More details on all the exciting 2024 programming at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, along with performance tickets and workshop registration links, will be available within the next several weeks on our website so stay tuned!

BLUE MOUNTAIN LAKE—The Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts (ALCA) has announced its exciting lineup of programming for the 2024 season, “Back in Blue, Act IV: The Magic BUILDS!” featuring a continuing return to the “magic” of live music and theatre, along with new art-gallery exhibits, workshops, and kids’ activities.

The Arts Center 2024 lineup includes classical, folk, jazz, rhythm & blues, country, roots, and Broadway music through its Weekend Series, including world-renowned pianist Tony Siqi Yun performing on the Arts Center Steinway on July 20 and a return by Arts Center favorites Martin and Kelly on August 23. 2024. The popular Tuesdays@theAC series also returns this season, featuring locally based or connected performers. The magic builds with three touring ADK LAKES Theatre Festival productions: Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet in July, Gilbert & Sullivan’s hilarious H.M.S. Pinafore in August, and the premiere of Frederic Glover’s The Cure: An Adirondack Story in September.

“57 years ago, in 1967, a little group called the Beatles came out with The Magical Mystery Tour, a musical tour de force that helped define a generation,” says Arts Center Artistic General Director George Cordes. “That same year, Jim and Sheila Hutt founded the Arts Center in Blue Mountain Lake, a magical place that has continued to help define what the arts mean to our Adirondack communities. We now present Act IV of our return to live programming (four years since COVID), and we continue to build back stronger every year.”

This year, the Arts Center will reopen its doors to the public on Friday, May 24, with its season running through Sunday, Oct. 6. New hours during the summer will be Tuesday through Saturday, noon—4 p.m. (spring and fall hours will vary). The Gift Shop will also reopen to the public.

The 2024 Weekend Series kicks off on Sat., June 29, with the classical violin/piano duo Bowlin-Cho, followed on July 20 by pianist Tony Siqi Yun. The highly sought-after soloist made his acclaimed subscription debut last year with the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin and regularly performs recitals throughout Europe and North America. 

On Fri., August 2, the Buffalo-based group FolkFaces bring their “rowdy jazz and bluesy roots”, and on Sat., August 10, Chicago-based cellist Anita Graef will be joined by her brother Julian on violin and viola for a classical string program. The country duo Martin and Kelly returns to rock the Arts Center – this time with their full band! – on Fri., August 23, followed by a return to the Arts Center of the Canadian group Durham County Poets on Fri., Aug. 30. Rounding out the series, the Seagle Music Festival will again bring their talented young singers on Fri., Sept. 13, this year featuring musical-theatre songs from beloved Disney shows.

All Weekend Series concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m. this year, and tickets will be available through the Arts Center website in advance and at the door. Sponsors of the Weekend Series include Tony Zazula & Mark Chamberlain, the Joe & Rita Coney Memorial Fund, and the Jane Jacobs Music Fund.

2024 also sees the return of a favorite series, Tuesdays@theAC, featuring a wide-ranging lineup of full-year or part-year Adirondack performers on weekday evenings. This year’s concerts will happen on June 18 and 25, July 2 and 9, and August 6, 13, & 27. All concerts begin at 7:30 p.m., with donations gladly accepted. Through this series, the Arts Center again celebrates the diversity and talent of our region, featuring genre-leaping programs by performers from close to home.

In addition to concerts, the touring ADK Lakes Theatre Festival (ALTF) returns in 2024 with three productions. First up is Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet, abridged and directed by Karen Lordi-Kirkham and presented free and outdoors, July 26-31. Venues will include Chef Darrell’s Mountain Diner, Blue Mountain Lake; Arrowhead Park, Inlet; Overlook Pavilion, Newcomb; Sabattis Pavilion, Long Lake; and Sunset Stage, Tupper Lake (additional venues TBA). Up next is Gilbert & Sullivan’s hilarious operetta H.M.S. Pinafore, semi-staged and presented August 17-21, with venues to include the Arts Center, Blue Mountain Lake; View Arts, Old Forge; Tupper Lake Middle/High School; and Indian Lake Theater, Indian Lake (TBA).

Finally, the ALTF features the premiere of North Country playwright Frederic Glover’s The Cure: An Adirondack Story, with performances Sept. 20-29 and venues to include the Arts Center, Blue Mountain Lake; View Arts, Old Forge; Tupper Lake Middle/High School; Pendragon Theatre, Saranac Lake; and Tannery Pond Center, North Creek. Another venue is planned and will be announced. All ADK Lakes Theatre Festival productions are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts; David Myers and Monica Bills in memory of Anne Vaccaro & Jayson Grigsby; Pine’s Country Store; and Richard D. Woolley.

In addition, visual-arts exhibits at the Arts Center will resume with its Members’ Show, along with number of incredible artists featured all through the season, along with an exhibit of works from the Adirondack Folk School. In-person workshops also return in 2024 as part of our Workshop Wednesdays, July 10–August 28. Kids’ Arts Camp activities will again be offered, this year on Fridays, running July 12–August 30.