norfolk chamber music festival

This past weekend was a getaway to Norfolk, CT for the end of the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. My friend's father is the violist for the Tokyo String Quartet, who performed on Saturday evening. The concert's program included string quartets by Schubert and Mendelssohn and a clarinet quintet - with guest clarinetist David Shifrin - by Mozart. The performance was housed in a wooden country barn-like music hall and we were all able to listen to beautiful classical music in the midst of the picturesque Connecticut countryside.

This Festival is part of the Yale School of Music and hosts summer music programs for aspiring musicians. All of the members of the Tokyo String Quartet {and other artists} are mentors and teachers for the program. All of this takes place on acres of land of rolling green hills owned by Ellen Battell Stoeckel. Upon her death in 1939, she left her estate in a private trust with instructions that the facilities be used for Yale University’s summer music school, ensuring an enduring artistic legacy. Now in its 68th season, the Yale Summer School of Music - Norfolk Chamber Music Festival has a dual teaching/performance purpose. So we as visitors also got to hear bravo student performances {their final recital at the end of the program}.

Also on the premises is The Art Barn that houses the studios for fine art summer student programs. The studios were vacant at this point of the summer, but I got some fun shots of their work and materials scattered through the space.

We stayed in the cottages that are distributed through the estate that usually host the faculty members. The musicians and their families stay here over the duration of the summer - as my friend did in his early childhood years - and I got to see how this summer program nurtures the arts in a simple and unpretentious way. This weekend ended up being a really nice few days in the peaceful countryside surrounded by beautiful music and wonderful friends and families.