Rosanne Cash Opens Stissing Center’s packed 2026 Season

Roseanne Cash will perform with her husband, John Leventhal, at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains on January 31. Photo credit: Vivian Wang.

On January 31, the Stissing Center for Arts & Culture in Pine Plains opens its 2026 season with “Spark!” a multimedia preview of the season’s new programming, from bluegrass to Beethoven, from Bollywood to burlesque. The evening will be anchored by a performance by Rosanne Cash, an artist whose work has long bridged country, folk, rock, and a distinctly literary strain of American songwriting.

Cash’s presence sets the tone for the evening, which pairs her performance with a multimedia preview of the Stissing Center’s upcoming season, which features local, national, and international artists slated to appear over the coming year.

Over the course of a career that now spans more than four decades, Cash has built a catalog defined by narrative clarity and moral weight. She emerged in the early 1980s with a run of country hits, then gradually widened her scope, drawing on Southern history, family legacy, and personal reckoning. Her 2014 album The River & The Thread earned three Grammy Awards and marked a late-career peak that reaffirmed her stature as a songwriter of uncommon depth.

Cash’s creative life extends beyond music. Her memoir Composed was praised for its clear-eyed account of an American upbringing shaped by music, loss, and artistic independence. In 2021, she became the first woman to receive the Edward MacDowell Award for music composition, and she was recently elected an honorary American member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, recognition that reflects her standing as both musician and writer.

For this performance, Cash appears with her husband and longtime collaborator, John Leventhal, whose understated production and guitar work have shaped much of her recent output. Together, they bring a quiet authority to the stage, favoring songs that unfold through detail rather than spectacle.

In Pine Plains, that approach feels well matched to the Stissing Center’s ambitions. “Spark!” functions as both concert and curtain-raiser, introducing a season built around range, curiosity, and connection.

Just the Beginning

The 2026 season also marks the debut of The Grace Note, a new, intimate downstairs venue at the Stissing Center. Open every Friday night with a nominal cover charge, The Grace Note will host singer-songwriters, jazz quartets, stand-up comedy, staged readings, and other small-scale performances—creating a more informal entry point into the Center’s expanding artistic ecosystem.

Following Rosanne Cash’s January 31 season opener, the calendar moves briskly into February with a mix of music, comedy, and theater. Stand-up comic Ophira Eisenberg headlines February 7, setting a lighter tone early in the season, while songwriter Natalia Zukerman follows at The Grace Note on February 13. Bluegrass-influenced Brooklyn outfit Deadgrass arrives February 21, and the month closes with a live-score film screening of Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid on February 28. Together, the early-February offerings underscore the Center’s intention to move fluidly between genres and formats rather than anchoring the season around a single discipline.

March and early April continue that momentum. Jazz and roots traditions overlap with performances by the Galen Pittman Jazz Quartet on March 6 and klezmer ensemble Isle of Klezbos on March 7, followed by theater pieces including Makin’ Cake on March 14 and Yeats: In the Deep Heart’s Core on March 27. Guitarist Pasquale Grasso brings his jazz trio to the stage on April 4, while the Hudson Valley Puppet Slam returns April 25. By early spring, the Stissing Center has already established a rhythm that balances nationally touring artists with experimental performance and audience favorites—signaling that the season’s breadth is not a slow burn, but an immediate proposition.

In Pine Plains, that layered approach feels well matched to the Stissing Center’s ambitions. Spark! functions as both concert and curtain-raiser, introducing a season built around range, curiosity, and connection. Cash’s performance does not promise fireworks. It promises something more durable: songs that linger, stories that hold, and an opening note for the year ahead that trusts the audience to listen.

Tickets for "Spark!" are $100–$150. Tickets for all 2026 events go on sale January 1 via the Stissing Center’s website and box office.

Tickets are $100-$150 and are on sale on the Stissing Center’s website .