Just two years ago, The Local opened its doors in a historic building on John Street in downtown Saugerties with the modest ambition of showcasing world-class music in a room that could fit your average wedding party. Fast-forward to fall 2025, and the little venue that could is celebrating 100+ shows, countless standing ovations, and a lineup that zigzags across continents like a sound engineer with a passport fetish.
How wide-ranging is the fall slate? Try this: Sufi devotional music from Pakistan. Desert blues from Morocco. Sacred Senegalese sabar drumming. A 20-piece Balinese gamelan orchestra. Plus: Cuban legends, cowboy crooners, and a hurdy-gurdy and accordion duo from Sweden that somehow makes you cry in 7/8 time.
“We recently celebrated our 100th show,” says co-founder Danny Melnick, “and the support we’ve received from the community has been the inspiration for us to continue programming performances that bring exceptional artists—many who fill prestigious concert halls worldwide—to our intimate, historic space.” In other words: Lincoln Center talent, no parking meter stress.
The season kicks off September 19 with a transcendent evening of Sufi khayal music courtesy of the Saami Brothers and their father, Ustad Naseeruddin Saami—one of the last living masters of this 800-year-old Pakistani devotional tradition. The next night, rising jazz phenoms Zohar and Adam Cabo (Beacon boys done good) bring their soulful, genre-splicing firepower to The Local stage.
October veers wildly—in a good way—from the virtuosic oud stylings of Egyptian maestro Mohamed Abozekry to the dreamy vocal explorations of ganavya, and on to bolero revivalists Miramar and the North African trance guitarists of Tarwa N-Tiniri. That’s not even touching the local love: October 26’s Saugerties Sessions spotlights Hudson Valley singer-songwriters Ginger Winn, Carly Pearl, and Pamela Laws.
“This season features highlights from near and far,” says co-founder Isabel Soffer, “bringing the sounds of cultures from around the world—Bali, Senegal, Pakistan, Italy, Cuba—as well as acclaimed performers from New York City and the Hudson Valley, ranging from Grammy-winning artists to the hottest up-and-comers.” If there’s a genre The Local doesn’t touch this fall, it probably hasn’t been invented yet.
November doesn’t ease off the throttle: there’s ragtime revival from The Lovestruck Balladeers (November 7), a rare US appearance by the Balinese ensemble Dharma Swara (November 8), and the glorious chaos of Burnt Sugar Arkestra’s experimental funk-soul-jazz-hip-hop explosion (November 15). Also on tap: klezmer brass from Frank London’s Di Shikere Kapelye, trance-folk from Justin Adams and Mauro Durante, and a globe-hopping brass-meets-brass-band fusion from Senegalese bassist Alune Wade.
December rounds things out with reverent flair: a visit from Cuban songwriting legend Pedro Luis Ferrer (December 4), a transportive sonic mandala meditation from percussionist Adam Rudolph (December 7), and a cowboy songbook cabaret starring vocalist Hilary Gardner (December 6), galloping straight out of a Western daydream.
Full schedule and tickets: TheLocalSaugerties.com
And don’t dawdle—some of these shows will sell out faster than you can say “gamelan.”
