Saratoga Performing Arts Center Announces 2019 Classical Season

The Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) will welcome home resident companies New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in a 2019 line-up marked by a record number of SPAC premieres of both iconic works of the classical repertoire and works by living composers and choreographers.

NEW YORK CITY BALLET (NYCB)'s residency (July 16 20) will once again feature four distinct programs including the story ballet Copp lia, 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.

THE PHILADELPHIA ORCHESTRA'S three-week residency (July 31 August 17) will be highlighted by 16 SPAC premieres ranging from classical masterpieces to innovative contemporary compositions, marking a record number of pieces that have never before been performed on SPAC's stage ranging from Mozart's Requiem to Mason Bates' Anthology of Fantastic Zoology. The season will, once again, showcase two weeks under the baton of Yannick N zet-S guin, Music Director of both The Philadelphia Orchestra and The Metropolitan Opera. N zet-S guin 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 for the first time is the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (AUG 15) and classical pianist Christian Blackshaw (AUG 17); making their SPAC debuts in 2019 are pianists Janice Carissa (AUG 2) and Jan Lisiecki (AUG 16), Peruvian conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya (AUG 9), and the dancers of PHILADANCO (JUL 31) in The Philadelphia Orchestra's opening night performance.

SPAC's Cinema Series will delight audiences of all ages as the Orchestra accompanies, live to picture, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in Concert; Disney Pixar's Up in Concert and Charlie Chaplin's City Lights in Concert.

THE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER (CMS) returns (August 4 - 20) with a roster of internationally celebrated artists, taking audiences at the Spa Little Theatre on a musical journey with six programs designed specifically for the SPAC Residency of 23 works 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 return of the Escher Quartet, plus debut appearances by four artists including Chinese violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, British flutist Adam Walker, Bulgarian violinist Bella Hristova and renowned American cellist Keith Robinson.

Our beloved resident companies will be presenting a record number of works that have never before been performed at SPAC, said Elizabeth Sobol, president and CEO of Saratoga Performing Arts Center. From contemporary works like Mason Bates' Anthology of Fantastic Zoology and popular film scores to surprising omissions of masterpieces long overdue for the SPAC stage like Mozart's Requiem, Copland's Appalachian Spring and chamber music by Debussy, Brahms and Beethoven. 2019 season concerts will offer an extraordinary depth of repertoire performed by our incomparable resident companies and artists of matchless talent, providing audiences that perfect confluence of natural setting and great performance that make summers at SPAC so unforgettable.

For more information visit spac.org.

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