Israeli jazz guitarist performs free in Lenox

Day-long public event hosted by EnlightenNext The historic, 220-acre property at Foxhollow in the Berkshire hills will be the venue for a day-long cultural celebration hosted by EnlightenNext, featuring a and a free, world-class jazz concert featuring Israeli jazz-rock guitarist Oz Noy, five-time Gibson Female Jazz Artist of the Year Award-winner Leni Stern, and the Berkshire-based jazz-funk-rock band Unfulfilled Desires, on Friday, July 30. Noy, who will headline the event, is an internationally known jazz performer who has performed, toured, and recorded with several artists such as Harry Bellefonte, Toni Braxton, and Gavin Degraw. He's lent his talents to several film and television soundtracks as well, including HBO's Queer as Folk and Vh1's documentary series The Drug Years. Noy recently wrote the soundtrack for the award-winning documentary A/K/A Tommy Chong. German-born Stern studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston after already securing a successful career as an actor in Germany. She went on to study jazz guitar for several years, and has released 20 albums since 1985. Her latest record, Sa Belle Belle Ba, is a blend of jazz, rock, and world music. The musicians who make up Unfulfilled Desires hail from France, Chile, Germany, and the U.S., and now call Berkshire County home. They will appear at EnlightenNext upon return from two performances at Sunset-Sunside in Paris, France. The concert is just one part of a day-long event open to the public at EnlightenNext, celebrating culture, creativity, and spiritual activism. India's Swami Chidanand Saraswati, who will be in the U.S. as part of a global tour, will also be a special guest at the event and engage with EnlightenNext founder Andrew Cohen in a dialogue titled 'Spiritually Enlightened Activism: Changing the World from the Inside Out.' Swami Chidanand is the founder of the Indian Heritage Research Foundation (IHRF), an international nonprofit organization that supports schools, women's vocational training, medical clinics, and orphanages, as well as a recipient of the prestigious Mahatma Gandhi Humanitarian Award. The talk will be followed by a three-course gourmet vegetarian buffet for purchase, prepared by Executive Chef Katherine Miller. The event will kick off at 12 p.m. on July 30 and continue with musical performances ongoing into the evening, beginning at 5 p.m. The event is free and open to anyone, but EnlightenNext requests that guests RSVP to attend the public talk or gourmet meal via e-mail confirmation at: eeday@enlightennext.org. For more information, visit www.enlightennext.org/eeday or call (413) 637-6000. Founded in 1988 by Andrew Cohen, EnlightenNext is a global 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Lenox, Mass. Its principles are centered on the concept of Evolutionary Enlightenment, which aims to pair spiritual values and individual responsibility with the contemporary concerns of today's world through events, educational courses, and publications. EnlightenNext has additional locations in New York, Boston, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Rishikesh (India), and Copenhagen, plus a membership base spanning 20 countries. It also has an ongoing slate of international events and conferences that are designed to help individuals directly participate in both personal and cultural evolution, and has published EnlightenNext magazine since 1992, which is now offered in five languages. A full performance schedule for the day-long event is as follows: 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Dialogue with Swami Chidanand and Andrew Cohen 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Open House and Gourmet Vegetarian Buffet; multimedia presentations 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. World-class Jazz Concert on the Lawn with Oz Noy, Leni Stern, and Unfulfilled Desires.