Music Mountain at 90: Still Going, Still Growing

Anniversaries are a time to reflect on the past, but also to look forward to the future. For Music Mountain, the Falls Village-based summer chamber music festival, which celebrates its 90th season this year, the past is prelude to a promising future.

“It is truly a historic feat that Music Mountain has managed to deliver the highest artistic quality for 90 consecutive years, while still remaining committed to supporting the careers of talented young musicians of limited means,” said Oskar Espina Ruiz, the artistic and executive director, who enters his third year with the festival, having taken the reins from the late Nicholas Gordon.

“Music Mountain was key in giving chamber music the prominence it enjoys today in the United States. Many of today’s preeminent chamber musicians and ensembles were mentored by Music Mountain—the Shanghai Quartet, to name one, will be playing here for its 30th consecutive year this summer,” Espina Ruiz said.

Chamber music, especially the string quartet, lies at the heart of Music Mountain’s mission. Each summer, 16 Sunday afternoon concerts feature some of the world’s top chamber ensembles and guest artists. This year, the season opens on June 9 with pianist Benjamin Hochman stepping in for Peter Serkin with Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart and Schoenberg.

“I’m excited about the return of the Emerson String Quartet on August 4,” said Espina Ruiz, “and back-to-back Labor Day Weekend concerts by the Shanghai.” Other notables include the Escher Quartet on June 16; the American String Quartet on July 7, featuring Espina Ruiz himself as soloist in Brahms’ late masterpiece, his clarinet quintet; the Harlem String Quartet on July 28 in a program including the Debussy and Franck quartets; and the closing concert with the Juilliard String Quartet on Sept. 22.

Education is also in Music Mountain’s DNA, and each year an expanded range of training programs, master classes, and workshops are offered, including the Music Mountain Academy, in its second year, and a brand-new “Amateur Week” (June 25-30). (If you’ve been meaning to pick up your dusty violin, now is your chance!)

For the less classically minded (poly-musical-curious?), Music Mountain offers 11 Saturdays of “Twilight Concerts” of jazz, cabaret and more. This year’s roster includes singer-pianist Steve Ross, the “Crown Prince of New York Cabaret” (June 29); the raucous New Black Eagle Jazz Band (July 20); and perennial favorites such as the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players (June 22) and local impresario Michael Berkeley (Aug. 3). Also returning this summer is the popular “Painting Music,” a community activity for all ages (Aug. 24).

As for that promising future, Espina Ruiz only half-jokingly said, “Our unique weekend concerts will continue for another 90 years and beyond.” (Even if we’re not all here to appreciate it.) More seriously, “I’d like to see Music Mountain become an incubator for new transformative ideas in music like ‘Painting Music,’ and to do so while staying true to our core mission and attracting new and loyal audiences for decades to come.”

Music Mountain chamber concerts regularly take place on Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. (with some exceptions; check the schedule for details) in air-conditioned Gordon Hall at Music Mountain, 225 Music Mountain Rd., Falls Village, CT. This year’s Twilight Concerts have been moved to a new starting time, Saturday afternoons at 5 p.m. 

Complete schedule and ticket information can be found at www.musicmountain.org, or by calling 860-824-7126. 

Fred Baumgarten writes about music for Compass and is also on the Board of Managers of Music Mountain.