SPAC to feature year-round lineup, to include Spa Little Theatre

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Saratoga Performing Arts Center is to expand its 2023 season into a year-round lineup of live theater, jazz, folk, global and classical music that includes the Spa Little Theatre.

After extensive renovations, done in collaboration with New York State Parks, the Spa Little Theater is now home to a year-round schedule of concerts, presenting 25 events and welcoming more than 8,000 guests to what SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol described as a “jewel of a venue.”

“Transformation has changed and informed the very way we see the world and our place in it,” said Sobol. “No longer just an amphitheater, we see SPAC as the perfect confluence of human-made and natural beauty.”

The transformation should be evident in the programming initiatives SPAC announced last week. The 2023 summer season will span three months, with 28 performances, 24 debuts and 11 premieres, anchored by an Earth theme that pays homage to the beautiful Spa State Park.

The summer is to include residencies with flagship companies New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for their full productions and residencies and hosting the 46th Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival. 

In addition to offerings from resident companies, the season includes LiteraryArts@SPAC, presenting insightful conversations with renowned authors, thinkers, and poets; CulinaryArts@SPAC, offering culinary experiences with an emphasis on sustainability, community, and socially conscious cultivation and consumption; and VisualArts@SPAC, with works of art coming alive in various locations throughout the SPAC campus and via collaborations in the Capital Region with community and cultural partners.

SPAC’s season will kick off on Sunday, June 4 with its sixth annual Adirondack Trust Company Festival of Young Artists, a free community event in support of SPAC’s mission to provide access to enriching arts programs for local youth. Following the Earth theme, the festival will celebrate the collaborative creativity of more than 600 of the Capital Region’s brightest young dancers, musicians, singers, poets, and visual artists.

The New York City Ballet will return to SPAC July 9-13, 2024 and The Philadelphia Orchestra residency will take place July 31-August 17. Dates for Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Fest will be announced at a later date.

2023 Summer Residency Dates

Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival
June 24 & 25

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
June 11 – August 20
At Spa Little Theatre

New York City Ballet
July 18-22

The Philadelphia Orchestra
August 2-19