Displaying items by tag: SPAC

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) announced its 2019 lineup which features the summertime return of the New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

The New York City Ballet residency (July 16 – 20) once again features four distinct programs including the story ballet Coppélia, which was premiered at SPAC, an evening dedicated to Balanchine and Tschaikovsky, and a program showcasing four SPAC Premieres by 21st century choreographers, highlighted by Kyle Abraham’s The Runaway, which fuses modern and classical technique and an eclectic soundtrack mixing composer Nico Muhly, singer James Blake, and hip-hop artists Jay-Z and Kanye West. The annual New York City Ballet Gala, on Saturday, July 20, will showcase George Balanchine’s Apollo, Christopher Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth and a new piece by NYCB Resident Choreographer and Soloist Justin Peck.

New York City Ballet - Tschaikovsky and Balanchine - Tuesday, July 16 at 8 p.m. and Thursday, July 18 at 2 p.m..; SPAC Premieres by 21st Century Choreographers - Wednesday, July 17 at 8 p.m.; Coppélia - Thursday, July 18 at 8 p.m., Friday, July 19 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, July 20 at 2 p.m.

SPAC’s NYC Ballet Gala - Saturday, July 20 at 8 p.m. The finale to New York City Ballet’s 2019 residency will be highlighted by Balanchine's first collaboration with Stravinsky and one of his earliest international successes, Apollo. Also: This Bitter Earth (Richter, Otis/Wheeldon) and Justin Peck’s new work – his fourth collaboration with Oscar-nominated composer Sufjan Stevens. 

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s three-week residency (July 31 – Aug. 17) will be highlighted by 19 SPAC premieres. Back by popular demand will be SPAC’s “Cinema Series,” as the orchestra accompanies, live to picture, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Concert (Aug. 3); Disney Pixar’s Up in Concert (Aug. 10) and Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights in Concert (Aug. 14). The season will, once again, showcase two weeks under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra and of The Metropolitan Opera. Nézet-Séguin will conduct the closing night performance of Mozart’s Requiem.

The Orchestra’s 2019 season will also feature a line-up of acclaimed and emerging artists appearing at SPAC for the first time. Performing with The Philadelphia Orchestra is Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (Aug. 15) and classical pianist Christian Blackshaw (Aug. 17); making their SPAC debuts in 2019 are young, virtuosic pianists Janice Carissa (Aug. 2) and Jan Lisiecki (Aug. 16), Peruvian conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya (Aug. 9), and the dancers of PHILADANCO (July 31) in The Philadelphia Orchestra’s opening night performance.

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returns, from Aug. 4-20, with a roster of internationally celebrated artists at the Spa Little Theatre featuring 23 works performed by CMS at SPAC for the first time. In addition to performances by David Finckel and Wu Han, co-artistic directors of CMS in residency for all three weekends, audiences can look forward to the return of the Escher Quartet, plus debut appearances by Chinese violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, British flutist Adam Walker, Bulgarian violinist Bella Hristova and renowned American cellist Keith Robinson.

Tickets available online at www.spac.org starting 10 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 14 to SPAC members and Thursday, Jan. 29 to the general public.

NYC Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra – (Matinee Performances) Front Orchestra: $53.00 - $63.00; Rear Orchestra: $43.00 - $53.00; Balcony: $28.00 - $63.00; Lawn: $18.00. (Evening Performances) Front Orchestra: $63.00 - $113.00; Rear Orchestra: $43.00 - $83.00; Balcony: $33.00 - $103.00; Lawn: $29.00 - $34.00. (NYC Ballet Gala) Front Orchestra: $98.00 - $128.00; Rear Orchestra: $68.00 - $98.00; Balcony: $58.00 - $108.00; Lawn: $58.00.        

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center – (Center Orchestra, Center Balcony: $53.00; Side Orchestra, Side Balcony: $48.00.

Children ages 15 and under are free on the lawn (excluding NYCB Gala & American Girl Night). Children 15 and under are $20 in the amphitheater. Individuals 29 and under are $29 in the amphitheater (day of show only); SPAC members receive a 15% discount on tickets purchased before the day of the show.

For more information, go to: SPAC.org.

Published in Entertainment
Friday, 21 September 2018 15:37

Ringo in Saratoga

“They're gonna put me in the movies... They're gonna make a big star out of me…”

SARATOGA SPRINGS –   Fifty-three years to the day since the Beatles recorded a live performance of their song “Act Naturally” on the Ed Sullivan show, Ringo Starr revisited the tune at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center during an appearance with his All Starr (sic) Band. 

The two-hour-long, 24-song set was evenly split between a dozen Ringo-led tunes, and three songs apiece performed by each of the four main other players of the ensemble.

Ringo assumed vocal duties on songs once performed, if not written by The Beatles, including: Carl Perkins’ “Matchbox,” “Boys” – popularized by The Shirelles, and the previously mentioned “Act Naturally” - a tune originally recorded by Buck Owens.

From The Beatles canon, Ringo tinkled some on the keyboards and sang “Don’t Pass Me By” and took mic in hand at center stage for “With A Little Help From My Friends,”  “What Goes On” – which he introduced as “the only song written by Lennon, McCartney and Starkey,” and “I Wanna Be Your Man” – which in 1963 the Beatles wrote for, and gave to, the Rolling Stones.  Perhaps the night’s greatest joy was delivered in a full theater sing-a-long of “Yellow Submarine.”

Starr, with a little help from his friends, returned to the venue for the first time since August 1989. At that time, his All Stars Band consisted of Joe Walsh, The Band’s Levon Helm and Rick Danko, Dr. John, Billy Preston, and Clarence Clemons and Nils Lofgren, who were on hiatus from Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band. 

This time around, the ensemble featured prolific studio musician and Toto guitarist Steve Luthaker who led a performance of that group’s hits “Rosanna,” “Africa,” and “Hold the Line.” Guitarist Colin Hay revisited his time with the band Men at Work, singing “Who Can It Be Now,” “Down Under,” and “Overkill.” Original Santana keyboard player and vocalist r Gregg Rolie revisited the songs “Evil Ways,” “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen,” and “Oye Como Va,” and 10cc songwriter Graham Gouldman added “I’m Not in Love,” “Dreadlock Holiday,” and “The Things We Do for Love.”

Starr, when he wasn’t at the lead mic at center stage, played drums throughout, aided by a second percussionist. Culling a quartet of ditties from his solo albums, Ringo revisited “It Don't Come Easy,” “You're Sixteen,” “Photograph,” and “Anthem” – the latter signifying one of the evening’s few tracks, if not the only one, written in the current century.

Looking decades younger than his 78 years, the one-time Beatles drummer sported a colorful off-center screen T-shirt depicting a face reminiscent of Nina Hagen, a black blazer and jeans and pyramid-studded belt, a slew of bangles on his right wrist, a timepiece on his left and a gold “Peace” symbol around his neck.   

Published in Entertainment

SARATOGA SPRINGS – As an artist, Amy Lee is restless, as all artists with anything worth saying must be: searching; growing and endlessly re-defining.

“Challenges,” she says. “Pushing myself to the next place. At this point in my career, the challenges are the fun parts.”

Seeking a different path led the lead singer and co-founder Evanescence, perhaps surprisingly, down a road previously traveled. Once there, she discovered secret passageways with untainted, offshoot roads that pointed to some new place. She named this synergy between past and present “Synthesis.” An album was released last November and the summer leg of the tour - which features co-headliner Lindsey Stirling – will play the big stage at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 28.

The show includes the added dimension of a full orchestra – an orchestra not touring with the band mind you, but rather, a different orchestra with an entirely new set of musicians on each night who will perform with the band.

“It makes for a very high-energy, tightrope-like feeling and in a very beautiful way different every time,” Lee says. “It creates these very raw, vulnerable and quiet moments where you have to just be so comfortable in your own skin that you totally focus and make beautiful music. That’s what makes it so exciting to me, to do something so different.”

The band first meets the orchestra on the day of the show during soundcheck where they’’ll run through parts of three or four songs then collectively perform live together for the first time in front of a live audience. Some live collaboration between Lee and Stirling during each of their respective sets is anticipated as well. Setlists from the early part of the tour indicate songs that span the band’s career from 2003 to 2018, as well as an occasional nod to the Beatles “(Across the Universe”) and Ozzy Osbourne (“Alive”).

As nerve-wracking and exciting as staging a performance in front of a live audience for the first-time may be, Lee says the addition of an orchestra creates “an electronic, awesome, cool different world.” Allowing her imagination to run free, Lee says she can envision some of her own favorite bands doing likewise.

 “I think it would be really good to see the Smashing Pumpkins do that. That would lend itself to it very well. And Portishead - Oh, that would be incredible! I’ve always gotten a lot of inspiration from Bjork and if I could go see the way she did “Vespertine” back in the day (2001) – it was sort of in this realm between the electronic elements and the orchestra.”  

Evanescence formed in the mid-1990s and released their debut album “Fallen” in 2003. Commercial success was immediate; the album topped the charts in more than 10 countries and sold more than 17 million copies worldwide. Lee, the group’s sole original member in the band’s current incarnation, was tagged as a goth-metal superstar in Victorian dress.

“After our first album, ‘Fallen,’ I felt a serious urge to push us forward and show other sides. It was good, but it was just this bud, this beginning picture of all that I wanted to express and all that I am. It became important to show something else. I always want to keep that open, to try new things,” she says. “To the degree that ‘Fallen’ was so huge, I felt almost frustrated that no matter what I did there’s a mass of people that are going to see me in just that one, simple, first way.”

Over the course of the band’s career, the business of music and concerts has drastically changed. Lee has changed with it.  

“We used to have lighters that we’d hold up in the audience, which was so beautifully romantic and sweet. Then people got cell phone with those lights which are so much brighter. I remember when that first started to be a thing, every artist was complaining, ‘Ah, they’re like zombies, they’re not even paying attention to the live show,” she recalls.

“We always want people to live in the moment, to live in the show, but I do take it as a sort of compliment: that they want to capture it, they want to remember it, they want to live it again. At the same time, we have this moment during special shows where we’ll have this… moment. One person with a cell phone and their light does it, then somebody next to them does it, then more and more and more and they all light up to make like these… glowing souls. Just this sea of light. It’s hard to explain, but you feel the magnitude as if in that moment every person is represented; everybody gets into it and it just chokes me up. Every time.”

Over the past 15 years, Lee expanded her collaborative circle to include recordings with Seether and Korn; she sang “Halfway Down the Stairs” – a song based on the lyrics of an A.A. Milne poem - for a cover album of Muppets songs in 2011, and one year later performed Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” for a Johnny Cash tribute album. In 2018, there are a multitude of creative reaches. “We’re just stripping all of my comfort zones away,” she says.

With “Synthesis,” Lee is re-imagining the band’s musical canon by collecting the shards of a melody once gifted from some ethereal place, disassembling its pieces, and then welding them with a new flame into a new composite.  

“There are parts of these songs (on ‘Synthesis’), particularly the ones I chose, where there was something about them that stood out to me, or that I wanted to push more. There was a stripping away involved and rebuilding for sure, but it’s all stemming from stuff that was all in there, underneath,” Lee explains.

“‘Never Go Back,’ for example - our first song on this album - is a very classically minded song, which is funny because production-wise it’s this heavy rock song with swatches of metal. But, it’s so related. If you think about the instrumentation and the production of music, I feel there are so many similarities between heavy, metal music and the shredders of the classical age. I mean, you could Bach up against Pantera and find total similarities,” she says with a laugh.

“I’m not saying we’re Pantera, or Bach – nothing like! But there was always this part, this big, epic beautiful bridge in ‘Never Go Back,’ that in this version now starts off the song that to me was channeling some big, classical epic drama. I wanted to experiment with taking that all the way in the other direction, seeing what it sounded like and being able to let it live in that world where it was partially born in the first place. The whole (‘Synthesis”) is kind of like that, taking things and going: here’s the other side of it that maybe you didn’t notice.”

The idea for “Synthesis” was born after Lee sat down and revisited the band’s musical history in advance of the release of a comprehensive Evanescence box set.

“I realized how proud I am of everything that we’ve done. Instead of thinking that I have to keep pushing in new directions to show everybody how different we can be, I kind of fell in love with all of it and wanted to spend a little bit of time embracing all that we are,” Lee says. “Instead of feeling that my favorite parts are the parts that I’m running from, I can go back and pour more love into who I already am. I have a new perspective on what Evanescence is and it means something to me that’s just full of love in all directions. So, I feel that’s been a beautiful turn in my heart more recently. And I don’t know what the future sound will be, but I do know it will be out of love.”

Evanescence and Lindsey Stirling will perform at SPAC on Saturday, July 28.

Published in Entertainment

THE RAIN FALLS in Los Angeles, on average, once every 10 days. And despite this being one of those days, Lindsey Stirling is undaunted.

The musician, composer, dancer, performer, author, and YouTube Superstar is in the City of Angels in preparation of a two-month-long trek across America which kicks off July 6 in Kansas City, Missouri and lands at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 28. Also appearing are co-headliners Evanescence. This will be no ordinary tour.  

“We’re trying to create something that’s brand new, and the only time people will be able to experience it, is during the show,” Stirling says.

She plans on delivering everything her fans are accustomed to seeing her provide - dancing and singing and the playing of music, often simultaneously – as well as injecting some moments of spontaneity that involve Evanescence. “You have two very unique artists who have very different shows but are very similar as well. That’s why I think it’s a perfect pairing. At points during the show there will also be some collaboration. There’s going to be a lot of creativity and It’s going to be really cool.”

Stirling’s self-titled debut album was released in 2012 and followed by “Shatter Me” two years later. “Brace Enough,” her third album, was issued in 2016 – a year which also saw the publication of her memoir “The Only Pirate at the Party.” An album of Christmas songs was released late last year. Exhibiting a variety of talents, Stirling recently lent her likeness to a new comic book series called “Sparrow,” has competed on the TV shows “America's Got Talent” and "Dancing with the Stars," and counts more than 10 million subscribers on YouTube.

This summer’s journey has her sharing equal billing with her musical heroes. “It’s really big for me: getting to go on tour with them and every night sharing the stage. It might sound like a cop-out, but Amy Lee and Evanescence were huge heroes of mine growing up. I had a poster of them on my wall. I remember sitting in my parents’ car the first time I heard ‘My Immortal.’ I remember being so touched by her voice, and how they combined an edgy sound with this beautiful soaring melody. As a young teenager I really think that was a huge inspiration to me and kind of the reason I wanted to make my own music,” Stirling says.

“When I started writing my own music, I took a page out of their book. I was doing dubstep and I thought: OK, how can I make this really edgy electronic music meld with my classical background? And so, a huge inspiration to me was Evanescence,” says the classically trained violinist, who grew up in Arizona.

“I had played classical my whole life – I played since I was six – and everything I played pretty much was on a white piece of paper with black notes. I was taught how to play it and how to articulate it. It was the same music that had been played for hundreds of years on an instrument that was hundreds of years old, and I was playing it the way it had been played for hundreds of years. I just got burned out,” Stirling explains. “I thrive on creativity and so I think I had just gotten bored. So that’s why I strayed from classical. I thought to myself: I’m not going to quit, I just need to re-find my passion, play the kind of music that excites me, the kind of music that I love. That’s why I started playing in rock bands and adding classical elements - not taking away from classical, but just adding my own vision to dubstep and pop and rock. It made it come alive for me. “

Making a leap from the classical world was not without judgmental repercussions.

“There are haters out there, for sure, and they’re very loud sometimes, but there are way more people that are appreciative, loving and kind to me and my art,” she says. “With the negative comments, I have to remind myself why I’m doing this. I like to tell stories, I like to make videos, I like to perform. I’m not going to be the best classical violinist in the world. I’m a violinist who gets to do what they love, share it with a lot of people and make them smile. I’m much happier doing that. “

Stirling’s memoir, which was published in 2016, has been largely hailed as an inspirational journey demonstrating her persistence, her humor, and as an inspirational tale, openly taking about her own struggles with anorexia - a life-threatening disorder due to the effects of weight loss and starvation on the body and brain.

“It wasn’t an easy struggle,” Stirling says. “I’ve been in recovery now for several years and it’s something that I know – the same way that anyone who has had an addiction knows – there’s always that tinge in the back of your mind. Most of the time I’m unaware of it. Occasionally it will come forward and remind me it’s there and would like to come forward again, and I’m like: ‘No. You’re not allowed to be a part of my life.’ I have the tools necessary now and I know how to use them to say: No. Just go away. I’m very happy where I’ve gotten to now, and I’m doing really well in that area.”

She says she shares her story with people to help provide a message that as difficult as things may appear in the moment of struggle, recovery is possible.

Not surprisingly, Stirling says getting involved in the field of motivational speaking and creating “a brand of positivity” is one of her future goals.

“I will write a Broadway musical at some point. And I’m also going to have a Vegas show,” Stirling says. “As for right now, I’m really trying to get into motivational speaking. I feel like that’s my next calling in life. I want to go out and share my message in a very upfront way and through that I want to raise dollars for charity. Those are my big 10-year plans.”    

  

Published in Entertainment
Monday, 23 April 2018 10:59

Janet Jackson at SPAC July 26

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Janet Jackson brings her “State Of The World Tour” to the Spa City on July 26 when she stages a concert at Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

Tickets, which range from $29.95 - $179. 95 go on sale Friday morning online at LiveNation.com, Ticketmaster.com or Charge By Phone at 1-800-745-3000.

Published in Entertainment
Friday, 13 April 2018 10:19

Changing Times, Changing Tactics

They crept down the hallway, two abreast, draped in their flak jackets and helmets and with weapons drawn.

A dispatcher’s voice crackled over the radio: “loading dock, amphitheater, for an individual armed with a handgun.”

City Police, State Police, State Park Police and members of the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Department gathered this week at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center to practice responding to terror scenarios involving an active shooter.

“It’s reality based and we try to do this as realistically as possible,” said State Park Police Lt. Donald Benware, as the officers took turns walking through the theater’s backstage area, confronting a “shooter,” and exchanging a volley of simulated rounds.

“We try to put the officers at a higher stress level (in the training). Let’s face it, we’re all human beings. Your blood pressure is going to go up. Get the adrenaline level up so they can feel that adrenaline rush and make sound decisions,” Benware said. “Also, it’s very important be able to come down off that. After an incident happens, they may be moved to another location and they need to be able to bring that heart rate down, bring their decision-making skills back into a more focused ability.”

One benefit of involving multiple agencies in the scenarios is that it builds a familiarity between law enforcement officials who don’t normally work alongside with one another. “Doing this type of training, we all get to see different faces and know different people and how they react in situations, so you have a little bit of a confidence, a little bit of an edge in a worse-case scenario if you have to respond to something like this,” Benware said.

Over the past 50 years, incidents have prompted law enforcement agencies to re-think their roles in response. In the 1960s, police departments began building special teams in reaction to terror-based incidents. The city of Los Angeles led the way with their Special Weapons and Tactics unit, or SWAT. But, the police response to active shooter incidents began to change following the Columbine High School massacre of 1999. Police showed up almost immediately after the shooting began, but waited for SWAT officers, who didn’t enter the school until much later. Police departments today focus more on stopping the shooter as quickly as possible, rather than waiting for SWAT teams to arrive, according to the 2014 report “Critical Issues In Policing Series,” published by Police Executive Research Forum.

Since that time, names like Columbine and Sandy Hook, Parkland and Virginia Tech became part of the sad map in American consciousness.

Last month, Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo announced he has a team of four deputies assigned to schools throughout the county who patrol during the day shift as well as the afternoon shift, and periodically conduct a school walk-thru to interact with students and school staff. While notable incidents have occurred in schools, some of the deadliest single day mass shootings in U.S. history have recently occurred where large gatherings of people come together: 49 people were killed and more than 50 injured inside an Orlando nightclub in 2016, and last October 58 people were killed and nearly 500 injured when a 64-year-old man opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 concertgoers in Las Vegas.

“We pull scenarios right out of the headlines,” explained Saratoga Springs Police Department Lt. Shane Crooks. “We look at different incidents that happen around the country and the world and we take those and fit them into a situation with the area that we have here. Any place you have a large gathering increases your risk of an attack. And this multi-force reality-based training here - we’re training where an incident could occur,” he said.

“The four agencies represented here today are the ones who will be here if something happens. By doing this type of training, we are preparing. We’ll have a better response, we’ll handle the situation better and keep everything safer,” Crooks said. “Every officer here is also learning the layout of SPAC, the grounds and the amphitheater itself, so if they do have to respond to a call, they’ll have that knowledge ahead of time.”  

“This is in our jurisdiction. This is our home and our responsibility. That’s why we’re choosing this venue,” Benware added.  

“We did have an incident back in the ‘70s in Saratoga Springs, at St. Peter’s. So, it can happen,” said Crooks, noting a December 1975 incident when a 32-year-old man recently discharged from the U.S. Navy aimed his .22-cal. handgun out his second-floor apartment window and fired four shots into St. Peter’s Elementary School playground. Two 7-year-old girls were injured.

“Every time something happens we re-evaluate our training, we change our tactics to prepare our officers to better respond to an incident,” Crooks said. “We want to respond as quickly as possible and we train the officers that we need to have a fast response to eliminate the threat.”

Published in News
Monday, 26 March 2018 10:50

City Hits World Stage as Arts Destination

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Health, history, horses. And The Arts.

With the awarding of a $14,000 economic development grant this week, the city took the first step to promote Saratoga Springs as a worldwide destination for arts and culture. Finance Commissioner Michele Madigan calls it “having some skin in the game.” And that game has proven to bring in a notable return on the investment in other communities.

“Saratoga Springs is a fabulous brand. We’re over 100 years old and so is ‘health, history and horses.’ These are strong brands that you don’t want to get away from, but we need to add to it with arts and culture,” Madigan says.  

The funds will support the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in the hiring of a public relations firm to promote the city as a thriving arts community to journalists and media beyond the Capital Region. The goal is to showcase all of Saratoga as a cultural hot-spot and entice visitors to journey to the region.

“Cultural tourism – the cultural tourist spends 60 percent more when they go someplace than the average leisure tourist does. Sixty percent more. We want culture to be an economic driver here the same way the track is, and there’s no reason why it can’t be that, and a lot more,” says Elizabeth Sobol, president and CEO of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

“I know there are many, many people out there looking for a place like Saratoga as their summer or winter destination who would just be up here all the time, if they just knew what was here,” Sobol says. “This is one of the most incredible places in the world for someone who cares about the arts and literature and green space. I go back to the perfect confluence of nature and art, man-made beauty and natural beauty, there’s nothing like this in all of North America. “

From Caffe Lena to SPAC, the Tang Museum, Yaddo, the future home of the Universal Preservation Hall and other amenities, the community has much to offer, Sobol says. “All this art just one beautiful trip up the Hudson River from Manhattan. That’s a big selling point to New Yorkers who want to get out of town.”

Commissioner Madigan says she sees the awarding of the funds as one piece of a larger plan. “When you think Saratoga Springs, what do most people think of? They think horses. And that’s great, but we also really want to attract the cultural tourist by putting the arts and culture focus on that same level as horses,” Madigan says. “Right now. I see this as first step. I have a bigger vision where we start getting stakeholders and key members of the community in a room to talk about who we are as a region, to start coming together as a whole as an arts and culture community and to market ourselves that way, to add to the health, history and horses brand. The Berkshires know who they are. Tanglewood is well marketed as a global venue. From a global, international tourist destination, we don’t really know who we are when it comes to arts and culture.”

Recently, the local arts took a hit with the announcement of the cancellation of the annual Hats Off and Final Stretch music festivals. And promoting the arts in Saratoga Springs is not always an easy thing.

Saratoga Springs resident Robert Millis first launched the American Music Festival in Lake George in September 2014. Facilitated through his 398 Group – which stresses the arts as a driver of economic development and community building – the idea was to bring thousands of people into the community and extend the tourist season. Lake George is located in Warren County and financial support for the festival was provided via monies collected in the North Country for the tax on the rental of rooms. It proved to be a success.

This summer, the festival – which has featured performers such as Blue Öyster Cult, New Riders of the Purple Sage and Sawyer Fredericks in the past – returns for its two-day stint, and based on the success of the music-as-economic development initiative, the village and town of Lake George have contributed $45,000 in grant funding via the “bed tax” to Millis’ group.

“Their philosophy is bed tax funds events, which in turn feeds the bed tax,” Millis says. The village of Lake George is providing funding for a couple of events. “It’s a big boost,” said village Mayor Robert Blais. “It’s helped us to extend the season.”

Like other Warren County municipalities, the village of Lake George and the town of Lake George each receive $30,000 annually to promote special events in their communities with the idea of bringing in people that will spend money in local businesses and stay at local hotels, says Blais, who also serves as chairman of joint village and town occupancy tax committee. And the return on the investment has been strong. After the events take place, receipts and taxes received are then distributed back to the communities in addition to the $30,000 flat fee to promote a new cycle of events. In the village of Lake George that return was about $185,000, Blais said; the town of Lake George received approximately $240,000.

Millis’ attempts to create a two-day music-based festival in his Saratoga hometown has proven to be more difficult. The proposed event and conference would be designed to help boost tourism and build a music ecosystem to enhance the local scene. “I’ve been floating that idea in Saratoga a for over a year, but nobody has jumped on board with me,” Millis says.

“Our (bed tax) money has already been sliced and diced and it happened long before I got here, but it’s an interesting concept,” Madigan says. “Our occupancy tax right now is split. We only get one percent. Two percent from occupancy tax goes to the City Center and two percent goes to convention and tourism. It goes directly to them. We get less than City Center and convention and tourism. The city gets $600,000, they’re getting $1.2 million each. So, I’m trying to get them on board with helping with the arts. Look, the city’s got some skin in the game so let’s get the chamber and convention and tourism also involved.

“To me, the arts is a huge part of economic development,” Madigan explained. “It’s untapped. This I think is economic development, under the guise of arts and culture. This is a first step. I look forward to coming forward with additional recommendations to support economic development and arts and culture as an aspect of that. “

Published in News
Friday, 23 March 2018 13:22

Ringo at SPAC in September

Paris, France. Hamburg, Germany. Barcelona, Spain. Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Ringo Starr and his All-Star Band embark on a four-month international tour in early June that will stage a show at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Sept. 14.

The revamped All-Star Band includes Colin Hay - of Men at Work, Graham Gouldman – of 10cc, one-time Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, Santana/Journey keyboardist Gregg Rollie, drummer Gregg Bissonette and sax/flute/percussionist Warren Ham.

Published in Entertainment

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Trinity Irish Dance Company will bring its percussive movements and innovative choreography to Saratoga for its first-ever appearance at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 30

Founded in 1990, Trinity Irish Dance Company was the birthplace of progressive Irish dance, which opened new avenues of artistic expression leading directly to commercial productions such as Riverdance.

SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol said, in a statement, the company’s aerial grace and awe-inspiring precision sets up for a performance “unlike anything that’s ever been seen on the SPAC stage.”

A high-energy, professionally choreographed performance by 80 local children participating in The Performance Project: Youth in Motion, will immediately precede the Trinity Irish Dance Company’s act, at 7:15 p.m.

Tickets for the amphitheater-only performance are $27, $37 and $57, and go on sale to the public via spac.org. at 10 a.m. on Monday, March 26.

Published in Entertainment
Friday, 02 February 2018 12:54

SPAC Announces Summer of 2018 Season

 

SARATOGA SPRINGS - The Saratoga Performing Arts Center will welcome home resident companies -- New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center -- and bring the National Ballet of Cuba for its first-ever Capital Region appearance in a vibrant, eclectic 2018 line-up that integrates great works of the classical repertoire with artist debuts and SPAC premieres. 

The National Ballet of Cuba kicks off the season with three performances of Alicia Alonso’s Giselle on June 6, 7 and 8.

The New York City Ballet summer residency – from July 17 – 21 - features four distinct programs including NYCB’s production of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” an all-Balanchine evening, and a program showcasing four SPAC Premieres by 21st century choreographers - NYCB Resident Choreographer and Soloist Justin Peck, NYCB Principal Dancer Lauren Lovette and NYCB’s youngest choreographer, Gianna Reisen, among them. The annual New York City Ballet Gala, takes place Saturday, July 21 and will celebrate the centennial of the birth of both Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein, with a special Gala program dedicated to their works.

 “The interplay of tradition and innovation this summer is remarkable, with each program offering a completely unique experience for our audiences,” said SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol, in a statement.  

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s three-week residency, from Aug. 1 – 18, will showcase two weeks under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin, who holds dual roles as music director of The Philadelphia Orchestra and music director designate of The Metropolitan Opera; three new Thursday matinees -- including an afternoon of “Symphonic Shakespeare” led by Philadelphia Orchestra Principal Guest Conductor Stéphane Denève; and a new “Cinema Saturdays @ SPAC” all-ages series with the Orchestra accompanying the blockbuster movies “Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope,” and “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.” A finale features a 20th anniversary screening of the film “The Red Violin,” projected alongside Joshua Bell, the original artist on the movie’s soundtrack.

Making their Philadelphia Orchestra and SPAC debuts are the Dutch “Piano Brothers” Lucas And Arthur Jussen and Canadian pianist Serhiy Salov; also making her SPAC debut is young, dynamic violinist Jennifer Koh in Bernstein’s Serenade. As part of the Orchestra’s finale weekend, superstar violinist Joshua Bell will appear with Yannick Nézet-Séguin in Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1. 

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returns with a roster of internationally celebrated artists Aug. 5 – 21. Six programs at the Spa Little Theatre include “An Afternoon in Vienna,” and “An Evening in Prague.” 

NATIONAL BALLET OF CUBA: JUNE 6 – 8.

June 6 @ 8PM – Giselle

Giselle                                                               (Adam/Alonso)   based on Coralli and Perrot

June 7 @ 2PM – Giselle

Giselle                                                               (Adam/Alonso)   based on Coralli and Perrot

June 8 @ 8PM – Giselle

Giselle                                                               (Adam/Alonso)   based on Coralli and Perrot

Director of the National Ballet of Cuba and one of the most important personalities in the history of dance, Alicia Alonso is the leading figure of classical ballet in the Ibero-American sphere. Alonso's deeply humanistic interpretation of Giselle is considered the epitome of the romantic ballet tradition. Taking a French masterpiece based on a German poem, once best known through Russian interpretations, Alonso’s spectacularly re-created Giselle now defines the classic work.

Based on a fairy tale about a peasant girl who falls in love with a dashing prince disguised as a commoner, Giselle follows its heroine through a haunting story of betrayal, heartbreak, forgiveness and redemption. The title role of Giselle has been called “the ballerina’s Hamlet” and is regarded as one of the most difficult in ballet due to the intensely dramatic nature of the role as well as the physical stamina required to dance the lead throughout the full-length production. 

NEW YORK CITY BALLET: JULY 17 - 21

JULY 17 @ 8PM – All Balanchine

Square Dance                                                  (Vivaldi, Corelli/Balanchine)                       

The Four Temperaments                              (Hindemith/Balanchine)                

Symphony in C                                                (Bizet/Balanchine)

JULY 18 @ 8PM – All Balanchine

Square Dance                                                  (Vivaldi, Corelli/Balanchine)                       

The Four Temperaments                              (Hindemith/Balanchine)                

Symphony in C                                                (Bizet/Balanchine)

Known for his love of all things American, Balanchine joined the traditions of American folk dance with classical ballet in his work SQUARE DANCE.  Highlighting the dance forms’ common roots and similar regard for orderliness, the work is set to music from 17th-century Italian composers Antonio Vivaldi and Arcangelo Corelli.

Featuring a Balanchine-commissioned score by Paul Hindemith, THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS is classically grounded but with definitively modern movement.  Performed at the first night of NYCB’s predecessor, Ballet Society, on November 20, 1946, The Four Temperaments had its NYCB premiere on October 25, 1948. 

Originally created for the Paris Opera Ballet, Balanchine’s SYMPHONY IN C sparkles with over 50 dancers in costumes covered in Swarovski elements featuring a spectacular finale with the full cast onstage. In 2012 Symphony in C returned to the NYCB repertory in a major revival with new costumes designed by Marc Happel, NYCB’s Director of Costumes, and lighting designed by Mark Stanley.

                                                            

JULY 19 @ 2PM – Romeo + Juliet

Romeo + Juliet                                                (Prokofiev/Martins)

In defiance of its tragic ending, Shakespeare’s ROMEO + JULIET remains the greatest romance of all time, demonstrating the power of love in its many forms. NYCB’s staging of this eternal classic, set to Prokofiev’s glorious accompaniment, features choreography by Peter Martins, sets and costumes by Danish artist Per Kirkeby, and lighting by Mark Stanley.

              

JULY 19 @ 8PM – SPAC Premieres: 21st Century Choreographers

New Peck (Spring 2018)                                (Bernstein/Peck)

Composer’s Holiday                                       (Foss/Reisen)

Not Our Fate                                                   (Nyman/Lovette)                                          

Pulcinella Variations                                     (Stravinsky/Peck)

GIANNA REISEN’S COMPOSER’S HOLIDAY premiered on NYCB’s stage at the Company’s 2017 Fall Gala making her – at age 18 – the youngest choreographer to create a piece for the Company’s storied repertory.  Reisen is a former student of the School of American Ballet and current apprentice with Dresden Semperoper Ballet, in Dresden Germany.

NYCB Principal Dancer LAUREN LOVETTE will showcase her most recent NYCB work NOT OUR FATE (Fall 2017 World Premiere) for its SPAC Premiere.  Her second creation for NYCB, the work features ten dancers and is set to three movements from composer Michael Nyman’s concert suite of music from his soundtrack for the Peter Greenaway film Prospero’s Brooks.

NYCB Resident Choreographer and Soloist JUSTIN PECK brings two works for their SPAC Premieres as part of the 21st Century Choreographers program.  Peck’s PULCINELLA VARIATIONS (Fall 2017 World Premiere) is set to music by Stravinsky with costumes by fashion designer Tsumori Chisato and lighting by Mark Stanley. His forthcoming work for NYCB, which will to premiere at the NYCB’s 2018 Spring Gala, is inspired by Jerome Robbins and set to a Bernstein score.

JULY 20 @ 8PM – Romeo + Juliet

Romeo + Juliet                                                (Prokofiev/Martins)

JULY 21 @ 2PM – Romeo + Juliet

Romeo + Juliet                                                (Prokofiev/Martins)

JULY 21 @ 8PM – GALA: Robbins/Bernstein Centennial

Four Seasons                                                   (Verdi/Robbins) 

New Peck (Spring 2018)                                (Bernstein/Peck)

Other Dances                                                  (Chopin/Robbins)

Robbins Tribute, Title TBA                           CREDITS TBA

SPAC’s New York City Ballet Gala will honor the centennial celebration of the birth of both Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein.  The evening will feature two of Robbins’ own celebrated works, as well as Justin Peck’s Spring 2018 ballet, inspired by Robbins and set to a Bernstein score.  The centerpiece of the summer soirée will be the finale performance and SPAC Premiere of a new piece directed by Tony Award-winning choreographer and director Warren Carlyle, which will celebrate the Broadway choreography of Jerome Robbins and have its World Premiere at NYCB’s 2018 Spring Gala.

Set to Giuseppe Verdi’s vibrant melodies, Jerome Robbins’ 1979 work THE FOUR SEASONS, translates the seasons into frosty flirtation, springtime awakening, sultry revelry, and autumnal bacchanal.

Jerome Robbins was a great admirer of the Russian stars Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov, who each famously defected and made new careers in America. OTHER DANCES, a pas de deux created in 1976 for a New York Public Library for the Performing Arts benefit, was specifically crafted to display their legendary technique and artistry. Robbins chose four mazurkas and one waltz by Chopin, the composer whose piano music had inspired him for Dances at a Gathering. Other Dances, through its simplicity and virtuosity, pays homage to both Chopin’s Romanticism and the fluidity of classical ballet technique.

SPAC’s New York City Ballet Gala will conclude with the SPAC Premiere of WARREN CARLYLE’s TITLE TBD, which pays tribute to the legendary Broadway career of NYCB’s co-founding choreographer Jerome Robbins.  The ballet, set to have its World Premiere at NYCB’s 2018 Spring Gala performance on Thursday, May 3, will feature 30 NYCB dancers in a showcase of music and choreography from landmark Broadway musicals that Robbins was closely associated with during his storied career.  Featuring excerpts of Robbins’ original choreography, with staging and direction by Carlyle, the ballet will be set to music and lyrics from iconic scores written during Broadway’s golden age by such artists as Leonard Bernstein, Jerry Bock, Betty Comden, Morton Gould, Adolph Green, Sheldon Harnick, Oscar Hammerstein II, Bob Merrill, Stephen Sondheim, Jule Styne, and Richard Rodgers.  In addition to Carlyle, the creative team for the ballet will be comprised of a number of award-winning Broadway veterans including Rob Berman (musical arrangements), Jonathan Tunick (orchestrations), Beowulf Boritt (scenery), Toni-Leslie James (scenery), and Mark Stanley (lighting).  Currently represented on Broadway with his choreography for the revival of Hello, Dolly!, Carlyle received 2014 Tony and Drama Desk awards for his choreography for the musical After Midnight, which he also directed.

              

THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA: AUGUST 1 – 18

NEW! Thursday Matinee Series:

AUGUST 2 @ 2PM: Symphonic Shakespeare

Stéphane Denève, conductor

Walton                                              Selections from As You Like It

Berlioz                                               Overture to Beatrice and Benedict

Tchaikovsky                                      Romeo and Juliet

Mendelssohn                                   Selections from A Midsummer Night’s Dream

As part of SPAC’s new Thursday Matinee series, Stéphane Denève will lead a “Symphonic Shakespeare” program of popular orchestral music set to Shakespeare’s most illustrious works. Pieces by Tchaikovsky, Walton, Berlioz, and Mendelssohn will underscore excerpts performed by guest actors of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays, such as Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and As You Like It.

AUGUST 9 @ 2PM: Young Virtuosi: Carnival of the Animals

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Lucas and Arthur Jussen, duo pianos

Elgar                                                   Selections from The Wand of Youth

Saint-Saëns                                       Carnival of the Animals

Britten                                               The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra

CARNIVAL OF THE ANIMALS is a humorous musical suite of fourteen movements by the French Romantic composer Camille Saint-Saëns. Accompanied by accessible commentary, alongside projections of animal drawings submitted by local children, attendees are invited to follow each section of Saint-Saëns' classic piece while they listen. Young, virtuosic “piano brothers” Lucas and Arthur Jussen will perform alongside the Orchestra following their debut performance the previous evening.

AUGUST 16 @ 2PM: Captivating Classics

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

David Kim, violin

Choong-Jin Chang, viola

Rossini                                               Overture to William Tell

Mozart                                               Sinfonia concertante, K. 364, for violin, viola, and orchestra

Musorgsky                                        Pictures from an Exhibition

The final orchestra matinee of the season will feature DAVID KIM, concertmaster of The Philadelphia Orchestra, and CHOONG-JIN (C.J.) CHANG, principal viola of The Philadelphia Orchestra, for an evening of “Captivating Classics.” Kicking off the afternoon is the festive Overture to William Tell, irrevocably remembered for its exciting final three minutes, which came to serve as the theme music for the Lone Ranger programs in movies and on radio and television.

NEW! “Cinema Saturdays @ SPAC” Series:

AUGUST 4 @ 8PM: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone™ in Concert

Justin Freer, conductor

Williams                              Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone™ (complete with film)

The concert will feature The Philadelphia Orchestra performing, live to picture, every note from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone™, the first installment of the popular series. Audiences will be able to relive the magic of the film in high-definition projected on the big screen while hearing the live symphony orchestra perform John Williams’ complete score, which was nominated for a 2002 Academy Award for Best Original Score.

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone™, based on J.K. Rowling’s novel, Harry Potter learns on his 11th birthday that he is the orphaned son of two wizards and possesses magical powers of his own. At Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he learns the high-flying sport of Quidditch and plays a thrilling “live” chess game en route to facing a Dark Wizard determined to destroy him.

AUGUST 11 @ 8PM: Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope in Concert

Constantine Kitsopolous, conductor

 Williams                             Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope (complete with film)

Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope will be projected with The Philadelphia Orchestra performing live accompaniment of the iconic John Williams’ score. Since the release of the first Star Wars movie 40 years ago, the saga has had a seismic impact, inspiring audiences worldwide with its storytelling, characters, groundbreaking special effects and John Williams' iconic musical scores for all seven films. His score for 1977's A New Hope earned him an Academy Award for best original score. In Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope, Luke Skywalker begins a journey that will change the galaxy, as he leaves his home planet, battles the evil Empire, and learns the ways of the Force.

The evening will be led by conductor CONSTANTINE KITSOPOLOUS, who comfortably spans the worlds of opera and symphony, appearing in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and Royal Albert Hall, and musical theater, leading orchestras on Broadway. Music director of the Queens Symphony Orchestra, he also continues as general director of Chatham Opera (which he founded in 2005), serves as music director of the Festival of the Arts BOCA (a multi-day cultural arts event in South Florida), and was appointed artistic director of Oklahoma’s OK Mozart Festival.

AUGUST 18 @ 8PM: The Red Violin with Joshua Bell

Michael Stern, conductor

Joshua Bell, violin

Corigliano                          The Red Violin (complete with film)

The season finale will feature the 20th Anniversary of the film The Red Violin with JOSHUA BELL, the original artist on the movie’s soundtrack, performing John Corigliano’s score alongside The Philadelphia Orchestra.

The Academy Award-winning film The Red Violin follows the intricate history of a beautiful antique violin that is traced from its creation in Cremona, Italy, in 1681, where a legendary violin maker (Carlo Cecchi) paints it with his dead wife's blood to keep her memory alive, to an auction house in modern-day Montréal, where it draws the eye of an expert appraiser (Samuel L. Jackson). Over the intervening years, the violin travels through four different countries, where it has a profound impact on all those who own it.

The Philadelphia Orchestra Season:

AUGUST 1 @ 8PM: Festive Fireworks

Stéphane Denève, conductor

Dancers from American Ballet Theatre

Rachmaninoff                              Symphonic Dances

Connesson                                    Maslenitsa

Minkus                                           Pas de deux, from Don Quixote

Tchaikovsky                                  1812 Overture

Opening Night of The Philadelphia Orchestra’s August residency will continue the new tradition of featuring Tchaikovsky’s famed 1812 Overture, complete with fireworks, live cannon fire and dancers from American Ballet Theatre, as the kick-off to the 2018 orchestra season.

The evening will be led by Principal Guest Conductor STÉPHANE DENÈVE, who has conducted more programs than any other guest conductor during the period since making his Philadelphia Orchestra debut in 2007, in repertoire that has spanned more than 100 works, ranging from Classical through the contemporary, including presentations with dance, theater, film, and cirque performers. Mr. Denève is also chief conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic and director of its Centre for Future Orchestra Repertoire, and music director designate with the St. Louis Symphony. He recently received his third Diapason d’Or of the Year award with the Brussels Philharmonic for the Deutsche Grammophon release Pour sortir au jour, was shortlisted in 2012 for Gramophone’s Artist of the Year award, and won the prize for symphonic music at the 2013 International Classical Music Awards.

AUGUST 3 @ 8PM: The Planets -- An HD Odyssey

Kensho Watanabe, conductor

Theofanidis                       Rainbow Body

Sibelius                               Night Ride and Sunrise

Holst                                   The Planets (including images from NASA)

Film by Duncan Copp

Commissioned by the Houston Symphony

In Cooperation with NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratories

In this unprecedented multimedia event, The Philadelphia Orchestra will perform The Planets from the HD Odyssey film series, featuring images of NASA’s exploration of the solar system brought to life in vivid form with the orchestra’s performance of Holst’s exciting, cosmic score.

The Planets is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Gustav Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst. 

The program has received international acclaim by publications such as The New York Times, stating, “The images in the movie, produced and ¬directed by Duncan Copp, were often ¬astonishing. ¬Photographs from rovers and satellites, radar images and ¬computer-generated ¬graphics were combined to give the audience the impression of circling individual planets and sometimes ¬flying over their awesomely barren landscapes...There is, of course, a ¬film-score-like quality to the music, and combining it with imagery has been done ¬before, though not to my mind with such sophistication.”

AUGUST 8 @ 8PM: Mozart & Mahler

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Lucas and Arthur Jussen, duo pianos

Janai Brugger, soprano

Mozart                                Concerto for Two Pianos, K. 365

Mahler                                Symphony No. 4

Internationally recognized Dutch piano duo LUCAS AND ARTHUR JUSSEN will perform at SPAC and with The Philadelphia Orchestra for the first time. Already a sensation from New York to Shanghai, the brothers are in their early twenties and are known for their ability to perform virtuosic repertoire with panache. Lucas and Arthur Jussen’s debut album on Deutsche Grammophon, featuring compositions of Beethoven, won the "Edison Klassiek Publieksprijs Audience Award."

Montréal-native YANNICK NÉZET-SÉGUIN, “the greatest generator of energy on the international podium,” according to The Financial Times, will lead The Philadelphia Orchestra in Saratoga for two weeks, his longest SPAC residency to date. Named Musical America’s 2016 “Artist of the Year,” Yannick renewed his contract with the Orchestra in 2016, committing to lead the ensemble at least through the 2025-26 season, an extraordinary and significant long-term commitment. Additionally, he is the Music Director Designate of The Metropolitan Opera and in 2020, will become the third music director in the storied company’s history. 

Soprano JANAI BRUGGER, the 2016 winner of the Marian Anderson Vocal Award, and one of Opera News’ top 25 “brilliant young artists” will perform in Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with The Philadelphia Orchestra. 

AUGUST 10 @ 8PM: All Bernstein: Celebrating 100 Years

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Jennifer Koh, violin

Guest singers from the Broadway stage

Bernstein                           Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront

Bernstein                           Serenade (after Plato’s Symposium) for Solo Violin, Strings, Harp, and Percussion

Bernstein                           Scenes from West Side Story

Bernstein                           Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

The Philadelphia Orchestra and Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin pay homage to the birth centennial of the composer-conductor with an ALL-BERNSTEIN program featuring an orchestral suite from his only film score, On the Waterfront; the Serenade featuring violinist JENNIFER KOH; and scenes from West Side Story. Making her SPAC debut, Jennifer Koh, Musical America’s 2016 Instrumentalist of the Year, is recognized for her intense, commanding performances. Collaborating with artists of multiple disciplines, she has premiered more than 60 works written especially for her.

AUGUST 15 @ 8PM: The Orchestra Unleashed!

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor           

Serhiy Salov, piano

Strauss                                               Don Juan

Rachmaninoff                                  Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, for piano and orchestra

Bartók                                                Concerto for Orchestra

Born into the exceptional pianistic tradition of the Ukraine, SERHIY SALOV is recognized as an outstanding pianist, whose playing is both energetic and imbued with sensitivity. Salov, who will be making his SPAC and Philadelphia Orchestra debuts, is Artist-in-Residence at the Orchestre Métropolitain.

AUGUST 17 @ 8PM: Joshua Bell with The Philadelphia Orchestra

Yannick Nézet-Séguin, conductor

Joshua Bell, violin

Dvořák                                               Otello Overture

Bruch                                                 Violin Concerto No. 1

Tchaikovsky                                      Symphony No. 6 (“Pathétique”)

Returning to SPAC for two encore performances is celebrated violinist JOSHUA BELL. With a career spanning more than 30 years as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist and conductor, he will perform two closing evenings including an August 17 program highlighted by Bruch’s ravishing Violin Concerto No. 1.

THE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER: AUGUST 5 - 21

AUGUST 5 @ 3PM: In the Old Style

Schnittke             Suite in Old Style for Violin and Piano

Shostakovich      Quintet in G minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 57

Beethoven          Quartet in C-sharp minor for Strings, Op. 131

Gilles Vonsattel, Piano; Nicolas Dautricourt, Violin;

Schumann Quartet: Erik Schumann, Violin; Ken Schumann, Violin; Liisa Randalu, Viola; Mark Schumann, Cello

In this program, CMS presents three works written by composers at times when they were examining and transforming their own unique styles -- sometimes inspired from the old, sometimes searching for the new, but always in an effort to share their own voice.

AUGUST 7 @ 8PM: Summer Warmth

Haydn                   Trio in A major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Hob. XV:18

Dvorák                 Quartet in E-flat major for Strings, Op. 51

Schubert              Quintet in A major for Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, and Bass, D. 667, Op. 114

Gilles Vonsattel, Piano; Wu Han, Piano; Nicolas Dautricourt, Violin; Joseph Conyers, Double Bass

Schumann Quartet: Erik Schumann, Violin; Ken Schumann, Violin; Liisa Randalu, Viola; Mark Schumann, Cello

CMS’s Summer Warmth program is highlighted by Haydn’s serene Trio in A major and Dvořák’s bohemian inspired Op. 51 String Quartet. Closing the evening is Schubert’s beloved “Trout” quintet, a masterpiece composed for friends, based on a song about a fish.

AUGUST 12 @ 3PM: An Afternoon in Vienna

Haydn                   Trio in E-flat major for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Hob. XV:29

Schubert              Fantasie in F minor for Piano, Four Hands, D. 940, Op. 103

Kreisler                 Viennese Rhapsodic Fantasietta for Violin and Piano

Schubert              Octet in F major for Winds and Strings, D. 803, Op. 166

Gilbert Kalish, Piano; Wu Han, Piano; Alexander Sitkovetsky, Violin; Arnaud Sussmann, Violin; Yura Lee, Violin/Viola; David Finckel, Cello; Clive Greensmith, Cello; Joseph Conyers, Double Bass; Ricardo Morales, Clarinet; Daniel Matsukawa, Bassoon; Jennifer Montone, Horn

Viennese composers Franz Schubert and Fritz Kreisler are showcased in this program with their hometown-inspired masterpieces, while Austrian-born Joseph Haydn contributes a trio full of character and impeccable technique.  

AUGUST 14 @ 8PM: An Evening in Prague

Dvorák                 Terzetto in C major for Two Violins and Viola, Op. 74

Janáček                Presto for Cello and Piano

Suk                       Quartet in A minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 1

Dvorák                 Trio in F minor for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 65

Gilbert Kalish, Piano; Wu Han, Piano; Alexander Sitkovetsky, Violin; Arnaud Sussmann, Violin; Yura Lee, Viola; David Finckel, Cello; Clive Greensmith, Cello

Nationalist composer Dvořák rose to fame in Prague, paving the way for his student and later son-in-law Josef Suk, as well as the highly original Leoš Janáček, who dedicated a number of his works to Dvořák.  This program will transport the listener to those cobbled streets of the old town and back to an era when music served as the voice of the Czech people.

AUGUST 19 @ 3PM: Timeless Masterworks

Mozart                 Trio in E-flat major for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, K. 498, “Kegelstatt”

Lobos                   Assobio A Játo (The Jet Whistle) for Flute and Cello

Mackley               Micro-Concerto for Solo Percussion, Flute, Clarinet, Violin, Cello, and Piano

Schumann           Quartet in E-flat major for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 47

Alessio Bax, Piano; Sean Lee, Violin; Matthew Lipman, Viola; Mihai Marica, Cello; Tara Helen O’Connor, Flute; Romie De Guise-Langlois, Clarinet; Ayano Kataoka, Percussion

This program features timeless pieces ranging from Mozart’s day, when the clarinet was just becoming a solo instrument, to the late 20th century, when works such as this program’s effervescent Micro-concerto by Steve Mackey offer an astounding variety of percussion instruments.

AUGUST 21 @ 8PM: The Composer’s World

Debussy                              Sonata for Cello and Piano (1915) 

Stravinsky                          Petrushka for Piano, Four Hands

Brahms                               Quartet No. 1 in G minor for Piano, Violin, Viola, and Cello, Op. 25

Alessio Bax, Piano; Lucille Chung, Piano; Wu Han, Piano; Sean Lee, Violin; Matthew Lipman, Viola; David Finckel, Cello; Mihai Marica, Cello

The Composer’s World on August 21, invites audiences to experience Debussy’s fanciful cello sonata, Stravinsky’s exotic imagination through his milestone ballet about a puppet, and Brahms’s ceaseless internal struggle for musical perfection through his intensely emotional Piano Quartet No. 1. 

Tickets will be available at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 22 in a wide range of prices. For more information, go to: www.spac.org.

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