How's your love life? Rachel Greenwald, author and expert on dating, may have some useful tips for you when she lectures on July 23 at the Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs.

Lake George Opera opened its season Thursday night at the Spa Little Theatre with a visually beautiful and sensationally sung production of Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.”

Jacob’s Pillow outdoes other dance festivals by introducing world-class artists who are virtually unknown in the U.S. Each summer, there is at least one group that excites and inspires beyond expectations. This year, it is the electrifying Ballet Maribor. The Slovenian ensemble showcased, on opening night, not just mind-blowing dancing, which we all have come to expect, but riveting choreography too in its “Radio and Juliet.”

Michael Jackson was just a year old in 1959 when the Dave Brubeck Quartet recorded “Time Out,” and Brubeck was 39. Seeing the 88-year-old Brubeck play on Sunday at the Freihofer’s Jazz Festival at Saratoga Performing Arts Center just three days after Jackson died at 50 offered a startling contrast between very different giants.

When the New York City Ballet opens its season Tuesday at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Fayçal Karoui will be celebrating his third summer as the ballet orchestra’s music director. “Saratoga Springs means a lot to me,” Karoui said. “SPAC is where I was hired.”

You could call Smittix the jam band of ska-punk.

Shirley Jones wanted to become a veterinarian, but family and friends would often remind her of her ability to sing, and how she ought not forsake such a wonderful talent.

It was only Megan Fairchild’s first year in the corps de ballet. But Peter Martins, ballet master in chief at New York City Ballet, could see her spark.

Fiery shades of red, green and gold will fill the skies this weekend, as the Capital Region celebrates the Fourth of July.
Christopher Tanner prefers fruit works to fireworks. Especially when he’s got red, green and gold — in strawberries, kiwi and peaches — sweltering over flames. Those are among the stars on his Honey and Mint Grilled Fruit Kabobs.

So what’s a parent of an introverted child to do? The first thing, said child psychologist Dr. Tamar Chansky of Children’s Center for OCD and Anxiety in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., is to realize there is nothing wrong with being an introvert.

As Arlene Rhoses walks about her garden, she is not only enjoying the roses in bloom but the friendships she has cultivated through the years.

Is your child an introvert? Answer true or false to the following questions and find out.

Ukulele wunderkind Jake Shimabukuro wears his influences on his sleeve.

Standing ovations erupted often in Dave Brubeck’s dinnertime set Sunday at the Freihofer’s Jazz Festival; not just because he seemed so frail as he came onstage and not for “Take Five,” either.

Early July means picnics, parks and plans for the long, hot summer. Young people in the Schenectady area have always used the Fourth of July holiday to finally celebrate independence from homework, tests, school buses and early mornings.