The University at Albany Department of Music and Theatre is pleased to announce its performances for the 2022-23 season. Offering concerts by guest artists, faculty and students, the Music Program will present 24 performances.  The Theatre Program will mount three full productions offering five to six performances of each show.  

All performances by the Department of Music and Theatre take place at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center on the main University at Albany campus at 1400 Washington Avenue. The complete schedule of the Department’s performances is as follows:                                                    

Education, Liberation! (or I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)

Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 3pm

Singer-songwriter and jazz vocalist Kyra Gaunt returns after her transformational 2019 debut performance of this one-woman show. The faculty member shares more stories of courage, vulnerability, and liberation from overcoming performance anxiety and the emotional trauma of her upbringing and teaching in music, sociology, and anthropology since 1996. Expect an intimate and interactive evening of stories and song about marginalization and belonging through jazz improv, Black art song, girls’ game-song, and her own original R&B compositions. Calling on ancestors like Maya Angelou, Zora Neale Hurston, and Shirley Graham DuBois, she and the audience turn life’s lemons into lemonade. 

A Schubert Trilogy

Monday, October 3 at 7:30pm

Eminent pianist Kwok-Wai Lio presents a recital of Schubert’s final three sonatas for solo piano. 

The Wolves

Wednesday, October 19, 2022 at 8pm

Thursday, October 20, 2022 at 8pm

Friday, October 21, 2022 at 3pm

Saturday, October 22, 2022 at 2pm & 8pm

Sunday, October 23, 2022 at 2pm

Left quad. Right quad. Lunge. A girls indoor soccer team warms up. From the safety of their suburban stretch circle, the team navigates big questions and wages tiny battles with all the vim and vigor of a pack of adolescent warriors. Sarah DeLappe’s play is a portrait of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for nine American girls who just want to score some goals. 

The Choral Hour

Saturday, October 29, 2022 at 2pm

Saturday, April 22, 2023 at 2pm

The UAlbany Chamber Singers and UAlbany Community Chorale performs music from a wide array of style and culture. The fall concert features select student soloists from of the Department of Music and Theatre. 

UAlbany Symphony Orchestra & UAlbany Concert Band

Sunday, October 30, 2022 at 3pm

Two of the University’s large ensembles present a shared program. 

The Piano Lesson

Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 8pm

Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 8pm

Friday, November 18, 2022 at 3pm

Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 2pm & 8pm

Sunday, November 20, 2022 at 2pm

August Wilson’s play is set in 1936. Boy Willie arrives in Pittsburgh from the South in a battered truck loaded with watermelons to sell. He has an opportunity to buy some land down home, but he must come up with the money right quick. He wants to sell an old piano that has been in his family for generations, but he shares ownership with his sister and it sits in her living room. She has already rejected several offers because the antique piano is covered with incredible carvings detailing the family’s rise from slavery. Boy Willie tries to persuade his stubborn sister that the past is past, but she is more formidable than he anticipated. 

Bach to Broadway

Friday, November 18, 2022 at 7:30pm

This cabaret features the department’s vocal students in performances of classical and contemporary song favorites. 

UAlbany Jazz Band

Monday, November 21, 2022 at 8pm

Monday, April 24, 2023 at 8pm

Directed by Keith Pray, this student and community ensemble presents concerts featuring classic and contemporary jazz. 

Student Recitals

Friday, December 2, 2022 at 6pm

Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at 6pm

A host of performers showcase their vocal and instrumental talents as part of their departmental studies. 

Holiday Concert

Sunday, December 4, 2022 at 3pm

Music Program ensembles (Chorale, Chamber Singers, Concert Band, Jazz Band, Symphony Orchestra) are joined by student groups (Serendipity, Pitch Please, Earth Tones) for a concert celebrating the season.

Twelve Drummers Drummin’

Monday, December 5, 2022 at 7pm

The UAlbany Percussion Ensemble performs. 

Festival Celebration Choir & UAlbany Chamber Singers

Sunday, December 11, 2022 at 3pm

This collaborative concert between the UAlbany Chamber Singers under the direction of Dr. Michael Lister and the Festival Celebration Choir under the direction of Julie Panke features traditional holiday music that includes a performance of Conrad Susa’s Carols and Lullabies with a small instrumental ensemble. 

Hilary and Duncan Cumming

Sunday, February 5, 2023 at 3pm

This faculty couple will perform music for violin and piano by William Grant Still and Robert Schumann. 

Albagli & Friends

Friday, February 17, 2023 at 7pm

Faculty member Richard Albagli and William Lauricella, his top high school student, perform a duo percussion recital.

Rent

Thursday, March 2, 2023 at 8pm

Friday, March 3, 2023 at 3pm

Saturday, March 4, 2023 at 2pm & 8pm

Sunday, March 5, 2023 at 2pm

Jonathan Larson's hit musical follows a year in the life of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York's Lower East Side, under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. It’s about falling in love, finding your voice, and living for today. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, RENT shaped a generation of audiences and taught us all to measure our life in love. 

Festival of Contemporary Music

Monday, March 6, 2023 at 7pm

The UAlbany Percussion Ensemble performs with the Empire State Youth Percussion Ensembles as guests. 

Concert in the Round

Wednesday, March 8, 2023 at 7pm

The UAlbany Concert Band performs in the Arena Theatre where the audience surrounds the band and no one is more than four rows away from the music. 

UAlbany Symphony Orchestra

Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 7:30pm

Sunday, April 30, 2023 at 3pm

With conductor Christopher David Neubert, this large ensemble performs works representing outstanding repertoire from the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods of the 20^th and 21^st centuries. 

Akina Yura

Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 7pm

The guest pianist will return for a recital featuring longtime favorite and rarely heard works. 

Opera Project

Sunday, April 2, 2023 at 3pm

In an exciting intra-departmental collaboration, great opera and oratorio choral repertoire is explored with featured student soloists. 

Youth Movements Festival

Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 7pm

Sunday, April 16, 2023 at 3pm

The annual festival offers two distinct programs. Saturday night features performers of all ages from around the Capital Region. On Sunday, the School of the Albany/Berkshire Ballet will be guest performers in their third appearance as part of the festival. 

Sound of the Trumpet, Road of the Drums

Monday, May 1, 2023 at 7pm

The UAlbany Concert Band and UAlbany Percussion Ensemble present a shared program. 

All tickets purchases must be made on-line at www.albany.edu/pac. Information and assistance can be received from the UAlbany Performing Art Center’s main office at [email protected] or (518) 442-3995. Further details on all performances can be found on the UAlbany Performing Arts Center web site under Department Performances.