5 Best Performing Arts in Saratoga Springs, Albany and Central New York

Some of the hottest jazz musicians stop at the Freihofer's Jazz Festival in June for two days of music to kick off summer.

Free pre-opera talks provide some background on the operas performed at the Lake George Opera Festival, which runs for two weeks at the start of summer.

The Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, a celebration of music written for ensemble groups, is offered for several days through the Saratoga Performing Arts Center but presented at the more intimate Spa Little Theatre, next door.

Changing exhibits in this 2,000-square-foot art gallery and theater-performance space showcase works by local as well as nationally known artists. At the theater here the Saratoga Film Forum shows mostly art-house movies (tickets $6) Thursday and Friday nights in fall, winter, and spring.

The Saratoga Performing Arts Center is the summer home of the New York City Ballet and the Philadelphia Orchestra. The open-air venue, with both assigned amphitheater seats and lawn seating, also hosts concerts by big-name pop acts.