Patricia Garcia-Gil, Fortepiano
Tom Strange, Lecture

This program hears the parlor piano—the era’s badge of refinement and wealth—as both platform and boundary for women in the newly founded United States, where social codes demanded taste, modesty, and brevity—music meant to charm rather than dazzle. Among the earliest documented women writing for piano is Elizabeth J. C. von Hagen, active in Boston and New York, followed by Marthesie Demilliere. Yet many scores appeared under veiled attributions—“A Lady,” “A Young Lady”–– and publication often relied on patriotic framing until later in the century, when composers such as Augusta Browne and Faustina H. Hodges gained recognition. Meanwhile, in Santiago de Chile, Isidora Zegers animated trans-American connections, hosting visitors such as Louis Moreau Gottschalk, and Teresa Carreño emigrated to New York, performed for President Lincoln, and published her first waltz in Boston—bridging the Americas and linking parlor culture to a rising public virtuosity.

Now in its 28th year, the Catskill Mountain Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit organization which offers a variety of programs and workshops centered on the arts. It owns and runs The Orpheum Performing Arts Center, The Doctorow Center for the Arts (which includes the Mountain Cinema, a performance space, and the Piano Performance Museum), Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts, a Natural Agriculture farm and the Guide Magazine. The Foundation has long term partnership programs with The Joyce Theater Foundation, Works & Process at the Guggenheim, the National Dance Institute and Catskill Mountain Shakespeare, and is also home to the Hunter International Music Festival, The Academy of Fortepiano Performance, the Orpheum Dance Program, and the Maude Adams Theater Hub.