A Family of Roses Bloom at the Catskill Mountain Foundation’s Piano Performance Museum

HUNTER — In the village of Hunter, there is a special place full of treasures of all kinds. The home of these treasures is the Catskill Mountain Foundation, a collection of projects which began when Peter and Sarah Finn formed a not for profit, "The Catskill Mountain Foundation". The Foundation  bought a building in 1998. The building held an old movie theater, a grocery store and a ski shop. The Finns, through the Foundation, began to build. The movie theater became a multiple discipline, live performance auditorium. The new venue had three film auditoriums attached, and the grocery store became the Catskill Mountain Foundation’s Piano Performance Museum. I sat down with Peter Finn, now the Chairman of the foundation, Sarah Finn, the President, Amy Scheibe, Executive Director and Pam Weisberg, the Director of Performing Arts to discuss the past and future plans and the remarkable present of this garden of creativity.

The event that brought me to this nursery of the performing arts was a concert by a family of Roses. Vanessa Rose, on violin; Monica Rose, on viola; Jonathan Rose, on cello and their mother, Maria Rose-van Epenhuysen, on fortepiano. Their father, a renowned concert pianist, was in attendance. The concert venue is a fertile environment for this late winter gathering held in these first warming weeks that promise spring is about to erupt across our mountains.

The Piano Performance Museum's acoustics are bright and alive. The venue was filled to capacity with fifty attendees who ranged from young children to senior citizens. The room was also filled with pianos and piano ancestors from harpsicords, through fortepianos, to pianos of all styles. As we talked, one of the young children who had sat through the concert in rapt enjoyment, came over, and listened for a break in the conversation, to excuse himself and ask if he might look under our seats for his missing plush companion, a hedgehog if memory serves. This exchange did not break the magic of the moment, but rather carried me back to a time when young people in theater and young audiences were raised to be able to address adults with respect and manners commensurate with their enculturation.

Maria Rose-van Epenhuysen played two instruments. She soloed on a fortepiano made by Conrad Graf, in 1826. As the next generation played modern instruments, she accompanied them on a replica fortepiano, which could be tuned to the modern A=440 Hz Stuttgart Pitch of modern Western playing. Among her many performance and educational accomplishments, she  holds a PhD in Musicology from New York University.

Most of her "children" as she called her progeny with a laugh, who joined her in this concert,  grew up playing their instruments with a focus on performance. One, Monica, did not. Vanessa Rose began playing the violin at four years old. Presently, she is the President & CEO of New Music USA, a not for profit, whose mission is to "nurture a vibrant and inclusive community for artists and listeners by supporting the creation, performance, and appreciation of new music throughout the United States." Her academic credentials include violin performance degrees from the Eastman School of Music (B.M.) and Mannes College of Music (M.M.), and a performance certificate from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Dr.  Monica Rose is presently the Project Manager and Content Developer of Healthcare Specialties, Professions, and Innovations at Kaplan, LLC.   As with all the members of the family, she has impressive academic accomplishments, with a Bachelor's of Science in Environmental Studies from Binghamton University in 2005  and a Doctor of Medicine from the Geisel School at Dartmouth in 2013. The program for the concert states that: "Monica Rose spent much of her childhood around classical music, but it was not until she was 31 that she focused her attention on becoming a classical violist." 

Just in case you are thinking that this family has enough history of scholarship, Jonathan Rose holds a Masters degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and a PhD in political science from MIT. For the past twenty years, he has served the nation with dedication,  as an expert in governmental politics and international development. He served until recently at the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance of USAID. As with his sister Vanessa, he began his musical journey at the age of five.  By age seventeen, he won the Concerto Competition of the Toledo Symphony and performed the Dvorak cello concerto. The next year he won second prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Concerto Competition at Columbia University, his undergraduate Alma Mater.

Perhaps those who refer to the Renaissance in the past, may consider the Rose family. Brilliance in the arts and their chosen careers seems to be the family's norm. They are breathtakingly talented and successful.

Maria Rose-van Epenhuysen has chosen to present several movements by three composers rather than a single composer's work, creating a program which moves through an excursion of sensuous sound. The concert captures the original intent of the composers, Beethoven, Schubert and Mozart by restoring the balance through use of the fortepiano, instead of the usual performance on a modern piano. Where the modern instrument is percussive and dominates the composition, the fortepiano's delicate notes resonate with the humming undertones missing in the sound of today's pianos. The subtle sound of the fortepiano merges with the sublime peak of the violin, rather than overpowering that instrument as a modern piano would. This pairing of sound makes spiritually moving the sonorous thrum of the cello.

Maria Rose-van Epenhuysen's choice to start with Ludwig van Beethoven's  Piano trio Op. 1 no. 3: Allegro con brio was a bold challenge to the musicianship of the Rose family and a delight to the audience. They accomplished Beethoven's purpose, in the mirrored playing for which the piece was written, while playing to the personalities they know so well as a family. In an otherwise flawless performance, there was a single slip, a bend up to the right note, missed by many, I'm sure. But, the family member who tripped on the note, looked up to the heavens, rolling her eyes, but not missing a beat and picking up the note in half an instant. A family member looked over smiling and the mother nodded and smiled, making the moment a picture of familial support which added to the musical experience. Art is not about perfection. When the unexpected happens, it can be an uplifting experience or a crashing downfall. Years ago, I sat with a young actor as she cried backstage after an entire act, performed wonderfully, in spite of an ongoing error by someone else. I told her that she was a trooper, that there will always be the unexpected in live performance. What makes a great performer is what they do with that moment.

A few words about the Catskill Mountain Foundation. Pam Weisberg, Director of Performing Arts described some of the many areas of artistic performance and opportunity housed in this foundation's vision. There are performances of all kinds of dance from ballet and modern dance to hip hop and breakdancing. Some of these dance programs are headed up by Victoria Rinaldi of Windham. She is a former member of the ballet core at the Metropolitan Opera. Her classes serve to find young people of promise from this region who may devote themselves to attempting a career in ballet. She promises them that although there is no certainty in finding a career in that rarified environment, the study of classical ballet is a life enriching pursuit. Rinaldi teaches pre-ballet for ages 5 to 6; Ballet One for Beginners for ages 7 and up; Ballet Two A for ages 8 and up, for those students with some dance experience; Ballet Two B for intermediate, pre-pointe, and beginner pointe; and Jazz age 12 and up.There is much much more to say about the foundation, and I will return to this remarkable resource to our Catskill community again and again as programs and classes are housed here, or nearby under the auspices of the foundation.

I hear that Jerome Rose, the equally accomplished father in this remarkable family may soon play a concert at the Piano Museum. At fifteen years he made his debut, with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. His performance should not be missed.