SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Performing Arts Center has announced the return of its resident companies — New York City Ballet and The Philadelphia Orchestra — to their summer home in Saratoga Springs for a celebratory season that will feature masterworks from the classical cannon, alongside SPAC premieres and debuts. 

New York City Ballet returns with the full company from July 18 – 22, with its roster of more than 90 dancers under the direction of Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, accompanied by the New York City Ballet Orchestra, led by Music Director Andrew Litton. 

The Company will present four programs including “NYCB On and Off Stage,” hosted by NYCB dancers for a unique “behind the curtain” experience featuring excerpts from the week’s ballets. 

Highlighting the season are contemporary new works including Play Time by Gianna Reisen set to music by Solange Knowles; Love Letter (on shuffle) by Kyle Abraham, featuring the music of James Blake; and Liturgy by Christopher Wheeldon with music by Arvo Pärt, in addition to two works by Justin Peck including the SPAC premiere of his first full-evening ballet, Copland Dance Episodes, set to four of Aaron Copland’s most acclaimed musical scores:  Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, Fanfare for the Common Man, and Rodeo, as well as Scherzo Fantastique set to music by Igor Stravinsky, which had its World Premiere at SPAC in 2016. 

Also featured is a program dedicated to three story ballets including Balanchine’s Swan Lake, Robbins’ Fancy Free and Firebird by both choreographers. 

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s three-week residency (Aug. 2 – Aug. 19) will feature Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Aug. 11–12) leading two programs including a Rachmaninoff 150th birthday celebration, and appearances by cellist Yo-Yo Ma (Aug. 17) and violinist Gil Shaham (Aug. 16), returning for the first time in a decade in a special SPAC premiere leading Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons. 

Making their 2023 SPAC debuts is a diverse roster of artists including Emmy-, Grammy-, and Tony Award-winning icon Audra McDonald (Aug. 10) for a Broadway program, and global “little orchestra” Pink Martini, featuring China Forbes (Aug. 4), in addition to pianists Isata Kanneh-Mason (Aug. 3) and Bruce Liu (Aug. 11). The 2023 season also includes a diverse line-up of conductors making their SPAC debuts, including Fabio Luisi (Aug. 2-3) for the opening two nights including the popular Festive Fireworks program, Enrico Lopez-Yañez (Aug. 4) to lead Pink Martini alongside the Orchestra, Roderick Cox (Aug. 9) in a performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, and Xian Zhang (Aug. 17) for Yo-Yo Ma Plays Dvořák.

SPAC also revealed its 2023 festival theme of EARTH would be integrated throughout the Orchestra’s residency, highlighted by Earth: An HD Odyssey (Aug. 18), featuring ravishing images of the planet on a large LED screen accompanied by Richard Strauss’ epic tone poem Also Sprach Zarathustra featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey and John ¬Adams’ exhilarating Short Ride in a Fast Machine. Continuing the theme, Yannick Nézet-Séguin will lead the Orchestra in the SPAC premiere of Pulitzer-Prize winning composer John Luther Adams’ Vespers of the Blessed Earth, alongside Stravinsky’s famed The Rite of Spring (Aug.12).  

The popular film nights will also return to delight audiences of all ages as the Orchestra accompanies, live to picture, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire™ in Concert (Aug. 5) and Jurassic Park in Concert (Aug. 19), celebrating the 30th anniversary of the film.                                                                                            

Tickets will be available beginning on Feb. 14 at 10 a.m. for members (tiered by level) and on Feb. 23 at 10 a.m. for the general public. For specific program dates and performances, visit spac.org for details. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Maple Avenue Musical Club recently completed a six-show presentation of The LIttle Mermaid The musical. 

The cast of 42 students started preparing in November for the 2-hour show, which is based on the popular Disney movie.

“This cast has worked so hard over the past several months to put together an outstanding show,” said Candace Calvin, MAMS director. “From vocals to costumes, props and sheer talent, we (were) so excited to share this performance with our community.”

The Maple Avenue Middle School Musical Club performs shows annually, including Shrek, Mary Poppins, Annie and more.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College will present the next event in its Dunkerley Dialogue series at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 16 and celebrate the exhibition Lauren Kelley: Location Scouting with a talk and a performance.

Artist Lauren Kelley will be in dialogue with Skidmore Theater Artist-in-Residence Teisha Duncan. Since fall 2021, Kelley has reimagined the Tang mezzanine as a community space for conversation, dialogue, study, and contemplation. In her work, Kelley combines meditations on travel with snapshots of everyday life through drawing, sculpture, and stop-motion animation videos. Kelley has also activated the space through collaborations with sculptor Margarita Cabrera and animator Jennifer Levonian. 

Kelley was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1975. Her work has been shown at the Studio Museum in Harlem; The Kitchen, New York; The New Museum; and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; among others. From 2017 to 2020 she served as Director and Chief Curator of the Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art and Storytelling in New York.

Duncan is an international actress, educator, and director from Xaymaca (Jamaica). Her sphere of interest and continual study includes storytelling, mask work and puppetry in rituals and performance, Caribbean theater, theater of Black Africa, pre-colonial African performance and post-colonial drama, and mythology in theater and Ancient Egypt. At Skidmore she is an Artist in Residence (Acting) in the Theater Department. 

A new collaboration begins this month with artist Autumn Knight, who will give a performance following the Dunkerley Dialogue of Nothing #12: tangy, in which the artist delivers a collaged text that uses sound, objects, and architecture to build a world around tangentially connected subject matter. 

Autumn Knight is a New York-based interdisciplinary artist working with performance, installation, video, and text. Knight’s video and performance work has been presented by various institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art and The Kitchen (NY). 

Dunkerley Dialogues pair Skidmore professors with artists in a conversation format, which is often a catalyst for new connections and understandings across disciplines and can spark new ideas for all participants. Dunkerley Dialogues are made possible by a generous gift from Michele Dunkerley ’80.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080 or tang@skidmore.edu, or visit https://tang.skidmore.edu. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — For two weekends, starting on Friday, Feb. 10, Home Made Theater will present The Lifespan of a Fact; written by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell, and Gordon Farrell, based on a book by John D’Agata and Jim Fingal.

Based on actual events, The Lifespan of a Fact is the story of Jim Fingal, a fresh-out-of-Harvard fact-checker for a prominent but sinking New York magazine. John D’Agata is a talented writer with a transcendent essay about the suicide of a teenage boy—an essay that could save the magazine from collapse. When Jim is assigned to fact check D’Agata’s essay, the two come head-to-head in a comedic yet gripping battle over facts versus truth.

The Director of The Lifespan of a Fact is Laurie Larson whose previous Home Made Theater directing credits include It’s a Wonderful Life, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, and 9-5: The Musical. 

All performances are at the Dee Sarno Theater, inside Saratoga Arts, 320 Broadway. Show time info and  tickets are available at Home Made Theater’s website, www.HomeMadeTheater.org, or by calling 518- 587-4427 during business hours.

HUDSON FALLS — They named themselves after a famous 17th-century axe murderess and released their self-titled debut album in 1978. 

Molly Hatchet, currently on a  world tour, will stage a show at The Strand in Hudson Falls on Friday, March 17. Opening act is southern rock Beatin’ The Odds.

Tickets are $65 balcony, $85 lower-level VIP. The Strand Theatre is located at 210 Main St., Hudson Falls. 

For more information, call the Strand Theatre Box Office at 518-832-3484, or visit: www.mystrandtheater.org. 

ALBANY — South Korean Blues Band Richiman And Groove Nive stage a show at The Linda on their American tour, along with The George Fletcher Blues Band. 

Richiman And Groove Nive are a blues band from South Korea, and a top 5 finalist at the 2022 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, marking the first time any Korean blues band reached the finals. Their latest release, a 4-song EP is titled “Memphis Special one take live.” 

The regionally known George Fletcher Blues Band will also perform.  The event takes place 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5 at The Linda WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio, 339 Central Ave., Albany.  Tickets are $15. Go to: thelinda.org. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College welcomes art-makers to the first Family Saturday of the new season, Family Saturday: Stained Glass Snowflakes, at 2 p.m. on Feb. 4.  

The program is suitable for children 5 and older accompanied by an adult. It begins with looking at photographs of snowflakes from the Tang collection by Wilson Alwyn “Snowflake” Bently. He is credited with being the first person to make detailed photographs of individual snowflakes. Participants will discuss the work and then create snowflakes using glitter-glue and other materials.

Family Saturdays aim to foster multigenerational creative cooperation through looking at artwork, discussing it, and engaging in a hands-on art-making activity. The program runs from 2 to 3:30 p.m. and is free and open to the public. 

No registration required; supplies provided on a first-come, first-served basis. In accordance with guidance from Saratoga County, the CDC, and Skidmore College, the program is mask optional, and participants are welcome to wear masks should they wish.

Family Saturdays continue Feb. 18; March 4; April 1, 15, 29; and May 13. Details will be announced later. For the most up-to-date information, visit the Tang website at https://tang.skidmore.edu or contact the Tang Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080.

SCHUYLERVILLE — Saratoga Clay Arts Center’s Schacht Gallery presents Abstract/Organic, a duo exhibition showcasing two contrasting sensibilities in clay – exquisite abstract vessels by Chip McKenney (FL) and expressive organic sculptures by Cheryl Horning (Greenwich). 

Abstract/Organic will run Feb. 11 – March 18, with an opening reception on Saturday, Feb. 11, from 5-7 p.m. Light refreshments will be served. Admission is free.

While their work is very different, McKenney and Horning were paired together for this duo exhibition because of their unique interpretations of abstraction in clay. Additionally, they were both educated at Skidmore College and were former students of Regis Brodie, who was a tenured professor of Art at the Department of Art and Art History at Skidmore College for more than 30 years. 

In this exhibition of sculpture and vessels, each artist abstracts reality, paring it down to the essentials. 

Founded in 2010 by clay artist and educator Jill Kovachick, Saratoga Clay Arts Center is a ceramic art center located just a few miles outside of Saratoga Springs in Schuylerville, offering wheel throwing and hand building clay classes for youth and adults, studio space and residencies for artists, and exhibitions featuring emerging, mid-career and established clay artists. 

The Schacht Gallery is open daily from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. and by appointment and is located at 167 Hayes Road. Visit www.saratogaclayarts.org  call 518-581-2529 or email info@saratogaclayarts.org for more information.