Hello Friends,
We finished our 2023-24 season – our 29th! – with a stunning multimedia performance on May 19 by Alan Blackman Jazz at the Strand Center Theater in Plattsburgh. The ultra-cool quintet performed Blackman’s award-winning Coastal Suite – a significant contemporary jazz work of fifteen movements played in continuous fluid sequence – with projection of Ruth Brownlee’s gorgeous abstract seascape paintings. This was our first collaboration with Plattsburgh’s beautiful historic theater and, with 250 in the audience, we deem it a good success. We are planning to present several more concerts at the Strand during our 2024-25 season. Read on!
Some news has been leaking out over the past few months and we’d like to put it out there officially now. The 2024-25 concert season will be my last and it’s going to be FAB! with an exciting, eclectic lineup taking place both in Saranac and Plattsburgh (60-40%). Beyond that, I will continue to do some program curation at the Strand. The present team have landed on their feet and are just beginning to hit their stride. We’d like to help them provide some more sophisticated programming to our community. Meanwhile, please mark your calendar now for our final events outlined below.
It has been my privilege and pleasure to serve you these many years. I have loved my work so very, very much because I am fascinated by and adore all types of music, and have wanted to share the love and astounding bounty and beauty with you. For our last rodeo we’re going all-out with stellar programming. Please plan on attending as many events as you can. And please also note that our first event, just one month away, is our summer fund-raiser to help us meet the (rather large) expenses of our final concert season. Thank you so much for your friendship, loyalty, and support for 30 years. It has been a great ride!
Yours ever, Angela
CALENDAR AT A GLANCE
Sunday, July 14 at 4:00 pm – Weatherwatch Farm
Larry Ham-Woody Witt Quartet: piano, saxophone, bass & drums
Mainstream Jazz: classics and originals
House Party Fundraiser launching our 30th Anniversary Season
Saturday, August 3 at 7:00 pm – Saranac Methodist Church
Meadowmount Young Artists: classical chamber music masterpieces
(free concert; donations accepted for Meadowmount Scholarship Fund)
Sunday, September 22 at 3:00 pm – Saranac Methodist Church
Chien-Kim-Watkins Trio: program to feature the glorious Ravel Trio
Gloria Chien, piano; Soovin Kim, violin; Paul Watkins, cello
Sunday, October 13 at 3:00 pm – Strand Center Theater, Plattsburgh
Tim Collins & Quadro Nuevo: Mediterranean “Lightness of Being” Jazz
vibes, saxophones, accordion, bass
Sunday, November 3 at 3:00 pm – Strand Center Theater, Plattsburgh
ARKAI: electroacoustic violin-cello duo – new album launch
With guest artist Jane Boxall, percussionist extraordinaire
Sunday, December 1 at 3:00 pm – Saranac Methodist Church
Clayton Stephenson, piano: Bach, Beethoven, Mussorgsky, Gershwin
WINNER: Cliburn Finalist and Avery Fisher Career Grant
Sunday, February 9 at 3:00 pm – Strand Center Theater, Plattsburgh
Le Vent du Nord: traditional and progressive Québécois band
vocals, fiddles, accordion, hurdy-gurdy, guitar, bouzouki, bass
Sunday, March 9 at 3:00 pm – Strand Center Theater, Plattsburgh
Lúnasa: traditional and progressive Irish band
flutes, fiddle, vocals, pipes, guitar, bass
Sunday, May 4 at 3:00 pm – Saranac Methodist Church
Constantinople: Early Middle Eastern & African music
WINNER: Juno Award Best Classical Album 2024
Kiya Tabassian, setar; Ablaye Cissoko, kora; Patrick Graham, percussion
Sunday, June 8 at 4:00 pm – Saranac Methodist Church
Alexander String Quartet: Haydn, Kian Ravaei, Schubert
farewell tour appearance of one of the great quartets of our time
This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts.
