Saratoga Springs: Opera gets money. Raitt and Vaughan in Saratoga Springs.
Don't say Cristina Connolly didn't warn you.
Welcome to the “Lunch Break” email from the editors of Saratoga Dispatch.
In this issue:
Top: Some briefs of note.
Bottom: Opera Saratoga wins grant from national group.
Where?
A fun mistake at the Bonnie Raitt concert Wednesday evening Sept. 4 at SPAC took place during the night’s first act, Jimmie Vaughan and his Tilt-a-Whirl Band. He is the former lead guitar of the Fabulous Thunderbirds and is the older brother to Stevie Ray Vaughan (guitar talent runs high in that family). A roots rock and blues guitar player of note, Jimmie sang about moving back to Texas in one song, and he looked over the microphone conspiratorially at the crowd and says, “unless I move to Sarasota Springs.”
It did not garner the applause he might have expected.
Still, Jimmie and Raitt, whose voice has remained stellar into her 70s, put on some great guitar work in the roots rock and blues mode. Raitt also spoke briefly about her time as a young girl at a summer camp in Saranac Lake run by the Quakers where she learned to fight for civil rights and, not for nothin’, how to play guitar.
Jimmie joined Raitt for the final song of the night. Delightful. — Steve Thurston
6th HAB for Saratoga Lake
According to the New York State Harmful Algal Blooms map, Saratoga Lake saw a sixth HAB for the year near the western shore of the lake at the mouth of the Kayaderosseras Creek, the border between Saratoga Springs and the Town of Malta. The HAB was recorded on Sept. 2. Warm water and the mix of the right organic compounds can cause the blooms which may be harmful to people and pets. In an earlier story about HABs and conservation, Cristina Connolly, the lake administrator with the Saratoga Lake Protection and Improvement District, warned that more HABs are likely with the warming temperatures and development around the lake. — Steve Thurston
Keep reading:
One HAB on the lake thus far, will we see more?
Lifestyle
Opera Saratoga one of four nationwide ‘new work’ grant awardees
The New Music USA award but one of many announcements by Saratoga’s opera company’s for its 65th anniversary season.
By: Abby Tegnelia
[For a FREE shareable link to this story, click here.]
Opera Saratoga was one of only four nationwide awardees for the 2025 New Music Organization Fund in the Creation of New Work category under classical voice. The grant was awarded for the organization’s first-ever full-length commission for two female artists.
“New Music USA’s support means that Alyssa Weinberg and J Mae Barizo’s DRIFT will be a part of our 2026 festival season,” says Opera Saratoga’s General and Artistic Director Mary Birnbaum. “Their beautiful new opera is about memory, migration and motherhood.”
New Music USA provides grants to “outstanding organizations that work regularly with and support the development of music creators and artists, offering crucial resources to their community,” according to a Sept. 2 article in OperaWire, which announced the classical voice winners.
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The 2025 grants totaled $584,000 in awards, and spanned 17 states and Washington, D.C.; a monetary amount for the classical voice winners alone was not provided, but the awardees spanned five states.
[MORE ON OPERA SARATOGA: Jon Batiste came to party; Opera Saratoga's surprise announcement]
DRIFT is part of Opera Saratoga’s 65th anniversary celebration, which includes a special concert version of Puccini’s epic La Bohème — the company’s first-ever holiday production — at UPH on December 5. As part of the year-long celebration, there will also be added pop-ups and cocktails parties, including a September 11 happy hour at the new Standard Fare on Phila Street. The two-hour event will include heavy apps, decadent dessert bites, welcome bubbly (or non-alcoholic beverage), a cash bar — and 40 minutes of singing, all in a party setting.
Abby Tegnelia is on the board of Opera Saratoga but all opinions are her own.
Keep reading about the performing arts:
Party time: Local celeb wins with Caroline St. horse. Plus Renee Fleming at SPAC