Past
Events
See some of the wonderful performances hosted at Stissing Center over the last few years.
Back to the Full Event list.
See some of the wonderful performances hosted at Stissing Center over the last few years.
Back to the Full Event list.
In Banning Hall
We are delighted to welcome The Bang Group back to Stissing Center for an evening of innovative, surprising, humor-ridden, rhythm driven, dramatically anarchic choreography.
In The Grace Note
Join us for a raucous night of music, weaving together Celtic and Bluegrass threads with the energy of alternative rock! High Horse, the Boston/Colorado based quartet with guitar, bass, cello, and fiddle, will take us all on a wild ride that will have you hooting just as loud as you holler!
In Banning Hall
Taylor Ashton makes his Stissing Center debut with a live show that’s thoughtful, funny, and quietly moving. A shape-shifting songwriter with a warm baritone and playful wit, Ashton blends folk-rock intimacy with surprising twists, drawing listeners into songs that feel like short stories—honest, generous, and easy to love.
In The Grace Note
Experience world-renowned cellist Amanda Forsyth as you’ve never heard her before. Step beyond classical tradition into a one woman extravaganza of hilarious stories, lush melodies, and irresistible musical surprises, directed by Doug Fitch and joined by pianist Danny Zelibor. With this new program, Amanda brings passion and playfulness to every note for a performance that will thrill, charm, and captivate.
In Banning Hall
Tablao Flamenco brings the spirit of southern Spain to Stissing Center in an intimate, up-close performance. Master singers, dancers, guitarists, and percussionists share flamenco in its raw, emotional form—full of rhythm, storytelling, and feeling. Expect an evening that’s fiery, human, and deeply moving.
In The Grace Note
Rachael Kilgour brings heartfelt indie folk to The Grace Note stage, pairing warm melodies with lyrics that are honest, brave, and deeply human. Praised for her “unapologetic lyrics” and “master crafted indie folk,” Kilgour invites listeners into songs that feel personal, generous, and quietly powerful.
In Banning Hall
Stissing Center opens its 2026 Classical Music season with cellist Peter Wiley and pianist Anna Polonsky, two towering chamber musicians. Wiley, former cellist of the Beaux Arts and Guarneri Quartets, joins Polonsky, a sought-after soloist and Lincoln Center favorite, for an evening of intimate, masterful music-making that brings depth, warmth, and experience to the stage.
In Banning Hall
In the 1920s, actor George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is a bona fide matinee idol with many adoring fans. While working on his latest film, George finds himself falling in love with an ingenue named Peppy Miller (Bérénice Bejo) and, what's more, it seems Peppy feels the same way. But George is reluctant to cheat on his wife with the beautiful young actress. The growing popularity of sound in movies further separates the potential lovers, as George's career begins to fade while Peppy's star rises.
In The Grace Note
The Jody Redhage Ferber Trio performs music from their new album EcoTones: Beings of the Air, inspired by the flying beings of the Hudson River Valley. Developed during her ongoing performance project EcoTones Concerts, Jody’s compositions and arrangements live in a transition zone between chamber music and jazz improvisation, and are inspired by the tremendous biodiversity found in natural ecotones.
In Banning Hall
The 2nd Annual Hudson Valley Puppet Slam returns to Stissing Center for a night of bold, playful, and wildly inventive puppetry. Enjoy a fast-paced mix of short acts bursting with humor, surprise, and imagination. From strange to beautiful to laugh-out-loud funny, expect the unexpected in this anything-goes celebration of puppetry. Adults Only!
In The Grace Note
Join us for Stissing Center’s very first Open Mic Night, a welcoming evening for music, spoken word, comedy, and every kind of self-expression. Artists of all ages and experience levels are invited to share. Come perform, listen, and cheer on friends and neighbors as creativity, courage, and community meet on one stage together.
Hosted by local duo Roger & Lenny
In Banning Hall
Bees in the Barn fires up the stage with high-energy acoustic playing and a musical interplay that’s downright contagious. Their inventive, genre-bending compositions keep audiences on their toes and hungry for more. Anchored in bluegrass but pushing far past its boundaries, they craft a “beyond grass” sound—an exhilarating mix of colors, rhythms, and heart-pounding joy.
In The Grace Note
The Tom Duffy Band is a local band that hits the sweet spot where Classic Rock meets high-energy performance. They seamlessly weave through rock history, delivering hard-hitting classics that read like the soundtrack of your life.
In Banning Hall
The long-running public radio program Selected Shorts returns to the Stissing Center for an afternoon of funny and poignant tales about the people who live just beyond the next door. Presented by Symphony Space, acclaimed actors Jane Curtin (Saturday Night Live, 3rd Rock From the Sun), Joanna Gleason (Into the Woods, Hannah and her Sisters), Michael Emerson (Lost, Person of Interest), Deborah S. Craig (And Just Like That… , Elsbeth, Funny or Die) bring to life short fiction that celebrates the unexpected bonds, everyday tensions, and quiet acts of connection that shape our communities.
Our greatest actors transport us through the magic of fiction, one short story at a time. Sometimes funny. Always moving. Selected Shorts connects you to the world with a rich diversity of voices from literature, film, theater, and comedy.
(Actors are subject to Change.)
In The Grace Note
Leslie Mendelson brings her soulful voice and deeply personal songwriting to Stissing Center for an intimate evening of music and connection. Blending folk, pop, and Americana, her songs feel timeless yet grounded in the present—warm, honest, and quietly powerful. It’s a chance to hear a remarkable artist up close, sharing stories and songs that linger long after the night ends.
In Banning Hall
Italian-born jazz guitarist Pasquale Grasso is a rising star known for his virtuosic, piano-like approach to the guitar. Winner of the inaugural Wes Montgomery International Jazz Guitar Competition, he records for Sony Masterworks and frequently collaborates with Grammy-winning vocalist Samara Joy. Grasso performs worldwide and is touring in support of his 2025 release Fervency.
In Banning Hall
Beauty Lou and the Country Beast is an original country-western adaptation of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, created by the Missoula Children's Theatre. The cast will feature area children, who will learn and perform the show -- all in one week!
Set in the American West, the musical follows Beauty Lou, the daughter of a bronc-bustin' balladeer named Buck. To save the family farm, Beauty Lou must befriend a miner from her past whom she calls Beast.
In Banning Hall
Beauty Lou and the Country Beast is an original country-western adaptation of the classic Beauty and the Beast fairy tale, created by the Missoula Children's Theatre. The cast will feature area children, who will learn and perform the show -- all in one week!
Set in the American West, the musical follows Beauty Lou, the daughter of a bronc-bustin' balladeer named Buck. To save the family farm, Beauty Lou must befriend a miner from her past whom she calls Beast.
In Banning Hall
Hundreds of Beavers is a 19th-century "supernatural winter epic" that functions as a silent, black-and-white slapstick comedy. The plot follows Jean Kayak, a drunken applejack salesman whose brewery is destroyed by beavers, leaving him stranded in a surreal wilderness with only his wits. To win the hand of a local merchant’s daughter, Kayak must transform into North America’s greatest fur trapper and defeat hundreds of beavers in a world where all animals are portrayed by actors in full-sized mascot costumes.
“It’s that rare thing in the current film landscape: a genuine cult classic.”
- Time Out
In Banning Hall
A proud samurai seeks a husband for his daughter at the shrine of Benten, goddess of good fortune. When a humble fisherman is chosen instead, love follows—and conflict soon turns him into a dragon. Using beautifully crafted Bunraku-style puppets and folk traditions from around the world, this poetic tale unfolds as a journey of love, courage, and self-discovery.
In The Grace Note
“In the Deep Heart’s Core” is at once a poet’s autobiography and a deeply moving journey through the romantic imagination and the national soul of Ireland. It follows the life of the Celtic visionary poet and activist William Butler Yeats, moving through dreams and heartbreaks toward ultimate spiritual triumph.
In Banning Hall
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with the championship Irish dancers of Darrah Carr Dance! Featuring live music on the fiddle and accordion, this spirited performance of Irish traditions features high-energy selections that are enjoyed by a broad audience! The exuberant energy of the performers is quickly picked up by the audience. Lucky volunteers get a chance to join the excitement onstage!
In The Grace Note
Laura Zarougian and the Little Tree band present an evening of music in the Folk/Americana genre interwoven with stories of her songwriting journey and life as an Armenian cowgirl in the Hudson Valley.
In Banning Hall
"Makin' Cake" is more than a performance-- it's an experience! Through powerful storytelling, Dasha Kelly Hamilton takes the stage to slice into history, unpacking race, class, and culture in a way that's as thought-provoking as it is engaging.
For most of human history, baking required patience, resources ... and luck. Ingredients were scarce and expensive; chemistry was fickle; and the chain of procedures required days. When our nation began experiencing abundance for the first time, most Americans couldn’t afford basic cake ingredients.
This one-night-only event includes delicious conversation after the show and cake for all.
In the Grace Note
RiverBlue combines the musical talents of Ron Minkoff (vocals/rhythm guitar/percussion) and Dan Blum (lead guitar/vocals), both long-time veterans of the Hudson Valley music scene. Ron and Dan will play original and cover songs from their two CDs, combining rock, folk, bluegrass and country into something entirely new and exciting.
In Banning Hall
New Quartet Live features trumpeter Amir ElSaffar, drummer Tomas Fujiwara, tenor saxophonistOle Mathisen, and pianist Tania Giannouli. The ensemble blends jazz instrumentation and Middle Eastern sounds guiding the new ensemble into unexplored musical territories. The music ranges from intensely quiet and nearly silent to ecstatic and declamatory, with the microtonal piano ringing ear-opening and beautifully unconventional harmonies throughout.
In Banning Hall
Isle of Klezbos is a powerhouse all-gal klezmer ensemble infused with genre-defying artistry, performing internationally together for over two soulful, fun-loving decades. Celebrating Yiddish musical traditions with equal parts chutzpah and heart, the group blends neo-folkloric tunes, re-imagined classics, and a sophisticated sound all their own. “Rapturous and rollicking” (L.A. Blade), “intoxicating” (The New York Times). Don’t miss this fabulous band!
In The Grace Note
Please join the Galen Pittman Quartet for an evening of jazz standards, freshly reimagined with original melodies and inventive lines by some of our favorite composers. Rooted in tradition but alive with spontaneity, this performance blends familiar tunes with creative twists, inviting listeners into a warm, expressive night of jazz at its most engaging.
In Banning Hall
Charlie Chaplin’s beloved silent classic The Kid is a heartwarming blend of comedy and tenderness that delights audiences of all ages. This family-friendly gem follows Chaplin and an irrepressible child through laughter, mischief, and deep affection. Enjoy the film accompanied live by organ virtuoso Peter Krasinski, courtesy of the New York Theatre Organ Society.
In The Grace Note
A staged reading of the new original musical, The Maker and the Muse, follows a young, disillusioned writer who feels untethered from the present and longs for a time and place that felt more authentic, gritty, and alive. Let’s reimagine the past, rediscover the present and celebrate the timeless power of art together.
