Beatlemore Skidmania concerts set this weekend

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. >> Three Beatles tribute concerts featuring Skidmore College students and faculty are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the school’s Arthur Zankel Music Center.

Performances will be at 8 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday.

This year’s 18th annual “Beatlemore Skidmania” will feature music from the Beatles’ “White Album,” in celebration of its 50th anniversary. There are 16 acts, ranging in style from straightup Beatle covers to jazz arrangements, a cappella groups and a group that features banjo, sitar, and guitar.

Former Skidmore music Professor Gordon Thompson, who retired last year, proposed the idea for Beatlemore Skidmania in 2001, as a way to uplift spirits in the wake of 9/11.

A fall tradition at the college ever since, Beatlemore Skidmania has attracted a strong multigenerational following of students, faculty, staff and music lovers from the greater Capital Region.

All proceeds from ticket, poster and T-shirt sales are donated to local nonprofit organizations via the Skidmore Cares holiday campaign and to student financial aid funds. Last year’s event raised more than $12,000.

“It’s a major event for the campus and the community and it’s wonderful to see our audiences so enthusiastically connect with our student’s creative takes on the music of the Beatles,” said classical guitarist Joel Brown, a distinguished artist in residence and the event’s faculty supervisor.

Tickets are $10 for adults; $7 for seniors, faculty and staff members, and retirees and alumni; and $5 students and children.