Glimmerglass Festival
July 10-August 17 at the Alice Bush Opera Theater in Cooperstown
The second-largest summer opera festival in the United States, Glimmerglass has been shining since 1975, staging several separate productions every season. The 2026 festival features a new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” directed by Francesca Zambello (July 10-August 15); Puccini, Illica, and Giacosa’s “Madame Butterfly” (July 11-August 17); Mozart and Da Ponte’s “Cosi” (July 17-August 14); and Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce’s “Fellow Travelers, as well as special events at its pavilion and the youth opera “Robin Hood” by Ben Moore and Kelley Rourke (August 2).
Tanglewood
Through September 6 at Tanglewood Center for the Arts in Lenox, Massachusetts
Tanglewood brings much besides classical music; this year has comedian Jon Stewart (June 20), Wynton Marsalis (June 26), Paul Simon (June 27), a Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration with the Boston Pops (June 30), James Taylor (July 3-4), Ziggy Marley and Trombone Shorty (July 14), Weird Al Yankovic (July 21), Jason Isbell (July 28), Hugh Jackman (August 11), Judy Collins (August 30), and more. But orchestral and symphonic sounds still dominate, with plus Philip Glass (July 5), Mahler and Mozart conducted Emmanuel Ax (July 11), Renee Fleming and Thomas Hampson (July 17), Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” (August 1), Yo-Yo Ma (August 7-9), and multiple performances of Tchaikovsky.
Maverick Concerts
June 5-September 13 at Maverick Concerts in Woodstock
America’s oldest continuing outdoor summer chamber music series is back with the Kasa Quartet with Anthony Ratinov (June 28), the Harlem Chamber Players (July 5), the Pacifica Quartet (July 26), the Danish String Quartet (August 1), the Callisto Quartet (August 2), the American Chamber Music Society with Reed Tetzloff (August 23), the Azkana Trio (August 29), the Verona Quartet with Alexander Fiterstein (September 6), and more. Plus there’s jazz, folk, pop, world music, and family shows: Paul Winter (June 27), Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams (July 24), Fred Hersch Trio (August 15), Rachel Yamagata (August 21), Marco Benevento with Dave Dreiwitz (September 4), Bill Charlap Trio (September 5), and much more.
HV Chamber Music Circle
June 7 and 14 at Olin Hall at Bard College
The Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle continues its summer series at Bard College’s Olin Hall with performances by the Aeolus Quartet (June 7) and piano trio Espressivo! (June 14). Founded in 1950, HVCMC remains one of the region’s most enduring classical music presenters, bringing internationally respected ensembles to the region. The June concerts pair technical precision with the intimacy that makes chamber music compelling in the first place: musicians listening, responding, and shaping the performance in real time.
Clarion Concerts
June 13 at Pocketbook Hudson
Clarion Concerts’ annual benefit concert brings the Grammy Award-winning Harlem Quartet to Pocketbook Hudson on June 13. Known for treating chamber music as a living form rather than a museum piece, the ensemble moves fluidly between classical repertoire, jazz, and contemporary composition. Led in part by violinist Melissa White, who also serves as Clarion’s artistic director, the program includes works by Beethoven, William Grant Still, William Bolcom, and Chick Corea—music that highlights both the rigor and flexibility of the string quartet tradition.
The Bad Plus
June 23 at the Egg in Albany
Warranting an entry unto itself is this area engagement by long-running contemporary jazz favorites the Bad Plus. Formed in 2000 as a piano trio, the band, which still features bassist Reid Anderson and drummer David King, is now a quartet: saxophonist Chris Speed and guitarist Ben Monder are the other newer members. The group is known for its expansive interpretations of material from outside the jazz canon; its repertoire has included songs by the likes of Black Sabbath, Radiohead, the Bee Gees, Neil Young, the Flaming Lips, the Pixies, David Bowie, Rush, Interpol, and others.
Saratoga Jazz Festival
June 27-28 at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs
This upstate classic presents two solidly swinging dates of top-flight jazz and jazz-related acts. June 27’s roster includes Patti LaBelle; the Miles Electric Band; the Dip; First Meeting featuring Gonzalo Rubacalba, Chris Potter, Larry Grenadier, and Eric Harland; Terry Lynn Carrington; Bill Frisell; Ana Popovic; Orrin Evans; Avashai Cohen; and more. June 28 has the Revivalists, Diane Reeves, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, Cimafunk, Lakecia Benjamin, Eddie 9V, Sasha Dobson, and many others.
Aston Magna
July 16–August 8 at the Slosberg Music Center and Saint James Place in Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Established in 1972, “Aston Magna,” according to its stated mission, “seeks to interpret the music of the past as the composer imagined it. Original period instruments—or historically accurate reproductions—are essential performance elements.” This summer’s theme is “Music from Paris, Rome, Venice, and Potsdam” with “The Genius of the French Baroque” (July 16 and 18), “Bach in Potsdam, Telemann in Paris” (July 23 and 25), “Music from Less Expected Places” (July 30 and August 2), and “Gems from 17th-Century Venice” (August 6 and 8). See website for concert locations and more information.
Stissing Center Summer Season
Through August 29 at the Stissing Center for Arts and Culture in Pine Plains
This quiet jewel of a multi-arts venue in northeastern Dutchess County dazzles with its diverse programming. On the current calendar are Willy Porter (June 5), the Round Top Revue (June 6), Gail Ann Dorsey (June 19), pianist Sophia Zou playing Gershwin (June 20), Susan Werner (June 26), “The Dances of Chihuahua” for kids (June 27), the Maryland State Boychoir (July 9), Bada Swing! (July 11), Garrison Star (July 17), Daniel Adam Maltz doing Beethoven on a replica of the composer’s piano (July 19), organist Zach Frame (July 25), Kazemde George (July 31), “Opera Uncorked” (August 8), Christopher Hoffman (August 28), and a lot more.
Caramoor
June 20-August 2 at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah
Held at the historic former Rosen Estate, Caramoor offer symphonic, opera, chamber, American roots, and jazz performances. Its new season promises Kelli O’Hara (June 20), Dedicated Men of Zion (June 21), Isaac Mizrahi (June 26), the American Roots Music festival with Southern Avenue, Deadgrass, and more (June 27), the Poiesis Quartet (July 2), Johnny Gandelsman (July 5), VOCES8 (July 10), Apollo’s Fire (July 12), Sandbox Percussion (July 19), the Caramoor Jazz Festival with Miguel Zenon and Luis Perdomo and others (July 25), Ruckus (July 31), Bruce Hornsby (August 1), and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and Gil Shaham (August 2), to name a few.
This article appears in June 2026.
