Naturally, we Longbeards would not consider our homepage complete unless we said a few kind words about Music Mountain --- America's oldest continuously-operated Chamber Music Festival; and the only such Festival dedicated specifically to education and performance of the string quartet literature. We Longbeards are especially honored to celebrate Music Mountain's 80th Anniversary Season!
Based in Falls Village, Connecticut, MM was created in 1930 to serve as the permanent home of the Gordon String Quartet, one of the earliest 20th Century chamber ensembles to become famous in the world at large. Formed in 1921, the quartet consisted of Jacques Gordon and David Sackson, violins; William Lincer, viola; and Naoum Benditzky, cello. When Jacques Gordon first conceived Music Mountain, he envisioned a center dedicated largely to the serious study of chamber music in general and quartets in particular. Indeed, Gordon took the 'permanent home' concept to its literal extremes in that here, the members could literally live in actual houses, one for each of the four musicians.
That's how Sears, Roebuck and Company practically came to build Music Mountain. In those days, the construction of houses was a mainstay of Sears' traditional catalog; in fact, MM happens to be the only major cultural institution that Sears ever built. At the heart of Music Mountain stands Gordon Hall --- developed and constructed as both the literal and physical analog of the violin!
Step through Gordon Hall's French-hewn doors, designed to mimic the F-holes of the violin! What will you find? Well, when you look up at the beaming of the ceiling, you'll notice how it seems to emulate both the sound post and bass bar of the violin. Air spaces in the walls surround the venue's knotty pinewoood interior, along with a crawlspace beneath, and an overhead attic. These permit the wood to vibrate freely. This uniquely acoustical structure has provided Gordon Hall with its reputation as one of the finest chamber music halls in America today. It seats no fewer than 335 individuals --- a seating range wherein, perhaps, Haydn, Beethoven or Mozart might feel comfortable with, for it was this exact type of approximate space that much of the classic quartet literature was performed in.
For virtually its entire eight-decade-long history, Music Mountain, Inc. has been operated strictly with unpaid volunteer management and workers, under the overall supervision of a Board of Managers, which in turn is led by a President --- namely, Jacques Gordon's son, Nicholas, who has consistently (some would say, defiantly!) maintained MM's constant commitment to volunteerism, relying solely upon operation by those who would otherwise be paid for professionally. Everyone has a duty to accomplish at Music Mountain: from ticket taking to groundskeeping; from audio maintenance to fence-painting; from running a teaching program to tuning Gordon Hall's venerable Steinway piano!
It is believed that MM is the only major cultural institution of its scope and influence to be operated full-time on a strictly volunteer basis. Music Mountain's financial support is made possible through ticket sales, donations, governmental and foundational grants, and related fundraising activities. Only the musicians, along with certain outside specialized services, get any payments from MM.Music Mountain usually presents 26 concerts each year. 16 of those recitals are devoted to the finest-quality string quartet ensembles from all over the world, accompanied by various additional artists. From the beloved classics of the field to specially composed and/or commissioned contemporary works (many of which have received their world, U.S., or local premieres), MM has showcased a mixed bag of global and national displays of harmony, as played by quartets from all over Eastern and Western Europe, Australia, Japan and (naturally) the Americas.
The 16 Chamber Music Concerts at Music Mountain are usually staged on Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoons. Of the 10 remaining concerts of MM's 26-concert schedule, eight of them are reserved for some of the finest jazz perfomances. The final two concerts, held at the end of the season, focus largely on chamber music of the Baroque era.
Broadcast concerts of the string quartet recitals are prepared for radio syndication on more than 250 commercial and/or public outlets across the U.S. and Canada, under the auspices of the Keystone Broadcasting System, Inc., of Sharon, Connecticut, of which Nicholas Gordon also serves as Chairman and CEO. WQQQ-FM, also based in Sharon, is the originating/distributing station for the Music Mountain Chamber Music Series; the programmes are digitally recorded by audio supervisor David Thomas and audio engineers Don Wade and Karim Lopez, representing Collegium Sound Studios, New York City. The broadcasts are principally underwritten by Edward R. Hamilton, Booksellers, which, like MM itself, calls Falls Village home.
Helping MM celebrate its 80th Birthday at Gordon Hall were the Arianna, St. Petersburg, Avalon, Amernet, Cassatt, Penderecki, Latinoamericano, Bergonzi, Daedalus, and Shanghai String Quartets. The 80th Anniversary Season also featured the Zimro Project: Sharon Roffman and Lily Francis, violins; Alexis Sykes, viola; Raman Ramakrishnan, cello; Steven Beck, piano; Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet.
Also visiting the Music Mountain Chamber Series in 2009: pianists Peter Serkin, Doris Stevenson, Soyeon Lee, Steven Beck, Daniel Epstein, Tanya Bannister, Pamela Mia Paul, Jonathan Yates and Juana Zayas; violinists Madalyn Parnas, Mark Peshkanov, Alla Aranovskaya, Daniel Khalikov and Sami Merdinian; violists Toby Appel, Boris Vayner and Milan Milisavljevic; celists Cicely Parnas, Mark Johnson and Adrian Daurov; Timothy Cobb, bass; and Daniel Binelli, bandoneon.
Until 2005, two of the final concerts of the Chamber Music Series were reserved for the Shanghai Quartet, with pianist Ruth Laredo joining them for the annual Rose Crohn Memorial Concert. That tradition ended when Ms. Laredo died in late June 2005. During MM's Diamond Jubilee season, however, Ms. Laredo and the Shanghai performed more times at Music Mountain than at any other time in the Festival's current history. That season in particular featured the Shanghai headlining six programs devoted to the complete quartet cycle of Beethoven.
Music Mountain is also the principal benefactor of the Julie Miles Gordon Memorial Fund, dedicated to the memory of Nicholas' late wife, with whom he spent many happy years as a lover and student of string quartet performance and literature. The Julie Miles Gordon Memorial Fund seeks to assist in enabling artists from all over the world to take part in and enrich MM's concerts and teaching programs. The grants are developed mostly to replace funding from those sources which are no longer available, including national governments and cultural organizations.
So now you know everything you need to know about Music Mountain. Of course, we in The Quartet of the Longbeards have long considered MM to be one of the most wonderfully peaceful places on Earth in which to make our kind of music. The area surrounding Gordon Hall is in fact so peaceful that a good many couples have made arrangements to stage their weddings there! (We should mention that we, too, have played our share of weddings, social functions and the like; wherever we've played, brides and grooms of all shapes and sizes have marveled at our unique style and talent. Of course, there was the time when we Longbeards had to perform a Haydn andante for several romantically-inclined aliens from outer space ---- but that's another story.)