Berkshire High Peaks Music Festival – Music with Altitude!

After two years of running virtually and surmounting the challenges of the pandemic period, Berkshire High Peaks Festival will mount its 13th annual season live and in person on the bucolic campus of Berkshire School, in Sheffield, Mass. "Music Undefeated!” was the manifesto of the virtual adaptation of the traditional festival, and it underscores the festival’s resolve to imbue participants with skills, confidence, and optimism for the future—more so now that so many of the COVID challenges are behind us..

At the core of the festival are 40 international students of exceptional promise and demonstrated accomplishment who gather for intensive study, are coached as part of performing ensembles and enjoy discussions and workshops by prominent composers, renowned pedagogues and notable figures in the music world as they resume their preparations for professional lives.

The ten-day festival, directed by internationally acclaimed cellist Yehuda Hanani, will continue to make its offerings of “Moonlight Sonatas” concerts, lectures and master classes open to the public – this year free to all. Hanani and his renowned colleagues infuse students with love and enthusiasm for their musical vocation, instilling them with an appreciation for past traditions and a spirit of adventure and discovery—as well as connecting them to the Berkshire community and beyond with daily events. Highlights include a faculty concert on Wednesday, July 27 at 7:30 PM and a talk by Professor Timothy Sergay of SUNY Albany reassessing our relationship with Russian music and composers in a talk titled “Russian Art and Culture after Mariupol,” Saturday, July 23 at 4 PM.

“We are committed to bringing the very best artists and leading pedagogues to continue this musical tradition, here in the breathtaking environment that inspired generations of writers, artists and musicians,” says Hanani. Guest faculty / performers include violinists Peter Zazofsky, First Prize winner of the Queen Elizabeth of Belgium Competition and Giora Schmidt, Avery Fisher Grant winner; violist Michael Strauss; Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes; and opera director and conductor Jay Lesenger, who directed John Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown; and pianists Alexander Shtarkman, a Van Cliburn Competition winner and Gila Goldstein, director of piano studies at Brown; cellists Jeffrey Zeigler (former member of the renowned Kronos Quartet), Diego Fainguersch, first cellist of the Buenos Aires Philharmonic and Yehuda Hanani.

“Music from High Peaks” has been presented in popular concert locations, including the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA; Orpheum Theater in Tannersville, NY; Basilica Hudson; the New York State Museum in Albany; Bridge Street Theater in Catskill, NY; the Carey Institute for Global Good in Rensselaerville, NY, and many others. This July, in addition to the concerts that are scheduled at state-of-the-art Allen Theater at the Berkshire School, performances will take place in Lenox, Becket and in Tannersville, New York.

The following are open to the public:

Thursday, July 21, 2022

2:00 PM – Master Class Gila Goldstein (Longy School of Music, Brown Univ.), piano

7:30 PM – Moonlight Sonatas (High Peaks residents)

Friday, July 22, 2022

2:00 PM – Master Class Giora Schmidt (NYU), violin

Saturday, July 23, 2022

2:00 PM – Master Class Jeffrey Zeigler (Mannes), cello

4:00 PM – Talk -- Russian language and culture expert Prof. Timothy Sergay (SUNY Albany) "Russian Art and Culture After Mariupol"

Sunday, July 24, 2022

2:00 PM – Workshop Carolyn Regula – Honing Your Internet Presence

7:30 PM – Moonlight Sonatas (High Peaks residents)

Monday, July 25, 2022

10:30 AM – Master Class Michael Strauss (Univ. of Indianapolis), viola

3:00 PM – Music from High Peaks in Lenox, MA

Tuesday, July 26, 2022

1:00 PM Talk – “Stage Fright, Memory, Self-Consciousness and the Performer” Dr. Mark Cannon

2:30 PM -- Master Class Alexander Shtarkman (Peabody Conservatory), piano

7:00 PM - Opera Talk – Jay Lesenger (Former Artistic Dir. of the Chautauqua Opera Company)

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

10:30 AM – Master Class Peter Zazofsky (Boston Univ.), violin

2:00 PM – Master Class Yehuda Hanani (Mannes), cello. “Bach Suites for cellists and violists”

7:30 PM – Moonlight Sonatas (High Peaks Faculty concert)

Thursday, July 28, 2022

10:30 AM — Master Class Diego Fainguersch (Institute of Art at the Teatro Colon), cello

5:00 PM – Music from High Peaks in Becket, MA

7:30 PM – Moonlight Sonatas (High Peaks residents)

Friday, July 29, 2022

2:00 PM – Carolyn Regula Session II – Internet Skills for the Musician/Performer

Saturday, July 30, 2022

7:30 PM -- Moonlight Sonatas -- Farewell Concert popular concert locations, in

MORE ABOUT THE HIGH PEAKS FESTIVAL

The Berkshire High Peaks Festival is a performing and teaching summer institute bringing together renowned musicians, pedagogues and exceptionally gifted international students, normally held in the cultural hub of the southern Berkshires. The intimate scale and highest level of talent make possible an invigorating ten days of discovery, exploration, bonding and growth. The festival has an all-inclusive atmosphere, fostering camaraderie and cross-cultural exchange and understanding. The faculty is similarly international. In past summers, in addition to the classical canon, the music has focused on traditions ranging from Latin American tango to Japanese ceremonial drums to the heritage of Jazz and improvisation in addition to the classical canon. Central to the festival’s mission are performance opportunities for young artists on the cusp of their careers. Faculty and guest performers have included the most respected classical musicians and teachers of our time: guitarist Eliot Fisk; violinists Shmuel Ashkenasi, Elmar Oliveira, Peter Zazofsky, and Stefan Milenkovich; violists Pierre-Henri Xuereb and Michael Strauss; pianists James Tocco, Michael Chertock, and Vassily Primakov and cellists Thomas Landschoot, Sae Rom Kwon and Yehuda Hanani. Berkshire High Peaks concerts have taken place at the New York State Museum in Albany, NY; the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge,MA; Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill, NY; Orpheum Theater in Tannersville, NY; in the orchard at Olana, at Claremont Historical Site and at the Carey Center for Global Good in Rensselaerville, NY.

Berkshire High Peaks Festival Artistic Director YEHUDA HANANI has received acclaim across the globe for his charismatic playing and profound interpretations. An extraordinary recitalist, he is equally renowned for performances with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Radio Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Irish National Symphony, Belgrade Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, Seoul Symphony, and BBC Welsh Symphony. His engaging chamber music with commentary series, Close Encounters With Music, has captivated audiences from Miami to Kansas City, Omaha, Calgary, Scottsdale, the Berkshires, and at the Frick Collection in New York City. He has been the subject of hundreds of articles and interviews in the media, and his weekly program on NPR affiliate station WAMC Northeast Radio, “Classical Music According to Yehuda” attracted thousands of fans. A prolific recording artist, he served on the faculties of the Johns Hopkins Peabody Conservatory, as Professor of Cello at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and is now the faculty of Mannes School in New York City.

Date: July 20 – July 31, 2022

Location: Berkshire School Campus - 245 North Undermountain Road, Sheffield, MA

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