SARATOGA SPRINGS — Three new artists have been added to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s 2026 lineup: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Foreigner, and Parker McCollum.

Skynyrd and Foreigner will perform together as part of their “Double Trouble Vision” tour. Six Gun Sally, a Southern rock band, will open for the co-headliners on Aug. 23.

Skynyrd is a legendary Southern rock group known for their classics “Free Bird” and “Sweet Home Alabama.” Ronnie Van Zant, the group’s lead singer and songwriter, was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1977. After a decade-long hiatus, the band reformed with Van Zant’s younger brother Johnny taking over vocal duties. Since then, the rockers have been touring off and on, playing at the New York State Fair in Syracuse as recently as Aug. 28, 2025.

Foreigner ranks as one of the best-selling groups of all time, having moved at least 50 million certified units in their nearly 50-year career. The power ballads “I Want to Know What Love Is” and “Waiting for a Girl Like You” are among the best-known songs of the 1980s.

McCollum is a rising country artist who won New Male Artist of the Year from the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2022. His latest eponymous album, released in June 2025, has been regarded as the most personal and introspective of his career thus far. He’ll hit the SPAC stage on Sept. 5.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Local author Bridget Farry has won two gold medals at The BookFest Awards Fall 2025 for her debut book, “Cooper’s Campervan Adventures: Montana,” illustrated by DFG Illustration and published by Saratoga Springs Publishing.

The book was honored in two categories: Children’s Fiction: Action & Adventure and Children’s Fiction: Animals. The BookFest honors authors who create “outstanding works of fiction and nonfiction.”

“I am delighted to announce Bridget Farry as the winner of two gold medals at The BookFest Awards,” said Desireé Duffy, founder of The BookFest, in a news release. “This year’s competition was exceptional, and Bridget should be very proud of this outstanding accomplishment.” 

“I’m so thankful and excited that ‘Cooper’s Campervan Adventures: Montana’ has been recognized by The BookFest Awards,” Farry said. “It’s an incredible honor, and I’m grateful for everyone who helped make this book possible.”

Farry founded Paw Print Books with the mission to inspire young readers while giving back to the world we all share. Her debut children’s book, “Cooper’s Campervan Adventures: Montana,” is based on the real-life adventures of her rescue dog, Cooper, and was written to spark curiosity, a sense of adventure, and a love for the outdoors.

The book is available on the author’s website (www.pawprintbks.com), and in the local stores Impressions of Saratoga, G. Willikers Toys, Saratoga Outdoors, and Saratoga Springs Publishing.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — A new independent book publishing imprint based in the Capital Region is releasing “The Woodcutter’s Christmas” in time for the holiday season, and the book’s author and photographer will visit Saratoga Springs for a special signing event at the Northshire Bookstore during the Victorian Streetwalk from 6 to 8 p.m. on Dec. 4. 

The new, deluxe edition of “The Woodcutter’s Christmas” from Galpón Press is set between the serene beauty of winter in Vermont and the gritty streets of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The story explores the contrast between “nature’s slow, steady rhythms and the disposable culture of contemporary society.” The book was originally published 25 years ago but has long been unavailable.

The original book by Brad Kessler features a new selection of Dona Ann McAdam’s original photographs with an updated text also by Kessler. 

Kessler is also the author of “North” (2021), “Goat Song” (2009), “Birds in Fall” (2006), “Lick Creek” (2001), and editor and co-creator of “Deep North: Stories of Somali Resettlement in Vermont” (2023). His work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Kenyon Review, The New Yorker, and Literary Hub.

McAdams, whose career retrospective exhibition opened at Pratt Manhattan galleries this past spring, is the author of the photographic memoir, “Black Box” (2024). She has exhibited her work at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and many other institutions. She and Kessler, her husband, live on a goat farm in Vermont.

Based out of a shed (“galpón” in Spanish) on Filmore Farm in Washington County, Galpón Press is part of the newly formed Filmore Projects LLC.

Images via Live Nation.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The short days and long nights of autumn have arrived, but a dream of spring persists: A heap of artists have joined the Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s 2026 lineup.

The acts, favorites among Gen X-ers and Millenials, include summer concert specialists O.A.R., laid-back singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, pop-rockers Train, and alternative group Barenaked Ladies.

Johnson will perform (with opener Hermanos Gutiérrez) on Jun. 24; Train and Barenaked Ladies will hit the SPAC stage on Jul. 22; and O.A.R.’s “Three Decades Tour” will arrive on Sept. 19 with Gavin DeGraw and KT Tunstall opening.

The acts joined Cake, another Gen X and Millennial favorite, in SPAC’s spring/summer lineup, which now includes a total of five announced shows.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Schenectady-Saratoga Symphony Orchestra will perform selections from festive orchestral favorites during the “Poinsettia Pops” shows on Dec. 6 and 7 at the Universal Preservation Hall (UPH) in Saratoga Springs. 

The orchestra will fill the Great Hall at UPH with seasonal favorites such as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Let It Snow,” “The Little Drummer Boy,” “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen,” and selections from “The Nutcracker.” 

One hour before each performance, guests can enjoy a pre-concert talk with Artistic Director/Conductor Glen Cortese and special guest vocalist Kimberly Hawkey. Children under 18 are admitted free when accompanied by a ticketed adult. Tickets and details are available at sssony.org.

In other UPH news, Proctors Collaborative announced on Wednesday the appointment of Marisa Flynn as its new vice president of programming, marketing, and communications. Flynn has nearly two decades of experience in entertainment, brand leadership, and business development. She joined Proctors following her role as vice president of business development at the Oak View Group, where she led efforts to grow partnerships and uncover new revenue driving and guest experiential opportunities across arenas, performing arts centers, colleges, and cultural attractions. 

As VP, Flynn will oversee the organization’s programming strategy following Jean Leonard, who served in that capacity before becoming the president of Proctors Collaborative. Flynn will lead efforts to strengthen the Collaborative’s presence across its venues — Proctors in Schenectady, Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany, and Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs — and expand its commitment to bringing performances, community engagement, and arts education to the Capital Region.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College will host a book-launch party for “Forms of Awakening: Tibetan Art from the Jack Shear Collection” on Friday, Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. in the Arthur Zankel Music Center Lobby. Following the celebration will be a free 7:30 p.m. performance by Tenzin Choegyal and Attacca Quartet.

With a clothbound cover and endpapers drawn from the artworks inside, “Forms of Awakening” is three books in one: a full catalog of Jack Shear’s gift of Tibetan art to the museums at Vassar College, Williams College, and Skidmore College; a scholarly volume of essays exploring the possibilities of engagement with Tibetan visual culture (both within and beyond the classroom); and documentation of the exhibitions at Vassar, Williams, and Skidmore.

Free tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance are available at www.skidmore.edu/zankel/events.php.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The hallway that connects The Parting Glass’ front bar with a backroom stage is decorated with fading images of musicians who once performed at the venue. The talent that graced the Irish pub’s stage includes Alison Kraus (winner of 27 Grammy Awards), Bela Fleck (17-time Grammy winner), and legendary folk group The Kingston Trio.

But it’s been some time since these artists visited a place that, well into the 21st century, was still outfitted with 1980s and 90s analog gear. One Parting Glass regular, Anthony Mangano-Delaney, used to gaze at the worn images of nationally touring musicians on the walls and wonder if perhaps his local watering hole wasn’t due for a resurgence.

In November of 2024, Mangano-Delaney created Fast Tony Productions, a company that for the past year has been booking, promoting, and staging concerts at the Parting Glass. It was the long-time music enthusiast’s first foray into the actual music business. Despite this, he’s already sold thousands of tickets to nearly two dozen shows, while also handling all the lights, sound, and event production himself.

“There’s never been one show that just went totally smooth, uneventful, or unsurprising,” Mangano-Delaney told Saratoga TODAY. “There’s always something new that pops up, which, in a way, that’s why I continue to do it and enjoy doing it. There’s always a new challenge.”

One of the self-taught promoter’s first orders of business was updating Parting Glass’ equipment. He moved the old school analog gear up to a section of the attic that he calls “The Parting Glass Museum” and replaced it with new speakers and mixing boards. Now, the venue boasts equipment that meets modern-day touring standards. Musicians coming from larger venues in places like New York City can simply plug in and play.

“Life isn’t easy on the road for theater acts these days, let alone acts that are in smaller clubs and bigger bars,” Mangano-Delaney said. “So to be able to give them five-star treatment, to give them a great artists’ area, great hospitality, a full menu, everything you could want to drink…a great sound check, a great place to rest—it’s good to be able to offer that to people.”

Mangano-Delaney said that the revamped Parting Glass has impressed visiting bands enough that most have either returned or plan to return.

Among the acts booked thus far are veteran rocker Pat Travers, Irish-American band the Young Dubliners, and Jimmy Vivino, leader of the house band featured on Conan O’Brien’s late-night talk show.

Next up on the schedule is a Nov. 14 co-headling “Heavyweights of Soul” show featuring Grammy winner Mike Farris and Grammy nominee Sugaray Rayford; a Dec. 10 concert with Curtis Salgado, the real-life inspiration behind John Belushi’s Blues Brothers characters; a Dec. 21-23 McKrells Christmas residency; a Jan. 13 show with Tantric, who are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their certified gold debut album; and a Jan. 23 performance by five-time Grammy nominees Professor Louie & the Crowmatix, whose frontman produced three of The Band’s studio albums.

It’s a busy lineup, but for Mangano-Delaney, the juice is worth the squeeze.

“When you wrap up a show, the house lights come on, you put on the house music, and you have people coming up wanting to shake your hand and wanting to give you a hug,” Mangano-Delaney said. “I like to see the smiles on their faces and know that the same passion that I have, I’m able to share that and see other people’s faces light up. That’s really cool for me.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Opera Saratoga is celebrating its 65th anniversary with a “modern new minimalism that makes room for maximum drama,” the company announced last Friday.

“With a move towards the future, Opera Saratoga announces an upcoming season that is stripped down, up close, and unmistakably NOW,” said General and Artistic Director Mary Birnbaum in a news release. “The modern audience has made it clear that it wants to connect with art that has a level of realness and purity. So, we’re pushing imagination to take center stage with minimal scenery and maximum drama.”

After the company’s first-ever winter offering, a semi-staged “La bohème” at Universal Preservation Hall on Dec. 5, the company will produce a touring education opera, “Stone Soup,” by Mark Campbell and Joe Illick. This opera will tour over 30 schools and community venues throughout March.

In May, Opera Saratoga and the Glimmerglass Festival will partner to present Kurt Weill, Berthold Brecht, and Elizabeth Hauptmann’s “Happy End.” Censored after its second performance in Germany in 1929, “Happy End” is a satire of “big business and big religion.” The show will be music directed by Robert Ainsley, the artistic and general director of the Glimmerglass Festival, and it’ll feature Ana Karneža, who won the Kurt Weill Foundation’s Lotte Lenya competition in 2024. The performance will be directed by Birnbaum in collaboration with the Glimmerglass Festival dramaturg Kelley Rourke. The piece will tour venues all over the state, including two performances at Universal Preservation Hall on May 28 and 30.

“This is an exciting new model of producing opera where regional companies partner with each other to bring opera to individual communities rather than expecting them to travel to us,” Birnbaum said.

The Opera Saratoga Summer Festival season, which features 20 rising opera stars selected from a pool of 850, will continue with the following performances: 

Rodgers & Hammerstein concert at the Mansion of Saratoga on May 31; 

Festival Artist Portrait Concerts focused on what made the singers want to become artists at Saratoga Arts on May 20 & 27 and June 3 & 10; 

Fully staged productions from June 20-28 of Lerner and Loewe’s “My Fair Lady,” Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love,” and a workshop of “Drift” from Opera Saratoga’s first ever mainstage commission from an all-female team, composer Alyssa Weinberg and librettist, J. Mae Barizo.

In addition to these programming announcements, Opera Saratoga also announced the appointment of pianist, coach, and educator Adam Nielsen to the company as the head of music staff and director of the festival artist program.

“Adam’s work on the music staff of the Metropolitan Opera, as a recitalist with major opera stars like Davòne Tines and Ryan Speedo Green, as well as his work as an educator at The Juilliard School, make him a perfect fit to lead the Festival Artist Program into the next era of Opera Saratoga,” Birnbaum said. “In addition, we are so lucky to have Laurie Rogers continuing to lead the company in a new role as director of artistic operations.”

For more information about Opera Saratoga, visit operasaratoga.org.