Berkshire Bach Society Presents Harpsichord Festival

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Berkshire Bach Society opens its 2026-2027 season with a Harpsichord Festival on Sunday, Sept. 20, 3pm, at the Berkshire Waldorf HS (the Old Town Hall) in Stockbridge.

Distinguished American harpsichordist Kenneth Weiss kicks off the festival with the six Partitas for Keyboard, BWV 825-830, by J.S. Bach.

?"We are very pleased to present Kenneth Weiss playing the Bach Partitas in our first concert of the new season," said Terrill McDade, Executive Director of Berkshire Bach Society. "The term Partita is deceptively simple; the works themselves are anything but. The six suites present an astonishing variety of ideas, colors, and challenges.  Kenneth Weiss's performance is illuminating and helps us understand the transformations that Bach lays out for us.  It is a satisfying, moving, and magical experience.  He is simply a master."

According to a press release:

The Partitas were written almost exactly 300 years ago and comprise the third and most virtuosic of Bach's three great keyboard collections, alongside the so-called English and French Suites.  First published individually and then together in 1731 as the Clavier ?bung I, the works are icons of Baroque keyboard literature and are rarely heard as a set in a single performance.  In a tour de force, Kenneth Weiss brings them all richly to life--brilliant music played by a true virtuoso for connoisseurs and novitiates alike.

Kenneth Weiss is Professor of Chamber Music at the Paris Conservatoire and BBS principal harpsichordist for Bach at New Year’s.  On September 20 he plays the double manual harpsichord built by pioneer harpsichord maker William Dowd in 1975, on loan from Amherst College.  Berkshires audiences may remember his exquisite performance of the ‘Goldberg’ Variations last season.  This year he also plays for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and repeats the Partitas program at the Lausanne Bach Festival – Baroque Academy in Lausanne, Switzerland, in addition to participating in Bach festivals in Weimar and Leipzig.  He returns to the Berkshires in Working Musician, a BBS Portals event on January 30, 2027 as part of the collaboration between BBS and the Tanglewood Learning Institute at the Linde Center for Music and Learning.  In Working Musician, he joins BBS Artistic Director and violinist Eugene Drucker in a performance of Sonatas for Violin and Harpsichord by Bach.

Tickets $50 for nonmembers, $45 for BBS Members.  $10 Card to Culture (with card). Children and Students under 25 always admitted FREE.

Visit www.berkshirebach.org/events for more information and tickets. 

Units Available at Lee's New Eagle Mill Housing Development

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
01:57PM / Tuesday, October 27, 2026

It's took more than a decade to bring the Eagle Lofts to fruition in the former Eagle mill. 

LEE, Mass. — Hearthway wants community members to know there are three-bedroom units available at The Lofts at Eagle Mill with little to no waitlist. 

The apartments at 73 West Center St. recently came online in the historic building on the banks of the Housatonic River after more than a decade of work. The first tenants began moving in last week. 

Three-bedroom units are less than $2,000 per month for those who meet income requirements. 

"These units are $1,855 a month with hot water included. To qualify, applicants must be under the 60 percent AMI income limit by household size and be able to afford the rent," the affordable housing provider wrote in a communication on Monday. 

"Mobile vouchers are welcomed."

A ribbon was cut at the former paper mill over the summer for 56 one- to three-bedroom, mixed-income units in the heart of downtown. 

According to a chart provided by Hearthway, 60 percent area median income is $55,320 per year for a one person household, $63,240 a year for a two-person household, $71,160 a year for a three-person household, and $79,020 a year for a four-person household. 

Applications are available in English and Spanish. They can submitted via email to leasing@hearthway.org, drop off to the main office at 1 Fenn St in Pittsfield, fax to 413-403-2710, or USPS mail to P.O. Box 1180, Pittsfield, MA 01202-1180.