2025 American Music Festival
Water Music NY: More Voices
June 4 through 8, 2025

Composer workshops and rehearsal readings, post-concert musical mingling at Evelyn’s Cafe, Dogs of Desire, the culminating Festival concert, recitals and more! All yours to explore and discover throughout Troy and Albany’s vibrant waterfronts.

Featured
Third Coast Percussion Performance
Jun 4
Third Coast Percussion Performance

Feel the rhythm of the Hudson River at Albany’s Historic Lock 1 – Jennings Landing with Chicago’s GRAMMY-award winning Third Coast Percussion quartet. Their mission is to inspire and educate through the creation of exciting and unexpected musical experiences. 

Third Coast Percussion's vision is a world-wide audience that embraces creativity, curiosity, and community through music. 

Bring a picnic and your lawn chairs or blanket to enjoy a perfect summer’s evening along the Hudson River!

Open Rehearsal
Jun 5
Open Rehearsal

Peek behind the curtain as Music Director David Alan Miller and the orchestra explore the creative process of refining the concert program. 

Dogs of Desire
Jun 6
Dogs of Desire

David Alan Miller, conductor

Britt Hewitt, soprano

Devony Smith, mezzo-soprano

Dogs of Desire, the orchestra’s electrifying, genre-bending new music group, presents newly penned works by some of today’s most adventurous American composers, including Katie Jenkins, Celka Ojakangas, & Max Vinetz.

Summer Soiree
Jun 6
Summer Soiree

The Summer Soiree is an annual fundraising event featuring a Silent Auction, Live Auction, Fund a Need, and Standing Ovation Awards. Join us for dinner and drinks immediately following the Dogs of Desire concert to support your Albany Symphony!

Water Music NY: More Voices Showcase
Jun 7
Water Music NY: More Voices Showcase

Enjoy a musical morning in Troy with a showcase featuring Albany Symphony musicians and vocalists Britt Hewitt and Devony Smith.

Presented in Partnership with the Underground Railroad Education Center

American Music Festival: Water Music
Jun 7
American Music Festival: Water Music

David Alan Miller, conductor

Stephen Williamson, clarinet

Third Coast Percussion

Bobby Ge: Water Music (world premiere)

Clarice Assad: Play! A Concerto for Percussion Quartet, Vocalist, and Orchestra

Sophia Jani: What do flowers do at night?

Christopher Theofanidis: Clarinet Concerto

Late Night Lounge
Jun 7
Late Night Lounge

Join vocalists Britt Hewitt and Devony Smith for an intimate evening of genre-bending music. With works by Meredith Monk and Jake Landau, heartfelt originals, jazz standards, and unexpected pop duets.

"First Draughts" Reading Session & Beer Tasting
Jun 8
"First Draughts" Reading Session & Beer Tasting

From the composer’s imagination to the concert hall, watch as emerging composers have their newest works performed for the first time. Music Director David Alan Miller, composer Christopher Theofanidis, and musicians of the Albany Symphony guide each new voice through the challenges of composing in the 21st Century. In between the readings, sample new craft brews from SingleCut Beersmiths. 

FESTIVAL SPONSORS

The Albany Symphony is commemorating the Bicentennial of the Erie Canal through music and stories, raising more voices to tell untold stories about the past, present, and future of the Erie Canal. Over this multi-year celebration, composers, artists, and communities will create compelling music and art for all to share along New York State Canal waterways. www.canals.ny.gov