saratoga racetrack's 150th celebrations is underway with help from the fabulous, marylou whitney.

Saratoga's grande dame, Marylou Whitney, helps unveil plans for 150th anniversary of Spa City racing

Published: Wednesday, March 27, 2013

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Honorary Chair of the Saratoga 150 Committee John Hendrickson spoke during the announcement of the new tribute to the Saratoga Race Course for their 150th year in history.Photo Erica Miller 3/26/13 news_150thYear2_Wed

Saratoga 150 Committee revealed the first of the 30 plaques, this for Man o' War, during the announcement of the new tribute to the Saratoga Race Course for their 150th year in history.Photo Erica Miller 3/26/13 news_150thYear3_Wed

Dressed in Victorian costume Hope Friedman, a Junior at Saratoga Springs High School, placed the 10th horse on the "Hoof Prints Hall of Fame" which is part of the new tribute to the Saratoga Race Course for their 150th year in history.Photo Erica Miller 3/26/13 news_150thYear4_Wed

Chairman of the Saratoga 150 Committee Charlie Wait spoke during the announcement of the new tribute to the Saratoga Race Course for their 150th year in history.Photo Erica Miller 3/26/13 news_150thYear1_Wed

By PAUL POST
ppost@saratogian.com
Twitter.com/paulvpost

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Joe Dalton shared a laugh with Marylou Whitney after the press conference where they announced the new tribute to the Saratoga Race Course for their 150th year in history.Photo Erica Miller 3/26/13 news_150thYear5_Wed

SARATOGA SPRINGS — When Marylou Whitney comes to town, summer can’t be far behind.

The “Queen of Saratoga” aptly picked a Whitney horse named Top Flight — drawn completely at random — that will forever bear the lead position on a new Hoofprints Walk of Fame honoring the best equine athletes ever to compete at Saratoga Race Course, which is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year.

Plans call for unveiling the attraction early this summer outside the track’s clubhouse entrance. The inaugural class features 30 horses whose careers spanned the track’s entire history, starting with one named Kentucky that captured the first-ever Travers Stakes in 1864.

A selection committee originally planned to select 20 horses, but found the task too daunting.

“There’s just so much history,” said John Hendrickson, Whitney’s husband. “There are so many greats that have raced here. To do 20, we’d have to a lot of greats to catch up with.”

MORE: Click here for the full list of inductees to the Saratoga Hoofprints Walk of Fame

More than 100 people turned out at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, where the new Walk of Fame was announced. It’s one of 180 special events and observances planned for this year’s 150th anniversary celebration.

“This is embarrassing,” Whitney said, smiling, after picking Top Flight’s name from the silver Whitney Cup.

“What’s embarrassing?” asked Tom Durkin, master of ceremonies and the track’s long-time announcer.

“It’s a Whitney horse,” Hendrickson said. Continued...

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“Do we have 29 on there that aren’t?” said Durkin, prompting a round of good-natured laughter.

Whitney and Hendrickson are honorary co-chairs of the Saratoga 150 Committee. The couple wintered at their Palm Beach, Fla. home and after a brief stay in the Spa City will be headed to Kentucky for next month’s Keeneland meet, followed by the May 4 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

Whitney, looking fit as ever, wore a signature pink jacket, matching button-down vest and Saratoga-style hat with a string of white pearls set against a black blouse to go with black slacks.

She gave a special invitation to another 150th anniversary activity, a Marylou Floral Fete, scheduled for Friday, Aug. 2, on the eve of the Whitney Handicap.

The event hearkens back to the Spa City’s Victorian era and will feature a horse-drawn antique carriage decked out in flowers, heading from North Broadway to Congress Park where an old-time ice cream social is planned.

“Everyone’s invited at the (Canfield) casino,” Whitney said. “That will be something. We’re looking forward to showing the public a good time.”

She briefly recalled her first visit to Saratoga Springs with her late husband, Cornelius C.V. “Sonny” Whitney, in 1958.

“The town was absolutely dead,” she said. “You could throw a baseball or football down the middle of Broadway and not hit someone.”

Whitney said that Sonny challenged her to “Do something!”

She told him, “Sonny, with your money I could do anything.” Continued...

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Ever since, she has contributed to Saratoga Springs in many ways and now she and Hendrickson are leading preparations for the biggest birthday bash the city has ever seen.

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congressman tonko promises to help save the ballet restore new york city ballet longer season at SPAC.

Friendly audience greets Tonko in Saratoga Springs

Federal budget conflicts, ballet topics at forum

Saturday, March 9, 2013

By David Lombardo (Contact)
Gazette Reporter  

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Photographer: Patrick Dodson

Congressman Paul Tonko's Town Hall meeting at Saratoga City Center on Saturday, March 9, 2013.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The new congressional representative for Saratoga Springs was grilled on sequestration, the New York City Ballet, energy and how he gets such good seats for the State of the Union presentation during a town hall forum Saturday afternoon.

U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, spoke for about 20 minutes at the Saratoga Springs City Center before taking questions from the crowd of about 50, mostly supporters and local Democrats.

There was a lot of applause during the event and only one hostile moment, when a heckler highlighted the fact that the Citizens United case allowed unions the same spending freedoms as corporations. The case eliminated many political spending restrictions for corporations and unions and gave them many of the same powers as a person.

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Congressman Paul Tonko Town Hall Meeting

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U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, D-Amsterdam, hosted a town hall forum in Saratoga Springs on Saturday afternoon.
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The crowd approvingly listened to Tonko talk about capping the pay for executives benefiting from government contracts, utilizing clean energy and efficient technology, balancing the budget with a progressive tax code and limiting the availability of high-capacity magazines for guns.

Multiple questioners asked about the sequester, specifically how it would impact Head Start programs and federal employees. Tonko said he would support restoring funding of Head Start, which will have about 4,300 spots cut in New York as part of spending reductions by the sequester. Responding to a federal worker worried about being furloughed, Tonko lamented the potential pain this will cause for families across the country and after the forum recommended the woman contact New York’s two U.S. senators.

Louise Goldstein, who has been involved with the Save the Ballet movement at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, informed Tonko about the gradual decrease in performances locally by the ballet. She noted how the residency used to last three weeks and is only scheduled for one week this summer. SPAC’s financial limitations have forced the shortening of the ballet visit.

After waxing poetically about the importance of the arts he promised to get involved with the company’s residency at SPAC.

When asked about his seating for recent State of the Union addresses, where Tonko has been very visible during the entrance of President Barack Obama, he revealed that for the most recent speech he was about the first one to arrive.

The meeting concluded with a question from Wilton resident Raymond Brzozowski, who was wearing a red AARP shirt, with a few other similarly dressed people. He decried the lack of products made in America, specifically frying pans, which all seem to be made in China based on his limited recent search. “No frying pans in the United State,” Brzozowski said, asking why this was.

Tonko told him the lack of American manufacturing stemmed from the country’s failure to emphasize this industry. He supports legislation to foster American manufacturing, even though it might not be the products the nation traditionally made in the 20th century.

Before leaving the stage, Tonko addressed the situation referenced by the heckler, who had since left the forum. Tonko argued that the rights granted unions by the Citizens United decision are starkly different from corporations, on the basis that union political spending represents the will of the collective group and corporations are driven mostly by a small cadre.

Because of redistricting, which went into effect for the 2012 election, Tonko's district now includes all of Schenectady and Albany counties and parts of Saratoga, Montgomery and Rensselaer counties.

 

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please save these spa buildings Governor Cuomo like you did the Capital in Albany.

Spa park structures face decay

Stately bath houses vacant or underutilized

Saturday, March 9, 2013

By Lee Coleman (Contact)
Gazette Reporter  

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Photographer: Marc Schultz

Old Roosevelt Baths in disrepair in the Saratoga Spa Park.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Pieces of colorful history are falling apart in and around the city.
While several buildings and venues in the 2,500-acre Saratoga Spa State Park have been renovated in recent years, a few stately, historic buildings remain vacant or under-used, some in decay.
What will become of the buildings isn’t clear. Officials with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation say they’re discussing improvements, but would not provide The Gazette with details.
The biggest property is the Roosevelt Bath House No. 2, which stands vacant just south of the park administration building on Roosevelt Drive. The building, opened in 1935, is a mirror structure of the renovated, popular Roosevelt Baths & Spa operated by the Gideon Putnam Resort.
The larger Lincoln Baths on South Broadway in Saratoga Springs, once an enormous mineral water bath facility with hundreds of water therapy tubs, is used for the state court’s 4th Judicial District administrative offices, state Court of Claims offices, and the state park police but still has about 11,000 square feet of empty space on its upper floors.
The most recent Spa State Park master plan, in 2009, says the first priority is the renovation of the Lincoln Baths building, with plans then including its conversion into a visitor center and mineral water museum. The vacant wings of the Lincoln building would be renovated for lease.
The second priority was renovation of the long-empty Roosevelt No. 2 bath house into park offices, an education and interpretive center and public restrooms.
Alane Ball Chinian, executive director of the Saratoga-Capital Region District of the state parks system, said discussions are very preliminary.
“In addition to master plan recommendations, we’re exploring opportunities to expand park services into the Lincoln and Roosevelt bathhouses, such as a partnering with providers of health and wellness services,” Chinian said in an email.
“This park has a rich history steeped in the healing properties of the mineral waters found here. A renewed appreciation of the healing arts is sparking new possibilities to sustain these impressive historic structures for the future,” she wrote.
Roosevelt’s push
The Saratoga Spa State Park, with the encouragement of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, was built during the Great Depression, its construction funded by federal New Deal money.
The Lincoln Bath House was opened in the late 1920s, before the Depression, but the two Roosevelt bathhouses, with private mineral bathrooms, were part of the 10-building complex built during the early- to mid-1930s.
Today, the vacant Roosevelt bath house No. 2 has paint peeling off its doors and windows and rust shows through the ornate doors, screens and window frames. Through the front entrance doors and windows, you can see the beautiful marble floor with an inlaid circular design, but the floors are dusty and dirty. A large glass chandelier with some of its bulbs missing hangs above the foyer.
The exterior covered marble walkway that extends across the front of the building has plaster peeling from its interior ceiling although much of the brickwork appears in relatively good condition.
The condition of Roosevelt No. 2 is in stark contrast to the Roosevelt Baths and Spa (originally bath house No. 1) across the way. That building was renovated and reopened in 2004, then renovated again, to the tune of $1 million, in 2009 by Delaware North Inc. The marble floors shine, the foyer is inviting and bright, and the 42 reconditioned mineral water bathtubs in private rooms are a popular attraction to people staying at the Gideon Putnam Resort in the park as well as residents of the Capital Region.
Julia Stokes, who was executive director of the Saratoga-Capital Region District of state parks from the late 1980s and through the 1990s, said the No. 2 Roosevelt Bath House has had many uses over the years. “They tried almost everything in that building,” Stokes said.
During and shortly after World War II the bathhouse was used as a veterans’ rehabilitation facility. Later it housed offices and workshops, but it has been empty for at least 20 years.
A portion of the hallways in Roosevelt No. 2 were used in scenes for the 1998 movie “The Horse Whisperer,” directed by and starring Robert Redford, Stokes said.
Commenting on the Lincoln Bath House on South Broadway, Stokes said the exterior of the building was restored in the mid-1990s but there was always a problem with that building’s flat roof that required regular maintenance.
She said during her long tenure as deputy state parks commissioner, millions of dollars were spent on the aging infrastructure at the sprawling park.
The park’s landfill was closed, extensive water line improvements were made along with improvements to the roads, picnic areas, golf courses and other park buildings and venues.
Over the years, the old park mineral water bottling plant was turned into the Saratoga Automobile Museum, the Spa Little Theater in the park administration building was been renovated as were the Hall of Springs, the Peerless Pool, the Victoria Pool, the Gideon Putnam Hotel, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.
The park master plan focuses on the under-used buildings in the park, among its many recommendations.
Wish list
Heather Mabee, chairwoman of the Saratoga-Capital Region Parks Commission, said renovating the Roosevelt Bath House No. 2 and the Lincoln Bath House is something her group would love to see happen. The commission is made up of unpaid, appointed members who advise the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation on projects and issues affecting regional parks and historic sites. Mabee said the holdup on these projects is finding the money for them.
In recent years, especially after 2008, state funding for parks was reduced because of the recession. In the past two years money for parks has been more abundant.
Mabee said in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget for 2013-14 a total of $90 million has been included for capital projects in parks across the state. The state Legislature has not yet approved the new budget but Mabee is hopeful the capital money for parks will remain and a portion of it will come to the Saratoga-Capital Region District.
Mabee said the regional parks officials and commissioners propose projects but those dealing with health, safety, and needed maintenance come first.
One of the long-vacant buildings on the park grounds is the LaTour House, an 1880s farm home near the state tree nursery and adjacent to a portion of the park’s 18-hole golf course.
Mabee said during her 17 years on the regional state park commission many different uses for the LaTour house have been proposed, including working with the private sector to restore and use the building. But nothing has become of the discussions.
Mothball
The park master plan recommends that the roof of the LaTour House be repaired and the building mothballed for some future use.
Stokes said the LaTour house was in “really, really rough shape” the last time she saw it. The building’s porches are falling off, the roof is sagging and windows are broken.
“These are projects we would love to do if we had the funding,” Mabee said.
Morris Peters, a spokesman for the state Division of Budget, said funding for state parks in Gov. Cuomo’s proposed 2013-2014 budget is basically flat compared to the 2012-13 budget.
A total of $276 million is included in the governor’s budget for state parks as compared to $285 million in the 2012-13 budget. But Martin said the decrease is attributable to bookkeeping details and there is virtually no change in the funding for parks.
Two years ago, state parks were required to make 10 percent spending reductions across the board, putting a financial limit on all but the most needed and basic projects.
Funding for state parks in the 2013-14 governor’s budget is consistent with other state agencies. “It maintains service at the current level,” Peters said.
The proposed budget includes no parks staffing cuts.
The Spa State Park master plan says the implementation of the many plan recommendations “will require the investment of tens of millions of dollars of state funds along with additional funding from other public and private sources.”

 

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listen up SPAC: attendance down in Metropolitan Opera causes prices to be reduced. SPAC raises prices and lowers member benefits and decimates New York City Ballet residency.

just a bit more than 80 percent full.

By DANIEL J. WAKIN

Published: February 27, 2013

Attendance is down this season at the Metropolitan Opera, and officials there acknowledge that the fault is their own. They made going to the opera too expensive.

So in a rarity in the rarefied world of the performing arts, the Met said it would reduce ticket prices next season. The average cost of admission will drop by 10 percent, or to $156 from $174, Peter Gelb, the general manager, said in a recent interview.

The lower ticket prices will come in a 2013-14 season that includes the return of the music director James Levine to the pit after a two-year absence; an unusual appearance by a female conductor, Jane Glover; and, surprisingly, the first time Anna Netrebko, the Russian diva, will tackle one of the most famous Russian roles at the Met.

Experiencing those moments will still not be cheap, but the new ticket pricing will ease sticker shock. For example, an orchestra aisle seat that is $360 this season will be $330, and a grand tier box seat will go to $180 from $195. In all, more than 2,000 seats for each performance will cost less, the Met said. One exception will be the $20 seats in the rear of the family circle, which will rise by $5. The Met will continue its rush-ticket and free open-rehearsal programs.

"We think that is going to increase attendance," Mr. Gelb said of the price cuts, noting that more ticket sales would compensate for any lost revenue because of lower prices. "At least it better," he added.

Mr. Gelb said prices this year were "raised dramatically," by about 10 percent. "We did not feel it was as successful as it might have been," he said of the increase.

He also blamed falling attendance on a "cannibalization" of the audience by the Met's high-definition movie theater broadcasts. Attendance this season is projected to be, on average, 81 percent of capacity, compared with 84 percent last season. Ticket revenue is projected to be $4 million less than last season's $94.4 million; canceled performances caused by Hurricane Sandy are responsible for half that shortfall, with the rest attributed to a donor's reduced support for rush tickets.

The Met also released details of next year's program. It includes six productions new to the house, among them Borodin's "Prince Igor," which was last heard at the Met in 1917 and is famous for its Polovtsian Dances; Tchaikovsky's "Eugene Onegin," starring Ms. Netrebko as Tatiana, her first Russian role at the house since her debut there in Prokofiev's "War and Peace" in 2002; an English-language "Die Fledermaus," with freshly written lyrics by Jeremy Sams; and Massenet's "Werther," with Jonas Kaufmann in the title role.

Deborah Warner will direct "Onegin" in her Met debut. The cast includes Mariusz Kwiecien and Piotr Beczala, Met regulars. Marina Poplavskaya will take over for Ms. Netrebko later in the run. Valery Gergiev, who used to hold the title of principal guest conductor at the Met, will conduct. He last appeared there in the 2010-11 season. The first performance will be the opening-night gala on Sept. 23.

Dmitri Tcherniakov will also direct his first opera at the Met with "Prince Igor." The production, Mr. Gelb said, would strip away the usual medieval pageantry and send Igor on a "psychological journey."

"Die Fledermaus" will open on New Year's Eve, a return to an opera world tradition. Mr. Sams, who also wrote the text for the Met's Baroque pastiche opera "The Enchanted Island," will direct "Die Fledermaus." His lyrics will follow the story but will be written from scratch; Douglas Carter Beane, a Broadway playwright, has written the dialogue.

"It's an operetta," Mr. Gelb said. "You can take liberties. You wouldn't do it with Wagner."

The Met's abbreviated English-language holiday production of "The Magic Flute" has been entrusted to Ms. Glover, who a Met spokesman said would be only the third woman to conduct a Met opera, and the first since 1998, when Simone Young led Offenbach's "Contes d'Hoffmann." The first female conductor at the Met, Sarah Caldwell, made her debut with Verdi's "Traviata" in 1976.

As previously announced, next season's premieres  will include Nico Muhly's opera "Two Boys," a Met commission about duplicity and identity on the Internet. The opera has been "fleshed out," Mr. Gelb said, since its run at the English National Opera in 2011.

The other new production is the first of Verdi's "Falstaff" since Franco Zeffirelli's oft-revived 1964 version. Directed by Robert Carsen, it will be the first of the three operas led next season by Mr. Levine, who has not conducted at the Met since May 2011 because of health problems. His first foray before an orchestra comes on May 19, when he leads the Met musicians in a concert at Carnegie Hall.

Mr. Levine is also conducting revivals of Mozart's "Così Fan Tutte" and Berg's "Wozzeck," with two veteran stars taking on the main roles in "Wozzeck" for the first time: Deborah Voigt and Thomas Hampson.

Mr. Levine, who announced his comeback in October, has been recuperating from damage to his spinal cord and from back surgery and is beginning to walk again, he said, "laboriously and slowly."

"I'm just always doing better," he said in an interview. "I'm making progress in the therapy all the time. The nerve return in this kind of thing is slow."

Mr. Levine said he expected that the very act of conducting an orchestra would help him get better.

"I came from having no idea when or if I'd be going back to work, and now I'm able to do this," he added. "The time is nearly here."

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spac announces program for new york city ballet 2013 and not a word about 2014.

New York City Ballet pulls a rabbit out of its hat for jam-packed shortened season at SPAC

Published: Sunday, February 17, 2013

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"Rubies" Paul Kolnik photography

"West Side Story Suite" Paul Kolnik photography

"Year of the Rabbit" Paul Kolnik photography

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"Serenade" Paul Kolnik photography

SARATOGA SPRINGS — New York City Ballet, one of the world’s foremost dance companies, will present a dazzling, diverse repertory of 15 stunning ballets during its summer season at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) July 9 through 13.

Highlights of its engagement include Balanchine masterpieces “Serenade” and “Theme and Variations,” a special gala program featuring the Saratoga premieres of Peter Martins’ “Bal de Couture” and Christopher Wheeldon’s pas de deux “This Bitter Earth,” and three performances of Justin Peck’s “Year of the Rabbit,” which also makes its Saratoga debut.

“New York City Ballet brings to its summer stage at SPAC, a world-class program of astonishing breadth and brilliance. From iconic Balanchine gems like “Serenade” and “Stravinsky Violin Concerto,” to favorite works by Jerome Robbins including “West Side Story Suite” and “Dances at a Gathering” to exciting new ballets by Peter Martins, Christopher Wheeldon and Justin Peck, the interplay of tradition and innovation in this season is exceptional,” said Marcia J. White, president and executive director of Saratoga Performing Arts Center. “Each and every program is a standout and guaranteed to offer an unforgettable experience for our guests.”

Tschaikovsky Celebration

Major features of the summer program include highlights of NYCB’s “Tschaikovsky Celebration,” a centerpiece of its winter season at Lincoln Center. Five of the season’s 15 ballets feature the music of the great Russian composer Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky. Legendary choreographer George Balanchine had a special affinity for Tschaikovsky. He once told an interviewer, “In everything that I did to Tschaikovsky’s music, I sensed his help. It wasn’t real conversation. But when I was working and saw that something was coming of it, I felt that it was Tschaikovsky who had helped me.”

The Opening Night program will feature three Balanchine ballets set to Tschaikovsky’s music including the virtuosic Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux; the classical tour de force “Theme and Variations”; and the “Garland Dance,” Balanchine’s 1981 interpretation of the famous dance from “The Sleeping Beauty,” the first ballet the legendary choreographer danced in as a child in Russia. The “Garland Dance,” which features a large cast, including 16 children, has never been seen at SPAC as an excerpted work.

Also presented will be the iconic, four-movement “Serenade,” one of Balanchine’s most widely danced and beloved works. The first ballet Balanchine choreographed in America, it originated as a lesson in stage technique; Balanchine worked unexpected rehearsal events into the choreography such as a student’s fall or late arrival to rehearsal. The ballet, set to Tschaikovsky’s “Serenade for Strings,” features 26 dancers in blue costumes before a blue background.

The Ruby Ball: |Ballet Gala

The music of Tschaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” is the score for Peter Martins’ newest ballet, “Bal de Couture,” which will have its Saratoga Premiere and one-time-only performance at the July 13 Ballet Gala, one of two premieres that highlight the special evening. The ballet features striking costumes created by legendary fashion designer and master couturier, Valentino Garavani, often known simply as Valentino.

Also featuring an original Valentino costume design is Christopher Wheeldon’s pas de deux “This Bitter Earth” which will have its Saratoga premiere at the Gala. Set to Max Richter’s remake of Dinah Washington’s 1960 rhythm & blues song of the same name, the work is excerpted from Wheeldon’s “Five Movements, Three Repeats.” Continued...

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Complementing Bal de Couture’s “Valentino Red” costumes and inspiring the evening’s theme, the gala program also features Balanchine’s brilliant “Rubies,” the second section of the full-length “Jewels.” Set to Stravinsky’s “Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra,” the work features Karinska’s famous, red jeweled costumes.

The evening culminates with “West Side Story Suite,” Jerome Robbins’ suite of dances taken from the award winning musical he created with Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. One of the few ballets that requires dancers to sing as well as dance, the work features several song and dance sequences including “Something’s Coming,” “Dance at the Gym,” “Cool,” “America” “and “Somewhere.”

Repertory Highlights The season will feature the Saratoga Premiere of Justin Peck’s recent work for New York City Ballet, “Year of The Rabbit.” The work is featured on the July 9 opening night, July 10 and the July 13

matinee program. Peck’s first work for NYCB, “In Creases,” had its world premiere at SPAC’s ballet gala last season.

Set to indie-folk composer Sufjan Stevens’ “Enjoy Your Rabbit,” an electronica album and song cycle based on the Chinese zodiac, the work for 18 dancers is an elaboration of Peck’s 2010 work, “Tales of a Chinese Zodiac.”

For the new ballet, Stevens and Peck collaborated on all aspects of the production, including a new orchestration of “Enjoy Your Rabbit,” created specifically for the ballet.

The work debuted on Oct. 5, 2012 in New York to wide critical acclaim.

Peck, a member of NYCB’s corps de ballet since 2007, has been recognized for his choreographic promise since his debut as a choreographer in 2009, earning favorable notices from the New York Times, Dance Magazine and Vanity Fair among others. He earned a Bessie Award nomination in 2011 in the “Outstanding Emerging Choreographer,” category.

Other repertory highlights of the season include a July 11 evening of “20th Century Violin Concertos” featuring Peter Martins’ “Barber Violin Concerto,” which explores the contrast between classical and modern dance; Robbins’ ethereal, introspective “Opus 19 /The Dreamer” and Balanchine’s “Stravinsky Violin Concerto,” a signature “black and white” ballet and a work widely considered one of the choreographer’s greatest.

Neoclassical simplicity and symmetry also narrate a July 12 program of chamber works that includes Peter Martins’ spare and elegant “Hallelujah Junction,” set to a pulsing John Adams score and featuring two onstage pianists; Christopher Wheeldon’s poignant “After The Rain” pas de deux, created in 2005 for retiring NYCB principal Jock Soto, and set to a score by Arvo Part; and Jerome Robbins’ uplifting “Dances At A Gathering,” a work for 10 dancers set to 18 piano pieces by Chopin. Continued...

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“In conjunction with this spectacular program, audiences can look forward to the return of our popular series of pre-shows, including American Girl Night, Family Night, Date Night and Girls Night Out, as well as engaging educational programs such as New York City Ballet’s ‘See the Music’ and children’s workshops led by NYCB dancers,” White said. “An evening at SPAC offers limitless opportunities to learn, interact and enjoy; it’s a live arts experience at its best.”

Online ticket sales for New York City Ballet’s Saratoga season begin March 18 at spac.org.

Ticket prices for inside seating range from $30 to $80; lawn seating is $24.

Located in the Spa State Park in Saratoga Springs, NY, SPAC has been the summer home of New York City Ballet since 1966.

Just three hours from Boston and New York, SPAC’s 2013 programming also includes the Freihofer’s Saratoga Jazz Festival, the National Ballet of Canada, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, MOMIX, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, Cabaret Series, Opera Saratoga, Live Nation concerts and the Saratoga Wine & Food and Fall Ferrari Festival.

Pre-performance talks


Presented in conjunction with its classical season, SPAC’s Pre-Performance Talks series features world-class musicians, dancers, conductors, composers and scholars sharing insights and perspectives with small groups prior to classical performances. Created to enhance SPAC’s educational mission, the talks, unless otherwise noted, will be at 7 p.m. before the performances in the intimate setting of the Hall of Springs Gold Room. Admission to the talks is $5 and open only to people who have a ticket to the evening’s performance. Tickets are available at spac.org or at the box office.

The schedule is:

Tuesday, July 9, 7 p.m., Opening Night, TBA Continued...

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Wednesday, July 10, 7 p.m., Justin Peck, choreographer and dancer, New York City Ballet

Thursday, July 11, 1 p.m. Deborah Jowitt, dance critic, scholar and author of “Jerome Robbins, His Life, His Theater, His Dance” (2004)

Thursday, July 11, 7 p.m., Deborah Jowitt

Friday, July 12, 7 p.m., conversation with a New York City Ballet dancer

Saturday, July 13, 1 p.m., Mindy Aloff, professor of dance, Barnard College; author, “Hippo in a Tutu” (2009), “Dance Anecdotes” (2006); consultant, The George Balanchine Foundation.

Saturday, July 13, gala, no pre-performance talk

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SPAC's excuses for decimating New York City Ballet at SPAC.

Reader's View: Sustainability key to strong SPAC future

Published: Sunday, January 06, 2013

By Marcia J. White

The Dec. 30 “Reader’s View” entitled, “SPAC headed in wrong direction,” presents a false picture of SPAC’s commitment to its mission and New York City Ballet’s residency.

The letter claims that SPAC pushed NYCB off a “fiscal cliff.” This ignores the facts. The 2008 decision to shorten the ballet program from three weeks to two was a cost-saving measure initiated by NYCB. Let me repeat that for clarity: this reduction was initiated by NYCB, which has been working over the past several years to whittle down unsustainable annual operating losses and achieve a break-even position.

This move halted the residency’s ballooning deficit for a time, but costs relentlessly crept back up, causing SPAC and NYCB to scale back the 2013 program to one week. In fact, SPAC alone ended up incurring a $1.1 million loss for the two-week residency in 2012, exceeding the three-week residency deficit of 2008. The ballet’s executive director, Katherine Brown, has expressed her hope that “a new financial model” would ensure the residency’s future.

To this end, SPAC has been working with NYCB to devise ways to restore two weeks of programming in 2014 without overburdening either organization financially — a point SPAC’s leadership has repeatedly made to the public since last July, when the decision to reduce NYCB’s 2013 residency was announced. Continued cooperation and coordination between both organizations will be required for this effort to succeed.

A private not-for-profit SPAC has successfully increased fundraising over the last eight years: gifts from major donors have doubled, corporate sponsorship revenue has risen by 160 percent, the revenue from our wine and food festival has doubled and we’ve added several new fundraising events.

Ticket revenues cover only about 40 percent of the costs of SPAC’s classical programming. Additionally, each performance of the NYCB costs, on average, approximately $180,000. Yet, SPAC has at least broken even each year for eight straight years, an achievement not matched by some of the other superb arts venues cited as models by the letter’s signers.

Ultimately, a not-for-profit’s mission can only be fulfilled if the organization itself remains viable. With the performing arts everywhere in great need of support in our challenging economic times, today’s philanthropists — including SPAC’s — will not give to entities lacking viable financial structures.

SPAC has been fortunate to attract to its board, leaders in business, the professions and the community, who understand these realities. Several are veteran not-for-profit leaders, too, having served with distinction on other boards. SPAC’s Board members — dance and music lovers who give generously of their time, expertise and treasure — are well aware of their fiduciary obligations to donors and the public to foster SPAC’s mission, while managing the organization as cost effectively as reasonably possible.

The one point on which we all agree is that NYCB is a jewel. SPAC’s 48-year affiliation with NYCB, the world’s foremost ballet company, has brought distinction to our venue and prestige to our region. Building on this legacy is our goal. However, it can’t be achieved at the expense of SPAC’s financial stability or the quality and breadth of our other world-class programs.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but not their own facts. The signers of this letter, the majority of whom are not SPAC members, need to realize that the issues surrounding this residency are not at all due to a lack of commitment to NYCB. Rather, they are a response to new economic realities and a determination to ensure that SPAC remains strong for future generations. Continued...

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Marcia J. White is the president and executive director of Saratoga Performing Arts Center.

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Readers' View: SPAC headed in wrong direction

Published: Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Saratoga Performing Arts Center administration’s decision to restrict the New York City Ballet’s 2013 residency to one week is deeply troubling.

Their decision to push the New York City Ballet off a “fiscal cliff” will not just affect the economic vitality of businesses in Saratoga Springs and surrounding towns and cities. It will also place the future of SPAC in jeopardy by eroding its international reputation and prestige. It is the latest in bad management decisions plaguing SPAC since the 1970s.

The New York City Ballet is the world’s most celebrated dance company, as recognized recently by the prestigious CBS News program “60 Minutes.”

In the last three years, its Saratoga residency has fallen from three weeks to five days. New York City Ballet dancers, staff and orchestra members rent and buy homes here, eat in restaurants, shop and buy groceries and frequent local businesses during their residency. Tourists who are drawn here by the quality of NYCB performances and reputation spend money locally, too. The five days allotted to the New York City Ballet next summer is not a residency. It is merely a quick stint.

The dance companies with which SPAC will replace the New York City Ballet in July 2013 could not possibly draw as many people or as much fund-raising support. While these replacements would make a fine addition to programming, they can’t replace audiences built over nearly 50 years of Saratoga’s having the honor of calling itself “The Summer Home of the New York City Ballet.”

All around us, arts venues — from Tanglewood and Jacob’s Pillow in the Berkshires, to Proctors in Schenectady, to Glimmerglass in Cooperstown — survive and even thrive because they are run by experienced arts managers who have steeped themselves in dance or music all of their lives. Given proper fundraising and arts management skills, SPAC could thrive, too. But if SPAC sticks to its current course, its slide in artistic and financial health will worsen.

There are steps that SPAC’s administration must take to ensure its financial viability. Most of these recommendations were made in the New York State Parks and Recreation audit eight years ago and never followed. They are the key to building a thriving arts organization. Among them:

• Hire a professional fundraiser — SPAC’s financial difficulties are caused by inadequate fundraising and outside support.

• Analyze compensation and performance — The president, an employee of SPAC, does not perform at the level commensurate with her compensation, which takes up nearly 4 percent of the center’s budget.

• Reaffirm its commitment to the fine arts, centered on the music and dance residencies of the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York City Ballet, which have been at the core of its mission since 1966. Continued...

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• Rely less on ticket sales and Live Nation and, instead, revitalize its Endowment Committee.

• Rely less on visually distracting gimmicks like mounting cellphone antennas on the amphitheater as a substitute for solid fundraising.

• Increase the size of the board of directors to include dance and music lovers regardless of their financial status.

• Join with the community — Due to past and present investment of public funds in SPAC, it is appropriate for the public to have a greater voice in the operation of the corporate affairs of SPAC.

Please join with us to let New York state know of your displeasure. Contact Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Parks and Recreation Commissioner Rose Harvey and tell them that SPAC is headed in the wrong direction. Contact New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and request a new audit of SPAC’s books. Only political pressure may convince SPAC to reverse its course in 2014.

Louise Goldstein, Saratoga Springs; John Tighe, Saratoga Springs; Rhona Koretzky, Saratoga Springs; Lisa Akker, Saratoga Springs; Mary C. Mahoney, Malta; William McColl, Schenectady; Zoe Nousiainen, Saratoga Springs; Paul Sulzmann, Troy; Ron Barnell, Schenectady (freelance photographer/classical music reviewer); Helen Bayly, Troy (member of the Royal Academy of Dance, London); Don Drewecki, Galway (Capital Region music lover/recording engineer — attended the very first concert at SPAC Aug. 4, 1966); Ron Wasserman, New York City (double-bass player in the New York City Ballet Orchestra)

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