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.

October 2024

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.

A 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.

Musicians 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.

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