A Musical Embrace
“It’s like a marriage with ups and downs,” says accordionist Vincent Peirani of his collaboration with soprano saxophonist Emile Parisien. The musical “odd couple” are performing a livestream concert from Wellfleet Preservation Hall on Sunday, March 20 at 3 p.m. to launch Payomet Performing Arts Center’s 2022 season.
Peirani and Parisien will be playing selections from their latest album, Abrazo, which honors the Latin tango, “its elegance, its melancholy, and the power of its rhythms and melodies,” according to a press release. The duo draws inspiration from sources including Astor Piazzolla, Kate Bush, and Jelly Roll Morton. Tickets for the livestream are $15 at payomet.org; a limited number of in-person tickets are available by emailing [email protected].
Deb Mell’s ‘Altered States’
Deb Mell compares the way she channels ideas and inspiration through her art to the indigenous practice of shamanism. “It comes through me,” she says in an artist statement.
In her show “Altered States” at Cape Cod Community College’s Higgins Art Gallery, Mell, who is represented by Berta Walker Gallery in Provincetown, represents mysterious worlds that “can’t necessarily be explained” — worlds full of humans, animals, chimeras, and monsters rendered with colorful paint and sparkling found objects.
The show kicks off with a reception on Thursday, March 24 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 2240 Iyannough Road in West Barnstable and runs through April 18. There will be a webinar on Wednesday, April 13 at 4 p.m.; register at capecod.edu/higgins.
Sweet Show at Farm Projects
Sand T. Kalloch’s paintings, on view at Farm Projects through Thursday, March 24, depict more than just stripes. The show, titled “Nine Layers,” is inspired by a traditional dessert that Kalloch enjoyed growing up in Malacca, Malaysia.
Known as kuih lapis in Malay or jiu ceng gao in Chinese, the cake is a common sight at roadside stalls, coffee shops, and restaurants. It has nine layers because jiu, the number nine in Chinese, is similar to a word meaning “for a long time” suggesting longevity.
Kalloch’s paintings, which draw from the color-field tradition, are full of glossy ube purples, matcha greens, and mustard yellows. The gallery, located at 355 Main St. in Wellfleet, is open by appointment, 617-650-9800.
Lifting Up Women’s Voices
Voices of Poetry, a series founded by Neil Silberblatt, presents an afternoon of words and music at the Wellfleet Public Library, 55 Main St., on Saturday, March 19 at 2 p.m.
The event, in honor of Women’s History Month, will feature poets Marge Piercy, the author of 17 novels and 20 volumes of poetry, and Rage Hezekiah, whose forthcoming second poetry collection, Yearn, is a 2021 Diode Editions Book Contest winner. Vocalist Sherley-Ann Belleus and pianist/cellist Lisa Gross will provide the music.
Though the event is free, seating is limited, so arrive early. Masks and proof of vaccination are required.
