as I heard how old some of their children are now - yet somehow their parents and I have all stayed the same age.
I also got to see a new Living Room Theatre production staged ingeniously inside the old pool (!) at Bennington's historic Park McCullough mansion. I've been coming to the area long enough now that I even recognized people in the audience. Their new play Amor & Psyche was so cleverly done and delightfully performed that the whole experience felt truly magical as the sun set behind the trees surrounding our peaceful, pastoral setting.
What corners of the world have you found where you feel drawn to return again and again? Your next new favorite place is awaiting your discovery - with my help, of course!
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Danielle Dybiec
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