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Concerts

Thank you for your support of the SUNY Schenectady School of Music.
Unless otherwise noted, all performances are free and take place in Carl B. Taylor Auditorium. 

September 2024

Wednesday, September 18, 12 p.m.

The Musicians of Ma'alwyckMusicians of Ma’alwyck: Player’s Choice

Players’ Choice is a unique program featuring repertory selected from each of the core musicians’ favorite composers: Amram, Ximénez, Doppler, and Bréval. We will leave it to you to guess which musician selected which piece!

Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, violin
Sten Isachsen, guitar
Norman Thibodeau, flute
André Laurent O’Neil, cello

Musicians of Ma’alwyck is a flexible-size chamber ensemble in residence at the Schuyler Mansion New York State Historic Site and SUNY Schenectady County Community College. Founded in 1999 by violinist and director Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, the group specializes in music performed in America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many of the performing materials are drawn from the Special Collections of the New York State Library. Learn more about the Musicians of Ma'alwyck.

Friday, September 20, 7:30 p.m.

A Place for Jazz: Warren Wolf/Joe Locke Quartet

Warren Wolf and Joe Locke

Tickets: $25 per person; students with ID, $10
(cash or check only)
Learn more at A Place for Jazz

Warren Wolf is a multi-instrumentalist from Baltimore, MD. From the young age of three years old, Warren has been trained on the vibraphone/marimba, drums, and piano. Under the guidance of his father, Warren Wolf Sr., Warren acquired a deep background in all genres of music. He has studied the classical composers and the legends of ragtime, as well as jazz artists and composers such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Brown, Herbie Hancock, Oscar Peterson, Milt Jackson, Bobby Hutcherson, Cal Tjader, Return to Forever, Weather Report, Wynton Marsalis and many others.

Long known to be a soloist capable of stunning physical power and broad emotional range, it was not until the last decades that Joe Locke emerged as the composer, bandleader and conceptualist that he is considered today. This is in no small part due to his solo projects since the beginning of the 2000s, notably Four Walls of Freedom​​, a 6-movement suite featuring the late tenor saxophonist Bob Berg; Live in Seattle​ (Origin) by The Joe Locke/Geoffrey Keezer Group, which won the 2006 EarShot award for Concert of the Year; and his eloquent and vibrant quartet Force Of​ Four​ (Origin).

Wednesday, September 25, 12 p.m.

Members of the Hot Wrk ensemble.Hot Wrk Ensemble

Saxophone/woodwind and percussion trio founded in 2020 by award-winning musicians J Brooks Marcus (J Why), Lois Hicks-Wozniak and Brad Hubbard, Hot Wrk Ensemble is committed to creating community through diverse, genre-eclectic “chamber grooves” that include everything from Bossa Nova, Son Jalisciense, Scarlatti, contemporary classical and collaborative improvisation. Both questioning and answering, “what is chamber music?" Hot Wrk explores, deconstructs and wrks out concepts of traditional chamber music and the concert experience.

 

October 2024

Friday, October 4, 7:30 p.m.

The members of Artemis standing together.A Place for Jazz: Artemis

Tickets: $25 per person; students with ID, $10
(cash or check only)
Learn more at A Place for Jazz

Named for the Olympian goddess of the hunt and the wild, this superlative sextet is an international affair, with members hailing from the U.S., Canada, Israel, Chile and Japan: ARTEMIS is an all-star group featuring six of the top performers on the jazz scene today: pianist and musical director Renee Rosnes, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, clarinetist Anat Cohen, tenor saxophonist Nicole Glover, bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Allison Miller, and frequently vocalist Cecile McLorin Salvant. Forget about gender! This is a significant and serious band that plays with passion, power and sensitivity. They will bring their collective artistry to the world with unforgettable performances of high-wire interplay and pure joy.
Source: https://artemisband.com

 

Sunday, October 6, 3 p.m.

Capital Region Wind Ensemble: Forests and Fanfares

Tickets: $10 for adults; $8 for students: $5 for children under 10, available at the door. SUNY Schenectady students are free with ID.

This program features the powerful CRWE brass section in a series of fanfares by Gina Gillie, Jasmine Pigott, and William Grant Still. The full Capital Region Wind Ensemble will also perform tree and forest inspired works by Warren Benson, Josh Rodriguez, Michael Markowski, and Joseph Wilcox Jenkins.

 

Monday, October 7, 7:30 p.m.

Chamber Music Series: A Journey through Modern Japanese Music

Evocative Melodies and Innovative Compositions 

Mitsuko Suzuki, violin
Akina Yura, piano
Nachiko Maekane, percussion
Christopher Brellochs, saxophone

 

Friday, October 18, 7:30 p.m.

Bill O'Connell and Craig HandyA Place for Jazz: Bill O’Connell Quartet featuring Craig Handy

Tickets: $25 per person; students with ID, $10
(cash or check only)
Learn more at A Place for Jazz

Bill O’Connell is a living example of what can happen when the old axiom “Good things come to those who wait” is put to the test. His professional career spans almost half a century and has earned him widespread acclaim for his virtuosic skills as an attention-grabbing keyboardist, composer, arranger, and bandleader. Learn more about Bill O'Connell.

Born in Oakland, CA, as a music-hungry youngster, Craig Handy experimented on guitar, trombone, and piano before settling on his first true love, the saxophone. While listening to the radio at the age of 11, Handy fell under the spell of the transcendent saxophone playing of jazz legend Dexter Gordon. Berkeley High School’s (CA) reputable Jazz Program soon beckoned, and Handy joined the ranks of graduating stellar saxophone talent including David Murray, Peter Apfelbaum, and Joshua Redman, to name a few. He attended North Texas State University and won the coveted Charlie Parker Scholarship which enabled his early college experience as a psychology major and frontrunner in the school’s exceptional One O’ Clock Jazz Ensemble. Learn more about Craig Handy.

 

Friday, October 25, 7:00 p.m.

Choral Workshop Final Concert

 

Wednesday, October 30, 12 p.m.

The Musicians of Ma'alwyckMusicians of Ma’alwyck: Mayhem & Madness

Mayhem & Madness offers music from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries related to the chaotic titular theme, including a work by Guillaume-Pierre-Antoine Gatayes (1774–1846). Gatayes was a prolific composer and guitar player who lived in Paris during the time of the French Revolution. In fact, he resided in the same house as Jean-Paul Marat, a journalist and revolutionary leader whose murder was memorialized in the famous painting. The program celebrates these quirky musical characters among others.

Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, violin
Sten Isachsen, guitar
Norman Thibodeau, flute
André Laurent O’Neil, cello

Musicians of Ma’alwyck is a flexible-size chamber ensemble in residence at the Schuyler Mansion New York State Historic Site and SUNY Schenectady County Community College. Founded in 1999 by violinist and director Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, the group specializes in music performed in America during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Many of the performing materials are drawn from the Special Collections of the New York State Library. Learn more about the Musicians of Ma'alwyck.

 

November 2024

Friday, November 1, 7:30 p.m.

Bria Skonberg holding her trumpet.A Place for Jazz: Bria Skonberg Quintet

Tickets: $25 per person; students with ID, $10
(cash or check only)
Learn more at A Place for Jazz

Born in British Columbia, Canada and now residing in New York City, Bria has been a featured artist at hundreds of festivals and stages the world over, including New Orleans Jazz & Heritage, Kobe, Monterey, Breda, Newport and Montreal Jazz Festivals. Described as “one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation” (Wall Street Journal), she has performed with Jon Batiste, Wycliffe Gordon, Stephane Wrembel, Steven Bernstein, U2 & Sun Ra Arkestra, The American Pops and Vancouver Symphony Orchestras, The Blacksmiths “We Insist” Band, and once sang the “Star Spangled Banner” at Madison Square Garden for a NY Rangers game.  The “shining hope of hot jazz” (NY Times) has been at the forefront of a revival of classic American music as both a performer and educator, programming concerts and workshops for students of all ages.

Source: https://www.briaskonberg.com/bio

 

Saturday, November 2

2-4 p.m. - Friends of Chamber Music: Ulysses Quartet

 

Wednesday, November 6

7:30 p.m. - Chamber Music Series: Music for Piano Four-Hands

 

Saturday, November 9

10 a.m.-2 p.m. - Chamber Music Series (Educational Event): Music for Piano Four-Hands

 

Friday, November 15

7:30 p.m. - Chamber Music Series: Amahl and the Night Visitors

 

Saturday, November 16

3 p.m. - Chamber Music Series: Amahl and the Night Visitors

 

Saturday, November 23

10 a.m.-12 p.m. - Renaissance String Quartet Master Class

 

Monday, November 25

12 p.m. - Guitar & Bass Recital

7:30 p.m. - Brass Recital & Brass Ensemble Concert

 

Tuesday, November 26

7:30 p.m. - Jazz Combos Concert

 

Wednesday, November 27

12 p.m. - Woodwinds Recital

1 p.m. - Strings & Percussion Recital

 

December 2024

Monday, December 2

12 p.m. - Piano Recital

7:30 p.m. - Chorus Concert

Chorus Concert will take place at the Reformed Church of Scotia, 224N Ballston Ave., Scotia, NY 12302

 

Tuesday, December 3

7:30 p.m. - Vocal Chamber Ensemble Concert

Vocal Chamber Ensemble Concert will take place in Elston Hall, President's Terrace

 

Wednesday, December 4

12 p.m. - Digital Music & Beat Production Listening Recital

7:30 p.m. - Wind Ensemble

 

Thursday, December 5

4:30 p.m. - Applied Lesson Recital

7:30 p.m. - Chamber Ensemble Concert

 

Friday, December 6

7:30 p.m. - Jazz Ensemble Concert

 

Monday, December 9

12 p.m. - Voice Recital

7:30 p.m. - Audio Listening Recital & Guitar Ensemble Concert

 

 

YouTube Concerts Featuring Students and Alumni

SUNY Schenectady Brass Ensemble

 

SUNY Schenectady Wind Ensemble

 

Read about the concert series in The Daily Gazette.

Music of the Masters

 

The Class of 2021

View The Class of 2021 pre-concert discussion on YouTube.

 

American Currents in Song

View the American Currents in Song pre-concert discussion on YouTube.

 

Chopin Project

View the Chopin Project pre-concert discussion on YouTube.

 

Niamh Schmid, Piano