Romance of the Romani!—Ravel, Bartok, Liszt, Haydn and Brahms Piano Quartet
2026-06-14 16:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA, 01230, United States
The season closes with the irresistible fire and passion of music shaped by Roma traditions, which left an indelible mark on European composers. The romance, longing, and sense of freedom in these melodies found their way into some of the most beloved works of the repertoire. Haydn’s Piano Trio No. 39, with its famous “Gypsy” Rondo, dazzles in Hungarian style, while Brahms unleashes unbridled intensity in the torrential finale of his Piano Quartet No. 1. Ravel (Tzigane), Bartók (Romanian Dances), and Liszt (Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2) add their voices to this vibrant tradition. After the performance, join us for a festive reception—complete with a fortune teller to offer a lighthearted glimpse into your future. Our prediction: a brilliant season finale filled with inspired music and extraordinary performers.
Max Levinson, piano; Hye-Jin Kim, violin; Helena Baillie, viola, Yehuda Hanani, cello; Laura Melnicoff, cello.
SPECIAL OFFER AS OF JUNE 9, 2026!
50% off per ticket for one pair of Mezzanine seats! Ticket Limit: 2. Discount Code: ROMANI2
*Discount code is valid online (enter at checkout) or through the Mahaiwe box office.
**Offer excludes Orchestra, Opera Box, and Upper Balcony seating. Offer is not applicable to previously purchased tickets.

Individual Tickets via The Mahaiwe
Balcony: $35
Orchestra/Mezzanine: $60: (Discount Code ROMANI2 for 2 tickets Mezzanine only)
Ages 18 – 35: $25
Student tickets are available at the door: $15
Virtual tickets are $30 for each concert via cewm.org
We hold our annual gala dinner post-concert at a location in Lenox. Please scroll down for ticket packages. Thank you!
Gala Ticket Options:
Post-concert Gala tickets: $175
Premium Concert Seating + Gala: $225
Sponsorship Options:
Gold Sponsorship: $3,000

Concert premium seating and gala tickets for 8
Full page ad in gala playbill
2 tickets reserved for April and May concerts

Silver Sponsorship: $2,000

Concert seating and Gala tickets for 6
1/2-page ad in gala playbill

Bronze Sponsorship: $1,500

Concert seating for 4
1/4 page ad in gala playbill

Questions: Contact Caitlin Marsden McNeill at caitlin@cewm.org or call 800.843.0778.

Performance and Opera Master Class with Paula Suozzi
2026-07-23 14:00 - 15:30 | Auditorium at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY, 12125, United States
“The Director’s Eye”
This Performance and Opera Master Class with Paula Suozzi of the Metropolitan Opera is free and open to the public in the Auditorium at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY on Thursday, July 23 at 2:00pm.
Throughout the festival, participants present outreach concerts and master classes across the Berkshires, Hudson Valley, and Catskills, including a performance and master class partnership at Catwalk and Beattie Powers Place in Catskill, NY.
No need to register. We look forward to seeing you!

Vocal Master Class with Julia Bentley and Tatiana Lokhina
2026-07-24 14:30 - 16:00 | Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio, 92 Hawthorne Street, Lenox, MA, 01240
This Vocal Master Class with Julia Bentley (Mezzo Soprano, New Budapest Orpheum Society) and Tatiana Lokhina (pianist, Oberlin Observatory) is free and open to the public at The Tannery at Darrow School, New Lebanon, NY, on Friday, July 24 at 2:30pm. A student vocal quartet will be coached. The class is followed by the music of the Dakiti String Quartet.
Throughout the festival, participants present outreach concerts and master classes across the Berkshires, Hudson Valley, and Catskills, including a performance and master class partnership at Catwalk and Beattie Powers Place in Catskill, NY.
No need to register. We look forward to seeing you!

Viola Master Class with Anthony Devroye
2026-07-25 14:00 - 15:30 | The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY, 12125
This Viola Master Class with Anthony Devroye (Avalon String Quartet) is free and open to the public at The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY on Saturday, July 25 at 2:00pm.
Throughout the festival, participants present outreach concerts and master classes across the Berkshires, Hudson Valley, and Catskills, including a performance and master class partnership at Catwalk and Beattie Powers Place in Catskill, NY.
No need to register. We look forward to seeing you!

"Moonlight Sonatas" Faculty Concert
2026-07-25 19:00 - 21:00 | The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY, 12125
This Berkshire High Peaks Festival “Moonlight Sonatas” faculty concert brings together an acclaimed roster of artists — pianists Alexander Shtarkman, Max Levinson, and Tatiana Lokhina; violinists Ari Isaacman-Beck and James Stern; violist Anthony Devroye; and cellists Kivie Cahn-Lipman and Yehuda Hanani, the festival’s founder and artistic director — for a rare evening of chamber music collaboration.
Walton’s Two Sitwell Songs; Balakirev’s Oriental Fantasy performed by Alexander Shtarkman; a four-hand arrangement of Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream with Tatiana Lokhina; and Arvo Pärt’s Es sang vor langen Jahren featuring Sara Dailey Muñoz, James Stern, and Anthony Devroye. The evening concludes with a complete performance of Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81
“Moonlight Sonatas” concerts are free and open to the public as part of the larger festival, which includes masterclasses and other events.
High Peaks residents and faculty perform on these dates:
Saturday, July 25, 7pm: faculty concert
Tuesday, July 28, 7pm: young artists and faculty
Thursday, July 30, 7pm: young artists and faculty
Saturday, August 1, 2pm: vocal performance
Saturday, August 1, 7pm: young artists and faculty
Sunday, August 2, 7pm: Closing concert with young artists and faculty
See you at The Tannery at Darrow School: 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY!

Festival Concert at Chesterwood
2026-07-26 15:00 - 17:00 | Chesterwood, West Stockbridge, Chesterwood, 4 Williamsville Road, West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 01262
Come enjoy this Berkshire High Peaks Festival concert featuring students and faculty in works by Beethoven (Two Scottish Folk Songs, for voice and piano trio), Dvořák (String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 51, performed by the Dakiti String Quartet), Vaughan Williams (“Is My Team Ploughing” from On Wenlock Edge), and Zoltán Kodály, alongside additional vocal and faculty selections. Set amid the former home and studio of sculptor Daniel Chester French, the performance continues the festival’s tradition of bringing chamber music to the region’s most treasured cultural destinations.
Featured Music: Beethoven (Two Scottish Folk Songs, for voice and piano trio), Dvořák (String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat major, Op. 51, performed by the Dakiti String Quartet), Vaughan Williams (“Is My Team Ploughing” from On Wenlock Edge), and Zoltán Kodály’s devilishly difficult Duo for Violin and Piano, alongside additional vocal and faculty selections.
July 26, 2026 at 3:00pm
Tickets are $25/pp or $22.50/members purchased through Chesterwood.

Cello Master Class with Yehuda Hanani
2026-07-27 14:00 - 15:30 | The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY, 12125
This Cello Master Class with Yehuda Hanani (Mannes College of Music) is free and open to the public at The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY on Monday, July 27 at 2:00pm.
Throughout the festival, participants present outreach concerts and master classes across the Berkshires, Hudson Valley, and Catskills, including a performance and master class partnership at Catwalk and Beattie Powers Place in Catskill, NY.
No need to register. We look forward to seeing you!

Violin Master Class With James Stern
2026-07-28 14:00 - 15:30 | The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY, 12125
This Violin Master Class with James Stern (UMD School of Music) is free and open to the public at The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY on Tuesday, July 28 at 2:00pm.
Throughout the festival, participants present outreach concerts and master classes across the Berkshires, Hudson Valley, and Catskills, including a performance and master class partnership at Catwalk and Beattie Powers Place in Catskill, NY.
No need to register. We look forward to seeing you!

Opera Performance Master Class: "The Acting Singer" with Jay Lesenger
2026-07-28 15:00 - 17:30 | Catwalk Institute, 4 NY-385, Catskill, NY, 12414
This talk brings the transformative art of the singing actor to the Hudson River’s most storied creative retreat, the Catwalk Institute; an ideal setting for an afternoon of song and string quartets on Tuesday, July 28 at 3:00pm.

“The Acting Singer” is the acclaimed acting masterclass led by veteran opera director Jay Lesenger. It teaches vocalists to inhabit a role completely — to move beyond beautiful sound into honest, dramatically compelling performance.

This program also features Mezzo-soprano Julia Bentley and pianist Tatiana Lokhina.
Throughout the festival, participants present outreach concerts and master classes across the Berkshires, Hudson Valley, and Catskills, including a performance and master class partnership at Catwalk and Beattie Powers Place in Catskill, NY.
Please register today; we expect this to fill quickly.

"Moonlight Sonatas" Concert
2026-07-28 19:00 - 21:00, 2026-07-30 19:00 - 21:00, 2026-08-01 19:00 - 21:00 | The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY, 12125
Berkshire High Peaks Festival “Moonlight Sonatas” concerts showcase the festival’s young artists and faculty across a diverse range of chamber music repertoire.
“Moonlight Sonatas” concerts are free and open to the public as part of the larger festival, which includes masterclasses and other events.
High Peaks residents and faculty perform on these dates:
Saturday, July 25, 7pm: faculty concert
Tuesday, July 28, 7pm: young artists and faculty
Thursday, July 30, 7pm: young artists and faculty
Saturday, August 1, 2pm: vocal performance
Saturday, August 1, 7pm: young artists and faculty
Sunday, August 2, 7pm: Closing concert with young artists and faculty
See you at The Tannery at Darrow School: 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY!

Piano Master Class With Alexander Shtarkman
2026-07-29 14:00 - 15:30 | The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY, 12125
This Piano Master Class with Alexander Shtarkman (Peabody Conservatory of Music) is free and open to the public at The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY on Wednesday, July 29 at 2:00pm.
Throughout the festival, participants present outreach concerts and master classes across the Berkshires, Hudson Valley, and Catskills, including a performance and master class partnership at Catwalk and Beattie Powers Place in Catskill, NY.
No need to register. We look forward to seeing you!

Piano Master Class With Max Levinson
2026-07-30 14:00 - 15:30 | The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY, 12125
This Piano Master Class with Max Levinson (Boston Conservatory) is free and open to the public at The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY on Thursday, July 30 at 2:00pm.
Throughout the festival, participants present outreach concerts and master classes across the Berkshires, Hudson Valley, and Catskills, including a performance and master class partnership at Catwalk and Beattie Powers Place in Catskill, NY.
No need to register. We look forward to seeing you!

Vocal Performance "Moonlight Sonatas" Concert
2026-08-01 14:00 - 16:00 | The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY, 12125
Berkshire High Peaks Festival “Moonlight Sonatas” concerts showcase the festival’s young artists and faculty across a diverse range of chamber music repertoire. This concert showcases our voice students.
“Moonlight Sonatas” concerts are free and open to the public as part of the larger festival, which includes masterclasses and other events.
High Peaks residents and faculty perform on these dates:
Saturday, July 25, 7pm: faculty concert
Tuesday, July 28, 7pm: young artists and faculty
Thursday, July 30, 7pm: young artists and faculty
Saturday, August 1, 2pm: vocal performance
Saturday, August 1, 7pm: young artists and faculty
Sunday, August 2, 7pm: Closing concert with young artists and faculty
See you at The Tannery at Darrow School: 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY!

"Moonlight Sonatas" Closing Concert
2026-08-02 19:00 - 21:00 | The Tannery at Darrow School, 110 Darrow Road, New Lebanon, NY, 12125

Saluting the Clarinet—Mozart, Beethoven, Bartók and Gershwin
2026-11-01 16:00 - 18:00 | Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA, 01230, United States
It can come on brash and it can come on sensuous. In the orchestra, it steps forward in “Peter and the Wolf” and “Rhapsody in Blue”; in opera it’s a-near protagonist in “The Magic Flute,” “La Traviata” and “The Barber of Seville” as composers delineate atmosphere and character motifs. It can sing and it can swing. We are referring of course to the clarinet, which stars in a program that features Bartók’s “Contrasts,” written for clarinet legend Benny Goodman and violinist Joseph Szigeti (with Bartók himself playing the piano at the world premiere!); Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat major, opus 11; Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, and some down-home Gershwin. The program abounds in Hungarian country fiddling and dance melodies, rich folk fare and jazz, as well as clarinet and violin pyrotechnics. The remarkable clarinetist Alexander Fiterstein will leave us all breathless! He is joined by pianist Michael Chertock, violinist Xiao-Dong Wang and cellist and artistic director Yehuda Hanani.

Tickets on sale in early September.

Come to the Cabaret! Paris and Weimar Berlin
2026-12-13 16:00 - 18:00 | Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA, 01230, United States
With this extraordinary program, the internationally celebrated performer Yael Rasooly, known for her magnetic stage presence, powerful vocals, and virtuoso puppetry, makes her CEWM debut, masterfully weaving together the bold, satirical songs of the Weimar era and Edith Piaf’s Paris. In moving tributes to legendary artists Piaf and Marlene Dietrich, singer-actress-director Rasooly and pianist Daniel Rein evoke the richly decadent world of 1920s-30s Berlin and Paris through their distinctive, theatrical approach to a varied repertoire of Berlin cabaret songs (think Kurt Weill!) and poetic French chansons. The program intertwines music and visual storytelling as Rasooly channels these legendary women of song through mime, elaborate costumes, and specially created life-size puppets, transporting us to a bygone era while illuminating timeless themes. Her storytelling combines a unique perspective of song, humor and puppetry that audiences will not soon forget.

Tickets on sale in early September.

Bach and Handel with Simone Dinnerstein, Yehuda Hanani and Hannah Sohn
2027-02-21 16:00 - 18:00 | Saint James Place, 352 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA, 01230, United States
Called “a unique voice in the forest of Bach interpretation” (New York Times), pianist Simone Dinnerstein joins Yehuda Hanani in a program that addresses cultural twins of the Baroque, born less than one month and 125 kilometers apart—Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. While Bach was the great master of the polyphonic form, a fugal genius, Handel was a melodist of enormous power and sensitivity. Distinctly different composers, both achieved universal acclaim. Bach’s 15 Sinfonias and the joyful Gamba Sonata No. 2 alongside Handel’s Violin Sonata in F Major on cello and the sonata for two cellos and keyboard will handily illustrate their unique cosmic voices. A century later, Beethoven spun a set of variations on Handel’s theme from the oratorio “Judas Maccabeus.” Dinnerstein and Hanani (“The sonatas came bounding to life in vital interpretations rich in imaginative detail and virile strength. Mr. Hanani was rightly rewarded with cheers from the audience.” — New York Times) are well matched to ascend the heights of these celestial works.

Tickets on sale in early September.

Skylark Vocal Ensemble, Matthew Guard, Artistic Director
2027-03-14 16:00 - 18:00 | Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA, 01230, United States
Britten’s radiant Flower Songs and Benedict Sheehan’s mellifluous Songbird Antiphons anchor a program of music inspired by gardens, birdsong, and the living world. Recognized as one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles, four-time GRAMMY nominee Skylark blends some of America’s most virtuosic voices into an emotionally impactful and cohesive whole. Through innovative, imaginative, and interdisciplinary programming, Skylark aims to redefine the choral experience for artists and audiences alike. From its home base in Boston to premier venues like the Met Cloisters, Spivey Hall, and the Morgan Library, Skylark is setting a global standard in the choral arts with unexpected themes, surprising connections, and imaginative collaborations. Performances have been called “exquisite…thrilling…stunning” by Gramophone Magazine and “gripping” by The Times of London.

Tickets on sale in early September.

Dvořák—In The New World and Old World
2027-04-18 16:00 - 18:00 | Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA, 01230, United States
From humble beginnings to stardom, Antonin Dvořák straddled two centuries, two continents, rural and urban sensibilities and folk styles inspired by Czech and Slavic traditional music as well as by an American sojourn. At home in different worlds, his sublime String Quartet No. 12 the “American” was composed in Spillville Iowa during a blissful vacation, and legitimized utilizing folklore, spirituals, and vernacular art as material for the next generation of American classical composers. The Piano Quintet, a masterwork of Romantic-era chamber music, stands as one of the twin peaks of the repertoire written for piano and string quartet (Brahms’s Quintet being the other!). Brahmsian depth, Eastern European folk flavor and sheer melodic beauty characterize this joyful work. Also, a taste of Dvořák’s vocal output with selections from his Biblical Songs, the Gypsy Songs cycle and others reflecting his abiding affection for Czech and Bohemian culture.
Anna Polonsky, piano; Miranda Cuckson and Xiao-Dong Wang, violins; Helena Baillie, viola; Yehuda Hanani, cello; Tyler Duncan, baritone

Tickets on sale in early September.

Vivace Orchestra—The Golden Chain of Classical Music
2027-05-16 16:00 - 18:00 | Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA, 01230, United States
Western music at its apex—Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven in full symphonic glory with large-scale repertoire never before performed in South County! Beginning with Papa Haydn, the lively “Surprise” Symphony is his most beloved and most popular, providing the model for how a symphony should be composed. Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante has a lyricism to be found nowhere else in all his oeuvre, with an inspired viola part he wrote for himself to play. Beethoven’s First Symphony completes the magic circle. A masterpiece—iron-fisted control of structure, with wit, humor and irresistible charisma, and as Roman Emperor Francis II, who attended the premiere, is reported to have said, “There is something revolutionary in this music!” Vivace Orchestra brings together 26 top-tier soloists and chamber musicians in an orchestral setting, under the direction of conductor Joshua Gerson.

Tickets on sale in early September.

World Premiere—"Metamorphosis: Love"
2027-06-13 16:00 - 18:00 | Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA, 01230, United States
Jorge Martín, Tchaikovsky, Kenji Bunch, Grieg, Poulenc
Loss, remembrance, joyous recollection, metamorphosis and love. These are universal themes and a progression of states of emotion that animate the music and texture of the program. A work of shattering intensity, Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio was written in response to the composer’s grief at losing his beloved teacher, Nikolai Rubinstein, and at the same time recollecting the happy moments spent in his company. It is elegiac and cathartic, as is the newest CEWM commission from Jorge Martin, Metamorphosis: Love, that gives the program its name. The Poet/protagonist role is sung by a tenor in dialogue with his Muse, sung by soprano, which in the end becomes Music itself. The accompanying ensemble is cello, piano, marimba and vibraphone. A companion piece (narrator, cello and percussion) is a 2015 CEWM commission from Kenji Bunch, written to a Shakespeare sonnet of desire and longing. Plus art songs from Schubert, Brahms, Fauré, Poulenc and Finzi. It’s all about transcendence and love!
Performers: Omar Najmi, tenor; Dana Varga, soprano; Samuel Solomon and Nancy Zeltsman, percussion; Max Levinson, piano; Yehuda Hanani, cello

Tickets on sale in early September.
