SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Voices kicks off its 55th anniversary year with a performance at Arthur Zankel Music Hall, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 10.
Zankel Hall is located on the campus of Skidmore College.
The masterworks concert features a full orchestra and professional soloists. The program consists of Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, Haydn’s Missa Cellensis, Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs, and Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine.
Tickets are available at saratogavoices.org.
In June, members of Saratoga Voices will be performing Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine at Carnegie Hall, featuring Saratoga Voices Artistic Director Noah Palmer conducting in his Carnegie Hall debut.
Penny Arcade at the Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College on April 24, 2025. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Legendary writer, poet, actress, and theatre-maker Penny Arcade visited Saratoga Springs last week, where she participated in two days of events.
On April 24, Arcade (aka Susana Ventura) was the featured guest in conversation with Skidmore College professor Joseph Cermatori. The program was part of the Dunkerley Dialogue program at the Tang Teaching Museum. The museum is currently featuring the exhibition “a field of hum and bloom.” The exhibit runs through July 20.
The following day, she returned to the Tang Museum and was interviewed by students as part of Dayton Director Ian Berry’s The Artist Interview class. The goal of the class is for students to learn how to interview artists and about creating new oral histories. Arcade is also an archivist, oral history maker, and videographer, and along with longtime artistic collaborator Steve Zehentner, founded “The Lower East Side Biography Project,” which may be viewed at YouTube.
HMT presents Oklahoma. From left to right – Tricia Reilly as Ado Annie, Scott Brown as Will Parker, Lauren Schirnhofer as Laurey, Ken Kashe as Curly, and Sharon Piegaro as Aunt Eller. Photo: Anne-Marie Baker.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Home Made Theater will present the American Classic musical, Oklahoma across two weekends starting on Friday, May 9 at the Pitney Meadows Community Farm in Saratoga Springs. First debuting in 1943, Oklahoma is considered to be the musical that pioneered the combination of music, lyrics, plot, and dancing to tell a cohesive story, launching a golden age in American theater.
The story of this musical surrounds the rivalry between local farmers and cowboys in a western territory just past the turn of the 20th century. This rivalry then creates the pathway for the love story between the charming cowboy Curly and the feisty farm girl Laurey, while also opening the audience up for the contrasting comedy of Ado Annie and Will Parker.
Performances will take place Friday May 9 and 16 at 7 p.m., Saturday May 10 and 17 at 2 and 7 p.m., and Sunday May 11 and 18 at 2 p.m. There will also be a performance on Thursday May 15 at 7 p.m.
General admission tickets for the performances will be $25. Students with ID can purchase tickets for $20.
Pitney Meadows Community Farm is located at 223 West Ave. in Saratoga Springs. Visit www.homemadetheater.org or call 518-587-4427 for tickets and other information.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Folk-Americana trio The Wildwoods will perform at Caffe Lena on May 9. Show time is 8 p.m.
Hailing from Lincoln, Nebraska, The Wildwoods feature tunes laced with violin, acoustic guitar, upright bass, percussion, and cello – coupled with homespun harmonies.
The band’s fourth full-length album, “Dear Meadowlark,” was released April 11.
Billed as taking the hallmarks of the folk-Americana sound and dressing it in indie sensibilities a la heroes Nickel Creek and Gillian Welch as well as genre mainstays Bon Iver and Mumford & Son, the three 20-something musicians are on a 24-city tour promoting their latest release.
The Wildwoods are Noah Gose on vocals, acoustic and electric guitar; his wife, Chloe Gose on vocals and violin; and longtime friend Andrew Vaggalis on vocals and upright bass.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center summer residency at Spa Little Theater will be staged June 15 – Aug. 17. Photo provided.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Performing Arts Center welcomes the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center back to Spa Little Theater for its summer residency from June 15 – Aug. 17.
Led by Artistic Directors Wu Han and David Finckel, the season is highlighted by the SPAC debut of the Viano Quartet, one of the most sought-after young ensembles today and recipients of the prestigious 2025 Avery Fisher Career Grant. The next generation of star soloists gracing the stage include pianist George Li, following his 2024 SPAC debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and cellist Sterling Elliott, alongside the return of audience favorites Arnaud Sussman, Matthew Lipman and Stella Chen.
“Since expanding our partnership with CMS, we have had the privilege of opening the doors of Spa Little Theater to new and returning audiences, all four seasons of the year. We look forward to welcoming this dynamic roster of artists to Saratoga this summer, under the brilliant direction of Wu Han and David Finckel,” said SPAC CEO Elizabeth Sobol, in a statement.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s summer season opens with “Beethoven and Dvořák,” led by Wu Han (June 15), followed by “Great Sonatas” featuring Beethoven, Brahms, and Mozart (June 22). The series continues in July with programs anchored by “Mendelssohn’s String Quintet in A Major” (July 13), and “Beethoven’s Quintet for Piano and Winds” (July 20). Included in the season is the SPAC debut of the Viano Quartet (Aug. 10) in a program offering classic string quartets by Haydn, Mendelssohn and Shostakovich, and a closing program with major works by “Shostakovich and Dohnányi” (Aug. 17) featuring CMS artistic co-director, cellist David Finckel.
Anchored by Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Artistic Directors Wu Han (piano) and David Finckel (cello), this season’s guest artists include violinists Chad Hoopes, Stella Chen, Bella Hristova, Arnaud Sussman, Danbi Um, Julian Rhee and Sean Lee; violists Matthew Lipman and Paul Neubauer; cellists Paul Watkins, Nicholas Canellakis and Sterling Elliott; pianists George Li, Gilles Vonsattel, Evren Ozel, Sahun Sam Hong, and Anna Geniushene; clarinetist Sebastian Manz; flutist Tara Helen O’Connor; oboist James Austin Smith; bassoonist Marc Goldberg; Nathaniel Silberschlag on horn, and the Viano Quartet.
All summer 2025 CMS events will take place at the Spa Little Theatre (19 Roosevelt Drive, Saratoga Springs,). There is one performance of each program at 3 p.m. Doors open at 2 and the house opens at 2:30pm.
For full season subscriptions to all six summer programs, single performance tickets and other information, go to: spac.org.
“Snow Flower.” A new album out this month by Tenzin Choegyal.
Tibetan musician Tenzin Choegyal, who performed at The Tang Museum in Saratoga Springs in October 2023 and returned to play the Zankel Theater in November 2024 has released his latest full-length album.
The collaborative work – showcasing Choegyal, multi-instrumentalists Matt Corby and Rohin Jones, and songwriter Alex Henriksson – is titled “Snow Flower.”
“In a world that constantly urges us to do more, we often lose touch with the quieter, more sacred parts of ourselves,” Choegyal writes. “’Snow Flower’ invites you to slow down, turn inward, to pause amidst the rush and rediscover the stillness that lies within.”
“Snow Flower” was recorded amidst the rush of the Tibetan musician’s own career which recently saw him performing alongside Michael Stipe, Laurie Anderson and Patti Smith at Carnegie Hall.
For more information about Choegyal’s visit to Saratoga Springs, go to: https://saratogatodaynewspaper.com/whispering-sky-tenzin-choegyalwith-new-album-performance-in-saratoga-springs/. Information about his latest release may be found via his public social media platforms and website, listed under “Tenzin Choegyal.”
SCHENECTADY — Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, the first North American production of the musical presented by Disney in over 25 years, will stage performances at Proctors on Wednesday, June 25 for a limited engagement through Thursday, July 3.
Based on the animated feature film, Beauty and the Beast premiered on Broadway in 1994 and still ranks as the 10th longest-running show in industry history.
Shows: 8 p.m. Wed, June 25, Thurs, June 26, and Fri, June 27; 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Sat, June 28; 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Sun, June 29; 7 p.m. Tues, July 1 and Wed, July 2; 1:30 p.m. Thurs, July 3.
Tickets for Beauty and the Beast are available through the Box Office at Proctors in-person, via phone at 518-346-6204 Tuesday-Saturday noon – 6 p.m., or online by visiting atproctors.org. Groups of 10 or more can get tickets by calling 518-382-3884 x 139.
Alice Cooper, flanked by Chuck Garric on bass, and Nita Strauss on guitar, performing on stage at the Cool Insuring Arena in Glens Falls, November 2019. Photo by Thomas Dimopoulos.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The legendary Alice Cooper, along with heavy metal trailblazers Judas Priest will share the stage for a co-headlining tour across North America.
Produced by Live Nation, the 22-city run includes a stop at Broadview Stage at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, on Saturday, Sept. 27.
Alice Cooper wraps up his “Too Close for Comfort” tour in late August, promoting his most recent “Road” album.
Alice will have an as-yet-unnamed all-new show for the fall tour, which kicks off Sept. 16 in Biloxi, Mississippi.
The Alice Cooper Group formed in the late 1960’s and consisted of Vincent Furnier, Glen Buxton, Michael Bruce, Dennis Dunaway, and Neal Smith. Through the early ‘70s the band delivered a string of highly acclaimed and successful albums – “Love It to Death,” “Killer,” “School’s Out,” and “Billion Dollar Babies,” among them.
Adopting the stage name Alice Cooper, Furnier has experienced a successful career as a solo artist following the original band’s split in 1974.
Judas Priest, coming off the second leg of their “Invincible Shield” Tour will co-headline the show.
Joan Osborne’s guitar on stage at Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs on April 10, 2025. Photo: Joan Osborne Facebook.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Joan Osborne kicked off her U.S. tour in Saratoga Springs on April 10, performing a 100-minute set in front of a packed house at Universal Preservation Hall.
The theater-in-the-round performance, which served as the first show of a national tour that will extend through October, largely showcased Osborne’s rendition of tunes culled from the Bob Dylan songbook. Some initially appeared in Osborne’s 2017 collection “Songs of Bob Dylan.” Her new collection – titled “Dylanology Live” – is slated for release later this month.
“When I cover someone else’s song, I never try to repeat what they did,” Osborne told this reporter, during an interview in advance of her Saratoga Springs show. “What I’m always looking for is trying to find the place where that song and my voice can come together in a way that some aspect of the song can be new, refreshed, where this song can live through me in a way that’s unique.”
Her appearance at UPH, accompanied by guitarist Jack Petruzzelli and keyboard player Will Bryant, consisted of an 11-song set honoring the great American musical poet – some of which Osborne had not previously performed before – and concluded with a three-song encore of works better associated with her own career as an artist.
Running a line through the Dylan songbook that traced back 60 years, the band offered funkified renditions of “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” and “Highway 61” – the latter featuring Osborne spewing out lyrics to a musical accompaniment that rollicked like a jazz carnival in an open-air tent rolling across a Native American reservation; “Leopard-Skin-Pillbox-Hat“ offered an up-tempo swinging jazz feel, and the set time-checked nearly every decade of Dylan’s work, most recently with a tender, emotion-filled performance of 2020’s “I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You,” delivered with the presence of the Steinway grand piano filling UPH’s Great Hall, while the band’s vocalized harmonies majestically swirled about the space.
“We’re taking some liberties with the songs,” Osborne told the audience. “And you wouldn’t want us to play them like the record because that wouldn’t work and anyway Dylan himself plays halfway through the song before you even realize what it is,” she said, referring to the songwriter’s history of alternating arrangements when playing his own songs.
Osborne performed a pair of Dylan tunes released a quarter century apart – “She Belongs To Me” and “Everything Is Broken” while informing the audience: “We never recorded these, you people are the first in the world to hear them,” and later introducing the song “Shooting Star” as “another that we’ve never recorded or played live anywhere, but it’s just a favorite of mine.”
Standing stage left, Petruzzelli – co-producer Joan Osborne’s album “Bring It on Home,” alternated between electric and acoustic guitars, while Bryant – co-founder of Hudson Valley recording studio The Building – sat stage right moving between an electric keyboard and a grand piano.
Osborne added rhythmic accompaniment throughout with the use of a small blue tambourine she danced off her hip, amplified finger-snaps, and brush patterns graced atop a snare drum, gravitating gestures between the time-keeping beats as each situation warranted.
With her performance of “Man in the Long Black Coat,” Osborne swayed with crossed arms in sync with the solemnity of the piece, showcasing the breadth of her vocal range.
It was in the night’s encore segment that Osborne delivered three songs she is known for in her own right. These included the global sensation “One of Us,” the 2023 title tune “Nobody Owns You” from her 2023 release (which marked the one time she strapped on her own acoustic guitar) and revisited her 1995 debut album with the song “St. Teresa” delivering a rendition with a sultry groove vibe that resonated as nothing short of stunning.
Setlist: Joan Osborne Live at UPH, Saratoga Springs, April 10, 2025.
She Belongs to Me
Everything Is Broken
Man In the Long Black Coat
Highway 61
Shooting Star
High Water (For Charley Patton)
Tryin’ To Get to Heaven (before they close the door)
Saratoga Springs — Master Drummer M’Bemba Bangoura will be back in Saratoga Springs on Friday, April 25, and will be showcased in three offerings presented by the Saratoga Springs Public Library in partnership with EarthBeat Music.
Bangoura is a highly acclaimed Guinean master drummer, teacher, and performer of African drum and dance. He is known for his mastery of the djembe and his contributions to the contemporary djembe scene.
Additionally, Saratoga Springs Public Library offers patrons the ability to check out djembe drums as part of their Library of Things.
Members of the community are invited to register for one of three offers:
1:30–2:30 p.m. – West African Drumming & Movement for All Ages and Abilities
3–4 p.m. – Djembe Drumming Workshop for Adults and Teens (ages 13+)
4:15 – 5:30 p.m. – DounDoun Dance Workshop for Adults and Teens (ages 13+)
For more information on these programs and/or to register, please visit the Events Calendar online at www.sspl.org.
Saratoga Arts made these programs possible through the Community Arts Regrant Program, funded by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Each program requires registration for each person attending.
