Another Kentucky Derby is approaching, and with future wager opportunities available in February, March and April, it’s time to start getting serious about the 144th consecutive Run for the Roses.
Not to worry. I’ve got the horse right here: His name is Good Magic. Can do. Can do. I says the horse can do.
Though I don’t consider myself a savvy handicapper—fortunately, I’ve made my living writing and photographing Thoroughbreds, not betting on them—I’ve had my scores at the Kentucky Derby. My best run was four wins in five years between 1997 and 2001.
Much can happen in the weeks and months leading up to the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs, but Good Magic is the horse. With a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, he won’t be a long shot. He might be the favorite.
Good Magic and jockey Jose Ortiz in the BC Juvenile. (Breeders’ Cup)
Remember, the goal is to cash tickets, not whine about a 15-1 shot who ran second. And while he has some serious local connections, this is definitely not a homer play. However, it doesn’t hurt that Saratoga native Kristine Hoenig Edwards and her family co-own the colt, and that he’s trained by Chad Brown, the two-time defending Eclipse Award–winner from Mechanicville.
Kristine and Bob Edwards of Boca Raton, FL, and their three adult children comprise e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and are newcomers to the sport; this is only their third season. Yet with Brown guiding them, they’ve already had a jaw-dropping run of success at the highest level: three-for-three at the Breeders’ Cup. One of those wins was by Good Magic in last year’s Juvenile. e Five spent $1 million for the son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin and then took in the breeder, Stonestreet Stables, as a partner. Good Magic romped in the Juvenile and paid a cool $25 for good reason: He entered the race 0-for-2, and no maiden had ever won a Breeders’ Cup race.
Good magic being led to the winner’s circle after the BC Juvenile. That’s trainer Chad Brown in the pink tie at right. (Breeders’ Cup)
“We’ve always thought a lot of the horse,” Brown says. “He was developing rapidly, and even if he was still technically a maiden, we just felt that he belonged in the race. He’s a horse that improved every week. His works got stronger and sharper. We also anticipated him excelling around two turns, which he did.”
Good Magic spent this past November and December at Stonestreet Farm in Kentucky and was sent to Brown’s Florida stable to prep for the Triple Crown. Bob Edwards laughed when I asked him what it was like having a top Derby prospect: “It’s nervewracking,” he said. “It’s like juggling eggs, right? Anything can go wrong any day.”
My first memory of the Olympics was watching Kerri Walsh Jennings and Misty May-Treanor absolutely dominate in women’s beach volleyball at the 2004 Athens Summer Games. Having just started playing volleyball, I couldn’t believe how two women could cover a whole court, and on sand, no less. I gave myself eight years, a slightly unrealistic goal, to get good enough to compete at the 2012 Olympics in London when I’d be 16. Saratoga native Kathleen Kauth tells a similar story about a different sport. She remembers going to see the US play Canada in the 1994 IIHF Ice Hockey Women’s World Championship in Lake Placid when she was 15. “I thought, gosh, I didn’t even know that was possible,” Kauth said. “It immediately became something I wanted to do.” Four years later, women’s ice hockey became an Olympic sport.
It’s here that Kauth’s and my own paths diverge: While 12 years after Athens I was turning in my kneepads, 12 years after Lake Placid, Kauth was winning an Olympic bronze medal. “Losing in the semifinal game in a shoot-out to Sweden was devastating at the time, absolutely devastating,” Kauth says. “Our team listened to Céline Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” on repeat for a while there. But it’s funny now, 12 years removed, all you remember is going to the Olympics and winning a medal.”
Kauth (pictured) now lives in Toronto with her partner, four-time Canadian Olympian Jayna Hefford, and their three children.
Kauth’s road to the 2006 Torino Olympics was anything but easy, though. Shortly after making the national team in 2001, her father died in the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. A few months later, Kauth was one of four players cut from the team when it was reduced from 25 to 21 players before the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. “I think my father dying, in some way, shape or form, did impact my decision to continue on and try in 2006,” Kauth said. “I think it enabled me to make the decision that the rest of life could wait—I really wanted to achieve this dream, even if the rest had to wait for another four years.”
Kauth now lives in Toronto with her partner, four-time Canadian Olympian Jayna Hefford, and their three children. She serves on the board of the Canadian Women’s Hockey League and works in the clean energy field. But she misses Saratoga. “I have to say, and I say this without any embellishment, Saratoga Springs is one of the most special towns I’ve ever been to, and I was lucky to grow up there,” Kauth said. “At the time, I didn’t know it was so nice: its natural beauty, history, really good food, the community spirit—all of it. I think just knowing how great a city Saratoga is and not living there now, sometimes I think, ‘Jeez, why not?’ But I live in a pretty special place too.”
Obviously, Kauth still had unforgettable memories of representing our country on the biggest athletic stage of all. Falling short of my own childhood Olympic dreams, all I can do now is cheer for Team USA from my living room. And that is pretty darn special too.
As a former sports columnist and reporter at Schenectady’s The Daily Gazette for a quarter century, I covered my fair share of Olympians. In 1984, I wrote about Niskayuna native Jeff Blatnick’s remarkable gold medal bid in wrestling—still one of the greatest and most emotional sporting moments in Upstate New York history. I’ve written more words than any other journalist in America about four-time US judo Olympian Jason Morris of Burnt Hills, who was a silver medalist at the Barcelona Summer Olympic Games in 1992. And I’ve been to the Lake Placid and Montréal Olympics as a spectator, and covered the Salt Lake City Games as a Gazette reporter in 2002.
In short, I’ve written dozens of stories about—and snapped myriad photographs of—Olympic stars-in-the-making and medalists from the Capital Region. One such athlete that I’ve had my eye on for the last few years is 23-year-old bobsled driver Codie Bascue, who’s representing the US at the PyeongChang, South Korea, Winter Olympic Games this month.
Last November, I followed Bascue to the bobsled/skeleton World Cup in Lake Placid—the site of the “Miracle on Ice”—where he showed me why he’s one of Team USA’s most promising young athletes.
Bascue, a native of Whitehall, NY, a small town near the Vermont border, isn’t only a throwback, but also a contradiction. Unbelievably so, he’s the youngest and most experienced member of Team USA’s Olympic bobsled team. In an era where nearly all of the nation’s bobsled athletes are recruited to the sport in their 20s from collegiate football and track-and-field programs across the US, Bascue is a locally grown talent, like the many Upstate New Yorkers who once dominated the American team.
The 23-year-old bobsled driver Codie Bascue is representing the US at the PyeongChang, South Korea, Winter Olympic Games. (Mike Kane
His career, remarkably now in its 15th season, began when he was in elementary school. That unusual early exposure came through the Whitehall Central School District’s bobsled club, which was started by his grandfather, Alan Bascue. The Whitehall students, members of the only scholastic club of its kind in the country, made the 84-mile trip to the Mount Van Hoevenberg sliding track near Lake Placid on Sundays. “I started then and fell in love with it,” Bascue says.
That same kid with potential has grown up to be an Olympian. He’s the pilot of the USA-1 sled, replacing the legendary Steven Holcomb, the Olympic and world champion, who died unexpectedly at 37 last May. Bascue found success last year in his fourth season on the World Cup circuit, and last month, officially made the Olympic bobsled squad, heading into PyeongChang.
Well before the news broke of his making the Olympic team, near the midpoint of the seven-stop World Cup season, Bascue acknowledged to me that he was looking forward to the Winter Games. “I’m just really excited,” he said. “I don’t know what to expect. I’ve never really been to that stage. I guess I’ll find out when it gets here.”
While Bascue’s skill as a driver has been evident for years, there was some question about whether he had the combination of genetics and dedication to become a capable contributor to the critically important push starts. After what he describes as a disappointing 2016–17 season, he shed 15 lbs and spent the summer trying to improve his speed and strength. The off-season work paid off for the 5’9’’, 205-lb driver in November when he earned gold, silver and bronze medals—the first podium finishes of his World Cup career—in races at Lake Placid and Park City, UT.
“Over the last few years, Codie has really developed into that explosive athlete that we’ve been looking and hoping for,” says Team USA Bobsled Head Coach Brian Shimer. “With his sprint times and the strength and power he has developed, he’s now one of the stronger guys on the team. Still being young, he could certainly be USA Bobsled’s next franchise athlete, who we see kind of carry Team USA into the next several Olympic Games.”
Of Bascue, Team USA Bobsled Head Coach Brian Shimer says he believes the young star could be “USA Bobsled’s next franchise athlete, who we see kind of carry Team USA into the next several Olympic Games.” (Mike Kane)
Shimer, a college football player from Florida who became a push athlete and then a bronze medal-winning driver in 2002, told me that Bascue was having a breakthrough season at just the right time. “Certainly, I believe this year, he can vie for a medal. It’s certainly possible,” Shimer said. “He’s still a young pilot, but he has been and will be competing against other pilots who don’t have as much experience in the front seat as he has had early in his career.”
In 1988, 32-year-old Alan Bascue followed through on his interest in bobsled racing and began what turned into four years competing in club events at Mount Van Hoevenberg. A decade later, the now-retired Whitehall School District sport and transportation supervisor decided to try to organize a bobsled club team for the district. His grandson was among the 35 to 40 students who signed up that first winter. Alan Bascue wanted to introduce children from his town to the sport he loved and provide a feeder system for the USA Bobsled and Skeleton Federation’s junior program. “When I was sliding, I noticed how the other countries did it with their athletes,” he said. “We had no real recruitment or training program. My thought when I did it was, you’ve got to start younger.”
Alan Bascue also hoped to revive regional interest in bobsledding. From the 1930s into the 1970s, the bulk of the American national team roster was made up of athletes from the Adirondacks and Capital Region. Since 1988, the last Olympics for Brent Rushlaw of Saranac Lake and Matt Roy of Lake Placid, there have been only two drivers raised and trained in Upstate New York: Chuck Leonowicz of Scotia in 1992 and John Napier of Schenectady in 2010. Napier’s father, Bill, was a bobsledder and, like Bascue, started driving in peewee events when he was in grade school.
In the early days of the Whitehall program, Alan Bascue told reporters writing about the club that it might produce an Olympic team member someday. Bascue had no way of knowing that it would be his own grandson. “I think the biggest thing is the adrenaline rush I get every time I go down the track,” he says. “I got the same adrenaline rush my first trip ever when I was eight that I still get today. It hasn’t really ever seemed to fade, and I think that’s what I love about the sport most.”
As for the Olympic stories I’ve covered, Codie Bascue is right up there near the top.
“I love to reinvent myself and jump into new things,” says Saratoga Springs Mayor Meg Kelly of her professional trajectory. Born and raised in Saratoga, Kelly was a familiar face long before she landed on the mayoral ballot this past November. Kelly worked for 17 years as a Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) golf instructor at the Spa State Park, served as Executive Director for Saratoga’s Children’s Theatre and helped launch open mic nights for children and teens around town (one artist, Sydney Worthley, recently played at this year’s First Night celebration and gigged with local celebrity Sawyer Fredericks).
Just like every other Saratoga native, she’s seen the city grow into the highly desirable destination it is today—but unlike the average Saratogian, she now gets to run it.
Mere months into her first term, the Democrat says that she wasn’t even thinking about running for mayor at first. “I was actually going to run for supervisor,” she says. But after getting a pep talk from her boss, outgoing Mayor Joanne Yepsen, and discussing it with her family, Kelly changed course. “And the rest, well, is history.”
“Service is the motor that drives me,” says Meg Kelly, the newly elected Mayor of Saratoga. (Lawrence White)
Work Ethic
“As soon as I got the job as Deputy Mayor, I hit the ground running. I worked with everybody to make effective changes in the process. It’s very difficult for people who work in City Hall when there’s a mayoral election every two years. They can get stalled and be forced to wait until after the election to see which way to turn. Then it takes six months to get everyone into a routine, so it can be complex and frustrating. I tried to make the process more effective for the city and the people who work in City Hall.”
The Campaign
“I worked really hard to get elected in this town. Call me naïve, but I didn’t even know I was the underdog. I ran against a much-better-funded candidate who’s very well-known and respected Downtown. The difference is that I’m well-known throughout the community. I grew up here, I have roots here, and that was the deciding factor.”
Motivation
“Service is the motor that drives me. I believe in giving back and working as a community. It has never been money-driven for me. It’s the thrill of the job, of accomplishment, of working together that has always been my motivation.”
Goal
“My ultimate job here is to find ways of getting people to work together in city government.”
To tread the line between memorable, au courant fashion design and timeless elegance is a tricky thing—and it’s even rarer to find it in bridal design. Luckily for young designer Cristina Ottaviano, her collections seamlessly flow between ready-to-wear and bridal. She’s the wedding dress designer you didn’t know made wedding dresses.
Aesthetically speaking, Ottaviano, who spent her childhood summers in Lake George, follows in the same tradition as Carolina Herrera and Marchesa—while her fabrications and techniques can be quite modern, her overall sensibility is elegant and timeless. Take, for example, the asymmetrical metallic bustier and white tuxedo she designed for supermodel Bella Hadid to wear to Glamour’s Women of the Year Awards. It was a fashion moment that was simultaneously high-octane and understated, both in step with the current mood in fashion but also classic. It’s sumptuous fashion moments like that one that have attracted not only other celebrities (including Karolína Kurková, Petra Němcová, and Emily Ratajkowski) to Ottaviano’s work, but also a healthy base of private clients across the country.
Hot fashion designer Cristina Ottaviano designed her own wedding dress. (Christian Oth Studio)
A graduate of The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, Ottaviano apprenticed at both Oscar de la Renta and Marc Jacobs, so, assuming she was paying attention, she knows a thing or two about building a business. While her current focus is maximizing loyalty with her core group of private clients, she’s also partnering with the right stockists and dressing the right celebrities to build her brand. Ottaviano is one of the 2018 nominees for Fashion Group International’s prestigious Rising Star Awards and, in addition to producing two ready-to-wear collections per year, also just launched a full-fledged custom bridal atelier in Manhattan. She’s clearly a woman to watch.
Ottaviano’s finely honed appreciation for exceptional design and superb construction are evident everywhere in her work. We sat down with the designer to try and dig a little deeper behind the stylish bustiers.
Do you spend much time in Saratoga Springs? Yes, I do! I spent my childhood summers at our family home at The Sagamore on Lake George. I learned how to swim, water-ski and fish at the lake and I loved hiking the Adirondacks. I have incredible memories of this very beautiful place and still try to get there for a long weekend whenever I can.
When did you first get into fashion design? I came from a family of strong, fashion-forward and hardworking women. My great-grandmother taught me how to sew and crochet when I was very young. I also developed a love for embroidery and beautiful fabrics. I’ve always been an artist and began drawing, sketching and painting in preschool. I knew that I wanted to design beautiful clothing for women when in my early teens.
Who are your creative influences? Oscar de la Renta had the biggest influence on me. When I apprenticed with him, he taught me that a creative person should be open to inspiration from anywhere, at any time. He also taught me how important it is to be involved in every step of the design process, and that proper fit and construction are at the core of every look.
How would you describe your brand? Our brand is timeless and elegant, with a modern flair. We like to experiment with textures, draping and color. We strive to create an exceptional design, a special piece.
Who is your “girl?” Our girl is confident and embraces her unique beauty. She wants her design choices to tell you something about who she is.
Cristina Ottaviano in her Manhattan atelier.
You designed your own wedding dress. What was that like? I wanted my wedding gown to be light, airy and easy to move in, as I was married in Palm Beach, but it also had to be romantic and dramatic to complement the gorgeous venue. I fell in love with a corded Chantilly lace, so we created lace appliqués that were hand sewn onto the entire gown and long train.
Why did you want to create your own wedding dress? Who knows me better than me? I knew how I wanted to feel and look on that very special day, and only I could design a look that I’d be totally happy, comfortable and completely in love with.
Did you enjoy the process of creating your own wedding dress? I was almost sad after the gown was completed…that’s how much I enjoyed the process. There was a lot of interest in the gown. Guests wanted to look closely at it and asked how long it took to create it, that sort of thing.
How is bridal different from ready-to-wear design? My bridal designs are very much in line with my evening wear collection, a true extension and representation of my design philosophy.
Tell me about your bespoke bridal atelier. We have dedicated team members who work exclusively with brides and bridal orders. The process is very exciting and it’s so gratifying to work with a bride and see her dream gown become a reality.
What can a woman expect from a Cristina Ottaviano New York wedding gown? A woman can expect to be incredibly happy in a Cristina Ottaviano wedding gown because our team will listen to her thoughts and feelings and collaborate with her to create an extraordinarily beautiful gown. She can expect to look and feel her very best and to wear the gown she always envisioned for her wedding day.
Skiing purists may still turn their noses up at snowboarders, but it’s now been an Olympic sport for two decades. And you know you’ll be watching Shaun White as he shreds his way through the PyeongChang games this month.
Now, say, White were to want to get married—at last we heard, he was dating Sarah Barthel, lead singer of Saratoga area band, Phantogram. He might consider getting hitched doing the sport that made him famous.
Yes, there’s such a thing as a snowboarding wedding, and you can make one happen at your friendly neighborhood ski resort—like Killington in Vermont. Stacey and Mark Reindl did just that—they incorporated snowboarding into their big day, bounding down the slopes in their wedding finest.
“Right before the vows, my husband-to-be Mark and I snowboarded down Killington, and then we were married in the Grand Resort Hotel at the base,” Stacey Reindl says excitedly at the memory of her big day. “It was zero degrees when we got up, and it warmed up to a balmy five degrees. I had three wedding dresses that day, so I was actually snowboarding in my mother-in-law’s wedding dress, which was altered so it was a little shorter, so I could actually snowboard in it. And I did wear two base layers. We had a photographer and videographer shooting us the whole time, and our whole wedding party went out with us as well. So I kind of felt like a movie star.”
It’s not every day you get Latin music, jambalaya and salsa dancing here in Saratoga, and on January 13, Hattie’s Mardi Gras Soirée gave us all three. The 18th annual fundraiser raised nearly $100,000 for AIM Services, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to partnering with people of diverse abilities; and as always, showed us northerners how they party in N’awlins.
Arriving at the Canfield Casino on “Mardi Gras” night, the first thing I noticed was how loud it was; jazz music spilled over from the parlor, masked guests talked and laughed noisily and glasses clinked at the bustling bar. The volume only went up from there as the party’s 400 revelers moved into the ballroom, where Garland Nelson and Soul Session were belting out tunes such as Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” and Luis Fonsi’s smash “Despacito.” The crowd loved it.
The scene on the dancefloor was best described by my friend, whom I texted a video of it to: “That looks like serious fun.” I couldn’t agree more.
Hamlet & Ghost is first up as saratoga living endeavors to crown the legitimate heir to the next great Saratoga cocktail.
Mixologist: Brendan Dillon Bar: Hamlet & Ghost Cocktail: Saratoga Sunset
We wanted to play on the idea of what a Saratoga Sunrise 2.0 might be. This recipe sticks to what makes the sunset classic, refreshing, easy to drink and fruit forward, while keeping the classic layered look. We exchanged vodka for a citrusy, approachable gin, and the flavors of orange and cranberry for the more tropical and fun passion fruit. Maraschino gives the drink depth and balance, while mint and crushed ice make for a refreshing drink that can be served all day. Peychaud’s bitters are a classic New Orleans cocktail ingredient, and if any town can match the raucous high energy of a summer in Saratoga, it would be the Big Easy.
Saratoga Sunset
Ingredients: 1.5 oz Black Button Citrus Gin
(or another floral/citrus gin)
0.75 oz fresh lemon
0.5 oz passion fruit liqueur
0.25 oz simple syrup
0.25 oz Maraschino liqueur
Fresh mint
Instructions: In a shaker tin, lightly muddle six mint leaves. Add gin, lemon, Maraschino, passion fruit liqueur, simple syrup. Add ice, shake. Strain into a tall glass filled with crushed ice. Add six or seven dashes of Peychaud’s bitters. Garnish with fresh mint.
Three years after his death, the music world is still mourning the loss of icon David Bowie. Although the genre- and gender-bending artist isn’t around in body and soul, his spirit lives on in song—Bowie released 25 studio albums and a plethora of other recordings—and the many tributes and covers by his contemporaries.
Enter “The Celebrating David Bowie Tour,” which visits The Egg in Albany on February 13. The most significant Bowie tribute concert to date, the tour features friends and bandmates of the artist—including musicians who worked on his landmark albums or were part of his touring bands—will join forces for a career-spanning concert of his greatest songs. Players include Bowie bassist Carmine Rojas, who played on Bowie hits such as “Let’s Dance” and “China Girl;” guitarist Earl Slick, who’s featured on classic albums Diamond Dogs and Young Americans; and keyboardist Mike Garson, who collaborated with Bowie for longer than any other musician in the show (he debuted on 1973’s Aladdin Sane). For more, go to theegg.org.
The Hollywood Special Effects Show is exactly what it sounds like: An evening featuring pros that work on blockbuster movies such as The Dark Knight Rises and Guardians Of The Galaxy, and HBO megahit Game Of Thrones. Strap yourself in on February 9 at Proctors Theatre. For more, go to proctors.org.
Skidmore’s The Tang will host “Rose Ocean: Living with Duchamp,” focusing on the work of artist Marcel Duchamp.
Be a cut above at cutting a rug. Learn how to swing, contra, English country and square dance—and myriad other styles—in open sessions and workshops at “The Flurry: Festival of Dance and Music,” taking place at the Saratoga Springs City Center on February 17. Attendees will also be able to learn how to sign and perform international music via spirited jam sessions. For more, go to tourism.saratoga.org.
The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College presents “Rose Ocean: Living with Duchamp,” which celebrates the legacy of French-American Dadaist Marcel Duchamp (1887–1968). The exhibit runs from February 17 to May 20, and features conceptual works by more than 30 contemporary artists, including Matthew Barney, Richard Pettibone, Man Ray, Andy Warhol and Naomi Savage. For more, go to tang.skidmore.edu.
The Troy Savings Bank Music Hall plays host to classically trained, multi-genre string trio Time for Three, who has been known to mash up Guns N’ Roses and Mahler and dust off some Katy Perry “classics.” They’ll be performing on February 15. For more, go to troymusichall.org.
Catch famed British comedian Eddie Izzard—a self-proclaimed “action transvestite”—on his “Believe Me Tour,” which charts his course from busker to blockbuster, on February 17 at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. For more, go to troymusichall.org.
The Grammy Award-winning Albany Symphony Orchestra will be performing their Valentine’s weekend lineup—Tchaikovsky’s “Romeo and Juliet”—for all of you star-crossed (classical music) lovers out there at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall February 10-11. The program also includes Prokofiev’s “Symphony No. 7” and Grammy winner Christopher Rouse’s cello concerto. The orchestra then heads to the Palace Theatre in Albany on March 10 to play the program it will perform at the Kennedy Center; they are one of four orchestras that were chosen to play the SHIFT Festival in April. The program includes a quartet of contemporary American works, including Joan Tower’s “Still/Rapids” and Michael Torke’s “Three Manhattan Bridges,” performed by dazzling pianist Joyce Yang; Tuba virtuoso Benjamin Pierce, making his Albany Symphony debut in Michael Daugherty’s “Reflections;” and a Capital Region youth choir of 150 strong performing Dorothy Chang’s “The Mighty Erie Canal.” For tickets, go to albanysymphony.com.
Broadway stalwart Les Misérablestravels to Proctors Theatre for a six-day run, February 20-25, bringing the Victor Hugo classic to life. Just like Seinfeld’s George Costanza, you’ll soon have “Master of the House” stuck in your head. For tickets, go to proctors.org.
Troy Chromatic Concerts at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall spotlights two unmissable orchestras: Staatskapelle Weimar, performing on February 28 under conductor Kirill Karabits, in a program of Richard Strauss and Beethoven, with piano soloist Sunwook Kim; and the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba, conducted by Enrique Pérez Mesa, featuring clarinetist Antonio Dorta and violinist Ariel Sarduy on March 19. For tickets, go to troymusichall.org.
French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard will perform at Union College on March 4.
At Union College on February 10, British tenor Ian Bostridge performs with pianist Julius Drake (read an exclusive interview with Bostridge on saratogaliving.com). On February 25, the college also features longtime colleagues violinist Soovin Kim, Emerson Quartet cellist Paul Watkins and pianist Gloria Chien performing music by Beethoven, Brahms and Pierre Jalbert. Additionally at Union on March 4, French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard makes his anticipated debut, performing Beethoven, Liszt and Scriabin. For tickets, visit unioncollegeconcerts.org.
Skidmore College’s Zankel Music Center will feature an eclectic lineup, including the award-winning Dover String Quartet on February 24, performing music by Haydn, Bartok and Mendelssohn; and on March 1, the Beijing Guitar Duo, whose debut album, Maracaipe, was nominated for a Latin Grammy. For tickets, go to skidmore.edu/zankel.
Albany’s The Egg welcomes three dance companies in early 2018: The innovative Bridgman/Packer Dance integrates video technology and dance on February 16; the Irish Dance Company’s world champion step dancers and its Celtic band fuse ancient melodies with African rhythms on March 6; and the dancer-illusionists of Momix perform “Opus Cactus” on March 16. For tickets, go to theegg.org.
