Close Encounters With Music

07/09/2025

All Berkshire High Peaks Festival master classes and talks are open to our students AND THE PUBLIC. Join us and learn from international musicians and renowned speakers. Full schedule: https://cewm.org/high-peaks-calendar/

07/08/2025

💥 New this year! 💥 Wonderful Berkshire High Peaks concert collaborations:

-- Berkshire Busk: FREE Main Stage on Sat., July 26 at 6:30pm
-- Chesterwood in Stockbridge: $25
-- The Guthrie Center: FREE "One World: A Harmonic Convergence"

Get the details! https://cewm.org/high-peaks-calendar/

07/01/2025

🌔 Our "Moonlight Sonatas" concerts are free and open to the public. All take place at the Kellogg Center at Bard College at Simon's Rock. Some performances feature both Berkshire High Peaks residents and faculty; the final three performances on August 3rd showcase the growth of our students. They truly shine. 🌖 Check out our full BHPF concert schedule!
https://cewm.org/high-peaks-calendar/

06/30/2025

Students performing Brandenburg Concerto No 3, Johann Sebastian Bach, at our 2016 Berkshire (Catskill) High Peaks Festival. Bravo! Our 2025 BHPF "Moonlight Sonatas" concerts begin on July 28—Free and open to the public at the Kellogg Center at Simon's Rock. Check out the full schedule of concerts!
https://youtu.be/2ZJMAZzfAjQ

06/30/2025

We film all of our chamber music concerts—you can watch them for free on our YouTube channel. Feel free to subscribe! Here's a popular concert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPw2Q9JbFUs

Videos of dazzling chamber music by distinguished musicians. Close Encounters With Music stands at the intersection of music, art and the vast richness of Western culture. Entertaining, erudite and lively commentary from founder and Artistic Director Yehuda Hanani puts the composers and their times....

06/17/2025

To use the cello endpin or not to use the cello endpin? That is the question.

Historical response to the cello endpin, which anchors the instrument to the floor, has alternated between acceptance and pushback.

06/12/2025

❤️🎶 Sunday’s concert was a powerful finale to the season—celebrating music’s ability to honor love and restore connection — and featuring the premiere of a new work by Seth Grosshandler, commissioned in tribute to a wife and an almost-lost bond—an act of both remembrance and renewal.

An evening that reminded us how chamber music can bridge distance—emotional, temporal, even spiritual.

Among friends old and new, we witnessed music not only performed, but lived—as an offering, a gesture, a reconciliation.

Thank you to Seth Grosshandler and Max Levinson, piano; Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Danielle Talamantes, soprano; Kerry Wilkerson, baritone; Yehuda Hanani, cello.

Our season subscribers will receive a link to view the concert video soon.

Stay tuned for Berkshire High Peaks Festival concerts, lectures and master classes!

06/07/2025

Sunday! Tickets at door and Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center

Email from Close Encounters With Music World Premier ❤️ All Speak of Love ❤️ THIS Sunday. Our season final includes an original work, Brahms, Broadway, Schubert, Massenet, Mozart and Ellington. Learn

06/04/2025

Join us for a magical evening with Brahms, Broadway, Schubert, Massenet, Mozart, Ellington, and New Grosshandler clarinet trio, “All Speak of Love."! ❤️🎶
https://conta.cc/4dWQVTm

Email from Close Encounters With Music World Premier ❤️ All Speak of Love ❤️ THIS Sunday. Our season final includes an original work, Brahms, Broadway, Schubert, Massenet, Mozart and Ellington. Learn

06/02/2025

We're thrilled to be part of Berkshire Busk! this year. Stay tuned for more details.

This marks the fifth year the Festival will bring performers to town sidewalks each weekend from June to August.

06/01/2025

L'Amour Toujours! Join us on Sunday for our season finale! Brahms, Broadway, Schubert, Massenet, Mozart, Ellington, and New Grosshandler Trio, “All Speak of Love." Join us! https://cewm.org/event/lamour-toujour-and-a-world-premiere/

Artists: Alexander Fiterstein, clarinet; Max Levinson, piano; Danielle Talamantes, soprano; Kerry Wilkerson, baritone; Seth Grosshandler, composer; Yehuda Hanani, cello.

05/30/2025

It’s all about love! A new work for clarinet trio by composer Seth Grosshandler that celebrates young love, courtship and the serendipity of meeting one’s intended receives its inaugural performance. Signature love arias from favorite operas and Broadway sung by Metropolitan Opera soprano Danielle Talamantes and Kerry Wilkerson. Learn more and get your tickets. https://cewm.org/event/lamour-toujour-and-a-world-premiere/