North Adams, MA: Darlingside was born when five musical friends gathered in a Pioneer Valley basement in 2006 with a mandolin, a cello, a violin, several guitars and a drum set. Together, the charismatic quintet forged an exhilarating sound at the intersection of rock, classical and folk music. Darlingside brings its vibrant “string-rock” sound home to the Berkshires with a concert at MASS MoCA on Saturday, April 13, at 8 PM.

Darlingside’s genre-bending sound and unquestionable originality are borne of an unlikely hodgepodge of musical backgrounds: Harris Paseltiner began playing classical cello when he was six, and appeared twice on NPR with his classical piano trio. Auyon Mukharji earned a travel fellowship after college to study and write about the traditional music of Brazil, Turkey and Ireland. Don Mitchell toured nationally as a boy alto, picked up the guitar in high school, and honed his singer/songwriter talents by playing for sunset boat cruises in Maine. Dave Senft began singing and arranging vocal music in college, where he became musical director of his a cappella group, and spent two subsequent years learning guitar as a street musician in Boston and abroad. Sam Kapala got started on drums at the age of seven – his intricate style fuses jazz, funk, hip-hop, and rock.

Click to read the rest at Berkshire on Stage.