A Chamber Music Festival ‘Encore’
The Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival relives part of its 42nd season with an “Encore Series” available for free throughout December at capecodchambermusic.org. The series features two of its summer concerts — “The Escher Quartet and Two Jons,” with clarinetist Jon Manasse and pianist Jon Nakamatsu, and “A Woman’s Perspective” with the Imani Winds — filmed with multiple cameras at the First Congregational Church of Wellfleet and followed by interviews with the performers. Year-end donations are appreciated.
Ella Mae Dixon Takes the Stage
Ella Mae Dixon, Nauset High School class of 2021, recently moved to New York City to pursue her singing career, but she’ll be “Home for the Holidays,” performing with pianist John Thomas, at Wellfleet Preservation Hall, 335 Main St., on Wednesday, Dec. 22 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 at wellfleetpreservationhall.org. The concert will be recorded and released as an album next holiday season.
She says moving to the city has been a bold but positive step. “It can be intimidating and overwhelming at times because there’s so much to do here,” she says. “You know what? Restaurants are open year-round here, which is amazing.”
Dixon got her start singing at PB Boulangerie and as a guest artist with the Rip-It-Ups at the Wellfleet OysterFest. She recently made her New York debut at the Birdland Jazz Club.
“I’ve always wanted to do a Christmas show,” she says. “I’ve been really missing the local people and atmosphere.”
Dixon first worked with Thomas last year on a show of Broadway standards. “He’s such a respected name in jazz and musical theater on Cape Cod,” she says. “He’s a fantastic musician and arranger and just thinks outside the box. We really shaped the concert together.” —André van der Wende
Giammarino and Hocking in ‘Duet’
“Duet,” a show of recent work by Mary Giammarino and Pete Hocking, opens at Four Eleven Gallery, 411 Commercial St. in Provincetown, on Saturday, Dec. 18 and runs through Jan. 3.
Giammarino and Hocking are two painters aligned to the Outer Cape landscape in strikingly different manners. Giammarino seems to nearly attack and slash her canvas with a hard-won abstract earthiness and primal pull. Hocking’s more stylized paintings have minimal fuss with targeted strokes of color. There will be a reception on Saturday, Dec. 18 from 3 to 5 p.m.
Sweet Honey in the Rock at Town Hall
Payomet Performing Arts Center presents “Celebrating the Holydays” with the Grammy-nominated all-female a capella group Sweet Honey in the Rock on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 7:30 p.m. The concert, which will take place at Provincetown Town Hall, 260 Commercial St., will draw on the group’s 48-year history. Expect African American spirituals, holiday hymns, and songs from Africa to Israel. The group’s core members — Louise Robinson, Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha Kahlil, and Carol Maillard — will be joined by bassist Romeir Mendez. The concert will also be sign language interpreted by Barbara Hunt. Tickets are $33 to $55, with discounts for the deaf or hard of hearing, at payomet.org.
An ‘Extravaganza’ at Provincetown Theater
The Provincetown Theater, 238 Bradford St., presents its annual “Townie Holiday Extravaganza” on Friday, Dec. 17 and Saturday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 19 at 2 p.m.
Hosted by Tawny Heatherton, the show features more than 20 musicians, storytellers, and comedians including Todd Alsup, Megan Amorese, Mozelle Andrulot, Christopher Brooke, Steven Carey, Peter Donnelly, Tianna Esperanza, Patricia Fitzpatrick, Paul E. Halley, Jonathan Hawkins, Grant King, Trish LaRose, Kenny Lockwood, Madison Mayer, Phoebe Otis, Tope Oni, Kurt Reynolds, João Santos, John Shuman, Connie Tavanis, Sallie Tighe, Lacey Waite, and students from the Provincetown Schools.
In-person tickets are $20 at provincetowntheater.org. There is also a free livestream on Saturday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m.
Christine Niles’s ‘Different Conversation’
“A Different Conversation,” a show of oil paintings by Provincetown artist Christine Niles, will occupy the upper lobby of the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, 2357 Route 6, throughout the winter.
Niles paints with an unfussy economy of marks reminiscent of Charles Hawthorne, Henry Hensche, and Paul Cézanne. “My work merges the historic influence of early Provincetown painters with a fresh look at the iconic landscape of the Outer Cape today,” she says in a statement. A plein air painter, she applies her colors directly with a palette knife. “I am always trying to capture a moment in time,” she says, “as sun and clouds shift, and air moves the trees and water.”
The work can be viewed by appointment or at theater events. Twenty percent of sales go to WHAT.
