SKANEATELES FESTIVAL
History
Spirit of the Festival
The idea for a Skaneateles Festival came together quickly in the spring of 1980 in discussions between musician Lindsay Groves and Skaneateles residents Beth Boudreau and Louise Robinson.
The first season, two weeks, was presented that August in the village’s Library Hall. Through the generosity of David and Louise Robinson, their home, Brook Farm, soon became the Festival’s center. At Brook Farm, musicians would live, eat, rehearse, relax, and perform, all because of the Robinsons’ hospitality. That same hospitality was extended to the thousands of concertgoers who sat under the stars and listened to music on Saturday evenings for the first 36 years of the Festival.
The phrase “Spirit of the Festival” flowed from the spirit of the Robinsons, and their legacy continues today.

1980
The first season features two weeks of concert with Lindsay Groves as Music Director. The first night, Aug. 16 in Skaneateles Library Hall, …

1981
The season expands to three weeks of concerts at Library Hall. Pianist/violinist Paul Hersh is the artist in residence. His debut is in Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. …

1988
The Festival Educational Outreach Program presents Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf” to 900 schoolchildren at Allyn Arena in June. Thomas Benjamin’s “Nocturne/Aubade/Danse” has its world premiere, with Andrea Bonsignore-Berry, oboe; Alan Ross, violin; Michelle LaCourse, viola; and Lindsay Groves, cello…

1991
In Robert Weirich’s first year as music director, he begins a three-year programming cycle with the Year of the Composer, honoring one each week. George Rochberg, Curtis Curtis-Smith and Otto Luening are in attendance, but John Adams is not…

1992
“Music from the Skaneateles Festival” is released, a CD with benefit concert performances of 1987 and 1990. In January, the Festival wins the ASCAP-Chamber Music America Award for Adventuresome Programming of Contemporary Music at CMA’s annual meeting. The season is the Year of the Performer…

1993
The season is the Year of the Listener. Robert Weirich conducts two Saturday orchestra concerts, one a program of symphonic jazz with Jean Kopperud the soloist in Bernstein’s “Prelude, Fugue and Riffs for Clarinet and Jazz Ensemble.” Julie Newell, soprano, and Patrick Mason, baritone, sing Bernstein’s “Arias and Barcarolles” with Kwang-Wu Kim and Robert Weirich, piano four-hands. George Rochberg introduces his Sonata-Aria and Piano Trio No. 3…

1994
Robert Weirich solos in Mozart’s Piano Concerto in G Major, K. 453. Awadagin Pratt and David Kim perform Brahms’ Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 108, and Pratt is the soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5, Ian Hobson conducting. Jeffrey Kahane conducts Tchaikovsky’s “Variations on a Rococo Theme,” Steven Doane, cellist…

1995
Peggy Pearson, oboist, makes her debut in John Steinmetz’ “Mixed Blessing” and is the soloist in the Strauss Oboe Concerto, Robert Weirich conducting. Barry Snyder, piano, and Curtis Macomber, violin, perform Ravel’s Sonata for Violin and Piano, and Snyder and Steven Doane perform Chopin’s Sonata for Piano and Cello…

1996
The Peabody Trio performs piano trios by Haydn in E minor and Ravel. Robert Weirich’s “A Flurry of Fanfares” for brass has its first performance. William Cowdery, fortepiano, and Robert Weirich, harpsichord, solo in an orchestra concert with Bach’s Clavier Concerto in E-flat Major and Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 414, Robert Kapilow conducting…

1997
The Cassatt Quartet performs Mozart’s Quartet in D Major, K. 575, Sculthorpe’s From Ubirr with Simon 7 on didjeridoo and Brahms’ String Quintet in D Major, joined by Kazi Pitelka, violist…

1998
Chamber Music America presents its Distinguished Service Award to David and Louise Robinson. Robert Weirich conducts an all-Mozart opening concert and solos in the Piano Concerto No. 27…

1999
The Festival performs its first opera, Britten’s “Noye’s Fludde,” Grant Cooper conducting. The Magellan String Quartet with various accompanists performs Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro, Schoenberg’s “Transfigured Night” and Strauss’ Sextet from Capriccio. Awadagin Pratt, piano, joins the Miro String Quartet in Dvorak’s Quintet in A Major, Op. 81…

2000
In Diane Walsh’s first year as artistic director, she debuts in the opening night concert playing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, Grant Cooper conducting…

2001
A CD is released, “Chamber Music by the Lake, Volume I,” highlights of the 2000 season. The Chip Jackson Jazz Quartet performs opening night…

2002
A second CD is released, “Chamber Music by the Lake, Volume II,” highlights of the 2001 season. Eugene Drucker and Diane Walsh perform Bartok’s Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano…

2003
Eugene Drucker and Diane Walsh perform a sonata by Strauss and Bartok’s “First Portrait.” The lights go out across the Northeast Aug. 14, but the blackout doesn’t prevent a full evening of candlelight music…

2004
The 25th Anniversary Season includes a fifth week of performances and welcomes back many friends from the early years. Eugene Drucker on violin, Roberta Cooper on cello and Paul Hersh on piano play Beethoven’s “Archduke Trio.” Hersh is the pianist in Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet with David Brickman violin, Melissa Matson viola, Lindsay Groves cello, and Ed Castilano bass (3 of the same musicians that performed this piece in 1981)…

2005
This is the first season for new artistic directors, the husband and wife team of cellist David Ying and pianist Elinor Freer. Opening night features the Ying Quartet in Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor and, with Freer, the Bloch Quintet for Piano and Strings…

2006
The season is dedicated to the memory of Dr. David Robinson, a Festival co-founder and owner of Brook Farm, who died July 9. The season opens with the Daedalus Quartet in a free community concert that concluded the Hyperscore program, in which the quartet performed new music composed by community residents using the Hyperscore software; the quartet had spent a week in May in residency in local schools…

2007
Mike Seeger brings the sound of traditional southern mountain music to the first week, performing a selection of American music with the Ying Quartet. Baritone Timothy Jones sings songs by Berlin, Kern, and Gershwin in an evening of Reel Music…

2008
Imani Winds draw a standing-room-only crowd for Music Is Fun! the season-opening FamilyFest event. The Turtle Island Quartet present an afternoon community concert in the Clift Park gazebo. Joel Fan, piano, joins Imani Winds in Poulenc’s Sextet for Piano and Winds…

2009
The highlight of the 30th anniversary season is the commissioning of a new piece of chamber music, Carter Pann’s “Summer Songs,” based on five poems from local residents about summer in Central New York. Excerpts are heard at a community concert at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, and the world premiere is August 28 in Skaneateles with the composer present…

2010
Composer Paul Moravec spends a week in residence with Trio Solisti, which performs his Passacaglia, Scherzo, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Tempest Fantasy,” with Alan Kay on clarinet and Malcolm Ingram as reader…

2011
The Festival introduces pop-up Music Blasts throughout the village and invites community members to compose short pieces of music in the Hyperscore II composition project. The Chiara Quartet opens the season with two pieces by composer-in-residence Stacy Garrop, 10 Hyperscore II compositions, and a new work by Garrop, who curated Hyperscore II…

2012
The season opens with a week devoted to Bach and his later champions, including Mendelssohn, whose Piano Trio No. 2 is performed by Jung-Min Amy Lee on violin, David Ying cello, and Elinor Freer piano…

2013
Nature is the season’s theme, beginning with the natural sounds of the voice. Jennifer Aylmer, soprano, and Randall Scarlata, baritone, are soloists in songs for voice and piano (Laura Ward) by Schubert and pieces from Verdi to Bernstein…

2014
The Festival’s 35th anniversary season marks the end of Elinor Freer and David Ying’s 10 years as artistic directors. Performers from the Festival’s early seasons – Joseph Genualdi and Curtis Macomber, violin; Maria Lambos and Melissa Matson, viola; Steven Doane and Rosemary Elliott, cello; Stewart Rose, horn; and Robert Weirich, piano – return for a concert of Grieg’s Violin Sonata No. 3, two pieces for horn and piano, and Brahms’ String Sextet No 2. Fireworks Ensemble (including saxophone, guitar, piano, and percussion) headline a Brook Farm concert that ends with fireworks over the lawn…

2015
This is the debut season for new artistic directors Aaron Wunsch and Julia Bruskin, whose first performance, on opening night, is the Britten Sonata for Cello and Piano. Pianist Orion Weiss joins Wunsch for three Dvorak Slavonic Dances and accompanies Metropolitan Opera soprano Lisette Oropesa on four songs by Bizet…

2016
This season marks the opening of the Festival’s new outdoor venue, the Robinson Pavilion at Anyela’s Vineyards. Pianists Aaron Wunsch and Rieko Aizawa play Corigliano’s “Gazebo Dances,” and Wunsch and the Parker Quartet offer Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A Major…

2017
Windsync, the Daedalus Quartet, and bassist Doug Balliett perform Martinu’s Nonet No. 2 for Winds and Strings, and cellist Julia Bruskin joins the Daedalus in Schubert’s Quintet in C Major…

2018
Composer Derek Bermel discusses his new work, “Encounter with the Moon,” commissioned by the Festival and given its world premiere by Tai Murray, violin; Xavier Foley, bass; and Rebecca Carr, narrator…

2019
The Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary by commissioning two new pieces. Pianist and multimedia artist Lera Auerbach composed “Fractured Dreams,” a sonata for violin and piano, for Hilary Hahn, and they premiere the work…

2020
Due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, 2020 was a year of reinvention. The pandemic forced us to eliminate all in-person events. The Festival responded with four live performances recorded at WCNY for TV broadcast, live streaming and simulcast on Classic FM…

2021
The theme was “Together Again in 2021” and we were delighted to be back with in-person concerts. An abbreviated two-week season was held with reduced seating capacities at all venues and COVID-19 protocols and CDC guidelines for safety in place…

2022
After two seasons of pandemic adjustments, this year marks a return to a traditional four-week Skaneateles Festival season. This year the Festival also returned to the First Presbyterian Church for Thursday and Friday performances. The theme of 2022 was…

2023
“Brilliant Sounds of Summer” was the theme for the 2023 season. This year brought together a mix of beloved favorites and exciting newcomers. Eliot Fisk started off the season with the first ever…

2024
This season marks the Festival’s 45th anniversary, which commenced with two celebratory opening concerts at the church. These performances featured favorite local musicians from the…

2025
The theme for the 2025 season was “In Tune with Nature.” The group Ruckus opened the season with a show entitled Folk Meets Baroque, where they played a program with trio sonatas by Corelli, fiddle…

Robinson Award

Commissioned Works Series

“I am asking that all of our supporters invite one person who doesn’t enjoy classical music. Once they’re here, we’ll do the rest. It’s the kind of magic for which the Festival is known.”
Robert Weirich
Music Director 1991 – 1999

We hope to see you soon!

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