NEWS
Give Me Liberty, Give Me Song: America’s Journey at 250
HUNTER – Catskill Mountain Foundation presents Give Me Liberty, Give Me Song: America’s Journey at 250, a fortepiano performance by Patricia Garcia-Gil and lecture by Tom Strange that is part of the Piano Performance Museum Concerts and Conversations series on Saturday, April 25 at 4:00 PM.
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.
Patricia is Artist in Residence at the Cornell Center for Historical Keyboards and Postdoctoral Associate at Cornell University, where she integrates performance, interdisciplinary research, and teaches fortepiano and chamber music. Patricia also serves on the faculty of the Cambridge Center for International Research. A versatile musician, she has won numerous international piano and fortepiano competitions, and her brilliant career has already given rise to numerous concert tours throughout the world.
Tom Strange is the co-founder, curator, and artistic director of the Sigal Music Museum in Greenville, South Carolina, specializing in the preservation, restoration, and study of 18th and 19th-century keyboard instruments. He is a renowned expert in early pianos, notably bringing "America’s oldest piano" back to life.
Give Me Liberty, Give Me Song: America’s Journey at 250 will be performed in the Piano Performance Museum at the Doctorow Center for the Arts, 7971 Main Street, Hunter, NY on Saturday, April 25 at 4:00 PM. Tickets are “Pay What You Can” and each attendee will receive a 50% discount off their ticket purchase to the Academy of Fortepiano Performance Faculty Concert, “ From the Ages for the Ages:…….” on Saturday, May 30, 2026 at the Doctorow Center for the Arts. Visit https://bit.ly/LibertyConcert email boxoffice@catskillmtn.org or call 518 263 2063. For more information and upcoming shows, visit https://www.catskillmtn.org/
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About Catskill Mountain Foundation
The Catskill Mountain Foundation’s (CMF) aim is to provide educational opportunities in the arts for youth and lifelong learners, to bring the experience of the arts to the Catskill community, and to support artists and art organizations in the development of their work through residencies. Since its founding in 1998, CMF has presented hundreds of music, dance, and theater performances; screened over 1,000 films to tens of thousands of audience members; provided studio arts classes to thousands of students of all ages; and served thousands of art-loving patrons in the Catskill Mountain Foundation Gift Shop. The Catskill Mountain Foundation operates the Doctorow Center for the Arts in Hunter, the Orpheum Performing Arts Center in Tannersville, and the Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts in Maplecrest, NY.
Since 1998, CMF has raised, generated, and invested close to $16 million in facility development and an excess of $42 million in programming operations, for a total investment in the Catskill community of over $58 million. Catskill Mountain Foundation is supported in part by New York State Council on the Arts, the Greene County Cultural Fund administered by the Greene County Legislature, The Jarvis and Constance Doctorow Family Foundation, The Royce Family Foundation, The Samuel and Esther Doctorow Fund, The Orville and Ethel Slutzky Family Foundation, Platte Clove Bruderhof Community, Bank of Greene County Charitable Foundation, The Greene County Youth Bureau, Marshall & Sterling Insurance, All Souls’ Church, Stewarts Shops, Windham Foundation, and by private donations. CMF believes that the arts can transform the lives of those touched by it and can transform the community. Like us on Facebook, follow us on Instagram, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Media Contact:
Joan Oldknow