Music Mountain Announces 95th Summer Festival Dedicated to the Power of Music
Highly anticipated chamber music and jazz concerts, family concerts, and pre-concert talks will headline the storied music festival in its acoustically pristine Gordon Hall on 16 consecutive weekends, from June 2 through September 15
“Otherworldly magic.”
— The Millbrook Independent
FALLS VILLAGE, CT – Music Mountain Summer Festival, one of the longest-running festivals of its kind in the world, announces its 95th season, opening on June 2, 2024 and running for 16 consecutive weekends through September 15, 2024. Sunday chamber music concerts and Saturday evening jazz concerts with leading ensembles and guest artists form the heart of the season. Tying it all together is the theme of “From Struggle to Triumph: The Power of Music,” a look into the creative ferment that produces works of unquenchable uplift and beauty.
Artistic Director Oskar Espina Ruiz explains, “From time immemorial, composers, performing artists, and audiences have come together to overcome our individual and collective struggles through music. Whether with ancestral music rituals, at 9/11 memorial concerts in the fall of 2001, in Beethoven’s late string quartets, African American spirituals, or simply when our imagination takes flight, music is often capable of synthesizing a society’s aspirations and challenges. Once we see what could be, we gain the power to overcome, to bring about change in ourselves and in our world. The power of music propels us from struggle to triumph.”
Highlighting Music Mountain’s chamber season are works by composers who express in music their own journey from struggle to triumph, freedom, or acceptance: Beethoven, who forged a musical path through hearing loss to create timeless classics; Schubert, who was neglected most of his life and yet produced some of the most popular chamber works today; Hugo Kauder, who defied the atonal trend of his generation with his uniquely harmonic, contrapuntal style; and others such as Prokofiev, Robert Schumann, and Janáček.
Espina Ruiz remarks, “Post-pandemic, we live in a much more inclusive and sensitive world that proactively seeks diversity and inclusion. While the core repertoire is well represented this year, we will expand our perspective with music from other composers. We are proud to introduce the extraordinary work of living women composers Caroline Shaw, Anna Weesner, Cecilia Damström, Niloufar Nourbakhsh, and Victoria Bond. Other living composers this season include Kevin Lau, Robert Paterson, Andrew Davis, Udi Perlman, Carter Pann, Johannes Maria Staud, Chris Rogerson, and Daniel Temkin, and composers of color Dinuk Wijeratne, Bongani Ndodana-Breen and Thelonious Monk. We include rarely heard works from Hugo Kauder, Charles Ives, Rebecca Clarke, and Alma Mahler, as well.
Following an incredible 2023 season that saw a nearly 20% increase in audience numbers, Music Mountain continues to grow and offer an ever more expansive vision of what a music festival can be. With classical concerts that mix Western classic and romantic masterworks with pieces from modern and living composers from around the world, jazz concerts featuring some of today’s most exciting ensembles, and fascinating family and community events that bring uncommon depth and artistic richness, Music Mountain continues to be the destination for summer culture seekers in the Northeast. And it all takes place on the most beautiful 100 acres in the smallest town in New England!
Music Mountain, Great Lawn in front of Gordon Hall
95th Season Opening Benefit Concert & Reception on June 2
Returning after triumphantly opening our 2023 festival, renowned pianist Benjamin Hochman will kick off our summer season, on June 2, 2024, along with friends from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. “Classical music doesn’t get much better than this,” wrote The New York Times, and the Millbrook Independent described his playing as “transcendent.” Hochman and Co. will play works by Beethoven, Schubert, and Clarke. In addition, this concert will feature the presentation of Music Mountain’s first Lifetime Achievement Award to Ann McKinney, former board chair and board member, and one of Music Mountain’s all-time most generous donors.
Benjamin Hochman
Chamber Music Highlights
The Balourdet Quartet, rapidly becoming a Music Mountain favorite, joins Music Mountain’s own clarinet virtuoso Oskar Espina Ruiz on June 9 for a program of Beethoven and Mozart, plus a clarinet quintet by Anna Wessner, lauded for her “simple, unpredictably expressive music.”
The incomparable pianist Simone Dinnerstein, who last year returned from a sabbatical with a Music Mountain recital, performs again this year on June 23, joined by cellist Alexis Pia Gerlach in music by Bach and multi-genre artist Keith Jarrett.
Making its Music Mountain debut this year is the Canada-based Dior Quartet, quartet-in-residence at the Glenn Gould School, Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and winner of the 2023 Concert Artists Guild Elmaleh Competition. The July 14 concert includes Schubert, Haydn, and two award-winning contemporary composers, American Robert Paterson and Sri Lankan-born Canadian Dinuk Wueratne, whom The New York Times called “exuberantly creative.”
Also debuting at Music Mountain this summer, on August 18, is the Lysander Piano Trio, of which The Strad wrote, “…incredible ensemble, passionate playing, articulate and imaginative ideas and wide palette of colors.” Along with Beethoven’s famed “Archduke” trio, they will play works by Rachmaninoff, Udi Perlman, and Bongani Ndodana-Breen.
The Ying Quartet makes a long-awaited return to Music Mountain on September 1. Joined by pianist Elinor Freer, they will perform Schumann, Haydn, and Carter Pann.
Continuing from July through September, a celebrated roster of string quartets will take the stage at Music Mountain, including the American, Arianna, Cassatt, Daedalus, Erinys, Euclid, Penderecki, and Ulysses quartets, performing riveting programs that combine the classics with discovery works. Joining these quartets is an equally impressive roster of celebrated pianists, including Anya Alexeyev, Magdalena Baczewska, Misha and Cipa Dichter, and Victoria Schwartzman, as well as the Merz Trio.
Balourdet Quartet, the young string quartet that subbed brilliantly for the Juilliard String Quartet at Music Mountain in 2021, is now the winner of the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as Chamber Music America’s 2024 Cleveland Quartet Award.
Jazz Highlights
Jazz lovers are quickly discovering that Music Mountain is the best place to be on Saturday evenings. Last year, local legend Paul Winter filled the hall to overflowing. “This summer, we’re once again thrilled to have a dynamic lineup of top-flight jazz musicians from around the world,” says Espina Ruiz.
Music Mountain welcomes back seven-time Grammy Award-winner Paul Winter for the second consecutive year, on July 20. This year he brings with him a “New Journey,” and we can’t wait to be along for the ride.
The opening jazz concert on June 22 will be an Afro Cuban Night with the brilliant virtuoso Bobby Sanabria and his quartet. His “Multiverse” was a 2024 Grammy Nominee for Best Latin Jazz Album.
The Harry Allen Quartet makes its Music Mountain debut on July 13. Jazz and radio personality John Pizzarelli calls Allen’s playing “nothing less than perfect.”
Grammy-winning pianist Bill Charlap returns with his Bill Charlap Trio on August 24. And the silent movie music duo of Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton will delight audiences on September 7 with a program titled “SONGS, SLAPSTICK, AND SHERLOCK: A 1920’s Spectacular!”
Wanda Houston, Maucha Adnet & Duduka Da Fonseca Trio, The Curtis Brothers, Kellin Hanas Quintet, New Black Eagle Jazz Band, and Swingtime Big Band, complete this year’s thrilling jazz series. Also included are perennial favorites, the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players.
From left, Duduka Da Fonseca and Maucha Adnet, who debuted at Music Mountain last season with a sold-out concert.
Family and Community Events Explore the Power of Music—and Art, Too!
This year’s lineup of free Family and Community Events at Music Mountain begins on April 30 with our annual Region One Third Graders Concert featuring chamber ensembles from the Bard College Conservatory. Over the years, we have introduced thousands of students to the joy of classical music.
On June 9, we will have a Family Concert featuring the Balourdet Quartet and Oskar Espina Ruiz on clarinet. The event will include discussions and performances of excerpts from the afternoon’s formal concert: Mozart’s String Quartet in D Minor, K. 421, “Haydn”; Anna Wessner’s The Eight Lost Songs of Orlando Underground for clarinet quintet; and Beethoven’s String Quartet in F Major, Opus 59 #1. And everyone gets free ice cream at the end!
Back by popular demand, our favorite family event, Painting Music, will take place on July 6. At this multigenerational event for artists, amateurs, and beginners, everyone paints individually, as well as jointly, while listening to live music, guided by renowned artist Vincent Inconiglios and Espina Ruiz.
On September 8, Joseph Horowitz will give a pre-concert lecture on the life of Alma Mahler, whose work will be included in the 3:00 pm concert by the Merz Trio. Horowitz is the author of The Marriage: The Mahlers in New York. Reviewing it in Musical America, Clive Paget writes, “With his unparalleled knowledge of fin-de-siècle classical music in America, Joseph Horowitz has brought us closer to [Gustav] Mahler and his wife Alma than any other author I have read.”
Finally, on September 15 at 2:00 pm, biographer Roxana Robinson and composer Victoria Bond will deliver the pre-concert talk on the great American artist Georgia O’Keeffe. The season-ending concert at 3:00 pm will feature Bond’s composition Blue and Green Music, inspired by O’Keeffe’s painting.
From left, Vincent Inconiglios showing a type of tracing during a live performance (top left corner) at Music Mountain's Inaugural Painting Music in 2018.
Ticket Information
Concerts at Music Mountain are in air-conditioned Gordon Hall, at 225 Music Mountain Road, in Falls Village, Connecticut. Tickets and ticket packages go on sale on April 3, 9 AM, online at musicmountain.org or by calling the pre-season Box Office number (860) 836-6296. Ticket packages offer discounts of up to 20%. Students of any age, teachers, veterans, and 19-40 year-olds attend for as little as $10.
Sunday afternoon concerts have additional lawn seating (audio only). Bring your own picnic. The Music Mountain Concession Stand opens 1 hour prior to each concert and serves coffee, tea, ice cream, and more. Parking is free. Patrons will be able to purchase specific seats when buying tickets for Gordon Hall. Lawn Tickets are General Admission. All tickets are “Will Call,” which means that tickets will be ready for pick up at the Box Office the day of the concert. No need to print e-tickets at home.
Chamber Music Concerts on Sundays at 3:00 PM cost $40-55 (Lawn Tickets are $20), except the Opening Benefit Concert & Reception on June 2, which costs $60-75 (with Lawn Tickets at $30).
Jazz Concerts on Saturdays at 7:00 PM cost $20-35, except Bobby Sanabria Quartet Opening Concert (June 22), Maucha Adnet & Duduka Da Fonseca Trio (July 6), Paul Winter (July 20), and Bill Charlap Trio (August 24), which cost $30-45, and the Silent Film & Live Music: Last Saturday Night (Sept 7), which cost $10-25. There are no Lawn tickets on Saturdays, but patrons are welcome to picnic at Music Mountain before the concert.
New this year are Student / Teacher / Veteran / 19-40 y.o. Tickets, which offer the Acoustic Gem Rows of Gordon Hall for just $10 to all concerts except the opening benefit.
All concerts are free for ages 19 and under. All Pre-Concert Talks and Family Concerts are free. All welcome.
The Saturday Dinner & Concert Package is available from June 22 through September 7, including 5:00 PM dinner at the Falls Village Inn, a Litchfield County landmark—prix fixe Classic American comfort fare, seasonal—and 7:00 PM Jazz at Music Mountain concert, a 10-minute scenic drive away. Alcohol not included. Must be purchased by 3:00 PM on Friday prior to concert. Call Music Mountain to reserve: (860) 824-7126. $30 per person for dinner, on top of the ticket price.
For more information, please visit musicmountain.org or call the pre-season Box Office number (860) 836-6296.
Paul Winter concert at Music Mountain's Gordon Hall in 2023.
About Music Mountain
Since 1930, generations of music lovers have come to Music Mountain for an exceptional concert experience, and today, audiences continue to praise the outstanding quality and consistency of the events at Music Mountain, the exceptional acoustics of air-conditioned Gordon Hall, and the beauty and peaceful serenity of Music Mountain’s mountaintop grounds. Recent concertgoers see Music Mountain as “a peaceful green oasis” and highlight its “amazing venue, ambience, and experience.”
Music Mountain, a nonprofit organization, began as the unique vision of Jacques Gordon, Chicago Symphony concertmaster from 1921 to 1930 and founding first violinist of the Gordon String Quartet, one of the leading quartets of its time. The buildings at Music Mountain form a well-designed campus in the Colonial Revival style. They were built by Sears, Roebuck & Company’s prefabricated housing division and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Today, artistic director Oskar Espina Ruiz and Music Mountain’s dedicated board of directors steer Music Mountain through a period of continued growth.
Music Mountain is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts; Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development Office of the Arts; Connecticut Humanities; the Peter N. Krysa Designated Fund and the Kahn Moller Family Fund from the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation; the Marion Wm. & Alice Edwards Fund, Khurshed Bhumgara Fund and the Lucia Tuttle Fritz Fund from the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation; the Low Road Foundation; and the Smart Family Foundation of New York.
Route 63 at the entrance to Music Mountain Road.