SUMMER SCHEDULE
Saratoga Performing Arts Center announces 2020 classical season
Saratoga Performing Arts Center resident companies - New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center — return this summer to present a 2020 season highlighting a continued commitment to SPAC premieres of both new and classic works and a landmark celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.
To start SPAC’s 2020 classical season, four programs will be performed by New York City Ballet from July 14 through 18, including the fulllength story ballet Swan Lake, returning for only the fourth time in SPAC’s history and the first time since 2006, an evening dedicated to 20th Century Masters highlighted by Merce Cunningham’s Summerspace, returning for the first time since 1967, and a program showcasing three SPAC premieres: Lauren Lovette’s The Shaded Line, a new work by Justin Peck set to a commissioned score by composer Nico Muhly, and the SPAC premiere of Balanchine’s Haieff Divertimento from 1947.
The annual New York City Ballet Gala, scheduled for Saturday, July 18, will showcase Jerome Robbins’ In G Major, and Balanchine’s The Man I Love Pas de Deux from
To start SPAC’s 2020 classical season, four programs will be performed by New York City Ballet from July 14 through 18.
Who Cares? with music by George Gershwin and Balanchine’s Rubies.
“Our City Ballet season perfectly marries innovative new works with traditional favorites from the return of the stunning fulllength story ballet Swan Lake… a program that will span the great works of 20th Century Choreographers including Merce Cunningham’s striking Summerspace… an evening of SPAC premieres that will showcase new works alongside a rare Balanchine ballet never before seen on our stage… and an exceptional jazz infused Gala program,” said Elizabeth Sobol, president and CEO of SPAC, in a press release.
The Philadelphia Orchestra’s three-week SPAC residency, from Aug. 5 to 22, will feature a total of 13 SPAC premieres including the East Coast premiere of Triple Concerto by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer
Kevin Puts composed for the genre-crossing ensemble Time for Three, and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess in concert conducted by Marin Alsop.
SPAC’s popular Cinema Series will return to delight audiences of all ages as the orchestra accompanies, live to picture, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban™ in Concert; Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back™ in Concert and Bugs Bunny at the Symphony 30th Anniversary Edition.
Highlighting the orchestra’s residency is Beethoven 2020, a season long celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth.
The festival will include an unprecedented fournight traversal of all nine symphonies alongside four New York premieres by contemporary composers in dialogue with Beethoven under the baton of music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Soloists performing with the orchestra include violinist Joshua Bell, cellist Steven Isserlis, and
pianist Jeremy Denk for Beethoven’s Triple Concerto,
and pianist Jonathan Biss in Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center returns Aug. 9 through 25 to the Spa Little Theatre with an exploration of Beethoven, his influences, and the composers who were inspired by his work. Curated specifically for the SPAC residency, the six programs will feature 19 works that have never before been performed by CMS at SPAC.
In addition to performances by David Finckel and Wu Han, co-artistic directors of CMS, in residency for all three weekends, audiences will experience the SPAC debut of the critically acclaimed Calidore String Quartet, works never before performed at SPAC by female composers Joan Tower and Amy Beach, and debut appearances by cellist Inbal Segev and violinist Francisco Fullana.
“SPAC’s ambitious and artistically inspiring 2020 programming continues our effort to bring significant contemporary works and iconic classics that have never been performed at SPAC to our stage, while also presenting a record number of works by female composers throughout the season,” Sobol said in the release. “Of course, the year 2020 also marks the global celebration of Beethoven’s 250th anniversary.
“We are honoring the great composer with a season long festival, highlighted by the complete symphonies of Beethoven in four consecutive nights for a profound and deeply moving musical experience.”
Tickets to events in
SPAC’s 2020 classical season will be available online starting at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 15 for SPAC members and 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 29 for the general public at www.spac. org, where a full schedule and further information can be found as well.