by Oskar Espina Ruiz, artistic director Photo by Omri Ben David
FALLS VILLAGE, CT – Music Mountain Summer Festival, one of the longest-running festivals of its kind in the world, opens its highly anticipated 96th season on June 1, 2025, with a Benefit Concert and Reception featuring pianist Benjamin Hochman and Friends from the Met Opera Orchestra. The program includes Beethoven’s masterful “Archduke” Trio, and Brahms’ Piano Quartet in G minor, with its brilliant Rondo alla Zingarese.
Concertgoers will have the opportunity to share their passion for music with the artists at the free reception immediately following the concert. This is always one of the most memorable events of the season, when the community comes out to support Music Mountain, building the energy that propels the 16 weeks of concerts that follow.
New series of classical piano recitals on Saturdays
New this year, Music Mountain will present a new series of stellar classical piano recitals on three consecutive Saturday Evenings in June, starting June 14. These three distinct piano recitals feature audience favorites Misha Dichter, Fei-Fei, and Wynona Wang.
Mr. Dichter’s program includes Beethoven’s Polonaise in C Major, Brahms’s Sonata #3 in F Minor, Chopin’s Polonaise in F Sharp Minor and Mazurkas, and Prokofiev’s Piano Sonata #7 in B Flat Major. Fei-Fei plays Debussy, Rachmaninoff, Boulanger, and Liszt’s Piano Sonata in B Minor, a 30-minute monumental work in a single movement dedicated to Robert Schumann. Wynona Wang closes the new series with Scarlatti, Zhang’s Kangding Love Song & Pi Huang, Rachmaninoff, and Schubert’s Wandered Fantasy.
Saturday concerts are typically combined with a pre-concert dinner at the Falls Village Inn, a Litchfield County landmark, followed by a 10-minute scenic drive to Music Mountain.
Chamber music concerts on Sunday afternoons
Every Sunday afternoon in June, from June 1 through the 29th, Music Mountain offers a riveting concert experience at its beautiful Gordon Hall, the acoustic gem built by Sears, Roebuck & Company’s prefabricated housing division in 1930, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, together with the rest of the mountaintop campus in the Colonial Revival style.
After the Opening Concert on June 1, the Balourdet Quartet returns on June 8 to perform Dvorak’s famed Piano Quintet with Misha Dichter, and Smetana’s String Quartet in E Minor, “From my Life,” in addition to a new string quartet by Paul Novak titled “Impossible Inventions.” This concert will be dedicated to the late Peter Schuyten, who served on the Music Mountain board of directors.
The Lysander Piano Trio returns by audience demand on June 15 to perform an eclectic program built around Schumann’s 6 Pieces in Canonic Form, and Mendelssohn’s Piano Trio in D Minor. Lysander Trio violinist Itamar Zorman, who came to prominence as the winner of the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition, has just been appointed to the Jacobs School of Music faculty at Indiana University, where Music Mountain’s own Berkshire String Quartet was the quartet-in-residence.
Flying from London, where they are based, the Marmen Quartet will debut at Music Mountain on June 22. Recent first-prize winners at the prestigious Bordeaux and Banff International String Quartet Competitions, they will perform quartets by Haydn and Grosshandler, as well as the Brahms Piano Quintet with pianist Victoria Schwartzman.
Kauder String Sextet’s US Premiere at 100
On June 29, at Music Mountain, the Euclid Quartet with George Meyer, viola and Leo Singer, cello, will perform Hugo Kauder’s String Sextet for the first time since its premiere in Vienna in 1925. According to the Kauder Society, “composer, musician, and philosopher Hugo Kauder, born in Tobitschau, former Czechoslovakia, made a name in Vienna with his compositions in a style that defied atonality and instead aimed at melody and polyphony.” Composers Jacob Burnette and Karl Warner digitized the autograph for the 100th anniversary of the premiere at Music Mountain, its United States premiere.
Hugo Kauder had to leave his beloved Vienna under the Nazi regime and started a new musical life in New York in 1940. In 1945, Kauder was invited as composer in residence to the Summer Music Institute at Black Mountain College, the same year Music Mountain’s Gordon String Quartet was appointed quartet in residence there, performing two of Kauder’s string quartets, # 4, which we heard at Music Mountain in 2024 withstring quartet # 7.
This Euclid Quartet concert program continues with Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence, an audience favorite, and Haydn’s String Quartet in D Minor, Opus 76/2, “Quinten.”
A free Pre-Concert Talk by Barbara von Bechtolsheim about Hugo Kauder and the Gordon String Quartet’s collaboration at Black Mountain College in 1945 will start at 2 pm in Gordon Hall, right before the 3 pm concert.
Music Mountain’s Chamberfest and Painting Music soon to follow in July
Back by popular demand, Music Mountain’s favorite family event, Painting Music, will take place on July 10 at 3 pm. At this multi-generational 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 Music Mountain artistic director Oskar Espina Ruiz.
Chamberfest, taking place from July 6-11, is Music Mountains’ Chamber Music Camp for String Players of All Ages. The Arianna String Quartet will lead daily coaching, rehearsals, topic presentations, and concerts for all those who wish to immerse themselves in a friendly community of chamber music lovers. The application deadline is May 23, 2025 or until filled.
Ticket Information
Concerts at Music Mountain are in air-conditioned Gordon Hall, at 225 Music Mountain Road, in Falls Village, Connecticut. Tickets are now on sale, online at musicmountain.org or by calling the Box Office number (860) 824-7126. If you wish to attend 3 or more concerts, you may purchase a Gold Pass by calling the Box Office to save up to 20%. Students of any age, teachers, veterans, and 19- to 40-year-olds get half-price tickets. All concerts are free for ages 18 and under. All Pre-Concert Talks, Family Concerts, and most Community Events are free.
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. We serve wine on Saturdays.
Chamber Music Concerts on Sundays at 3:00 PM cost $50-65 (Lawn Tickets are $30), except the 96th Season Opening Benefit Concert & Reception on June 1, which cost $70-85 (with Lawn Tickets at $40).
Saturday Concerts at 7:00 PM, starting June 14, cost $35-50. There are no Lawn tickets on Saturdays, but patrons are welcome to picnic at Music Mountain before the concert.
The Saturday Dinner & Concert Package is available for Saturday Concerts from June 14, 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 Music Mountain Concert, a 10-minute scenic drive away. Alcohol not included. Must be purchased by 3:00 PM on Friday before the concert. Call Music Mountain to reserve: (860) 824-7126. $30 per person for dinner, on top of the ticket price.
