Full STEAM Ahead

Daniel Stroup & the Shandelee Music Festival: Building a Musical Legacy

• Full STEAM Ahead - STEAM Fund

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Classical music, music education, young artists, and the Shandelee Music Festival take center stage in this inspiring episode of Full STEAM Ahead. Gary and Judy Siegel welcome internationally acclaimed pianist, conductor, educator, and arts visionary Daniel Stroup for a conversation about building one of the nation's premier summer classical music festivals and creating opportunities for the next generation of musicians.

Now celebrating its 33rd season, the Shandelee Music Festival has become a cultural treasure in New York's Sullivan Catskills, presenting world-class performances while launching the careers of exceptional young artists.

Daniel shares the story behind the festival, the importance of mentorship, and why investing in arts education and emerging talent is essential to keeping classical music vibrant for future generations.

Learn how the STEAM Fund's Youth & Visiting Artist Outreach Program partners with the Shandelee Music Festival to bring internationally acclaimed musicians into schools and community spaces, inspiring students through the power of live music.


Learn More & Get Involved:
https://shandelee.org
https://steamfund.org
https://steamfund.org/#education
https://steamfund.org/#mogaat
https://steamfund.org/#new
#FullSTEAMAhead #ShandeleeMusicFestival #ClassicalMusic #MusicEducation #YouthArts #ArtsEducation #SupportTheArts #SullivanCatskills #PodcastEpisode

SPEAKER_03

Welcome to Full Steam Ahead. I'm your co-host, Gary Siegel, and together with my wife Judy, we represent the S in Steam Fund, the Siegel Trust enriching arts and music. Our mission is to support musicians, artists, and the venues where they share their gift. The Hudson Valley and beyond has long been a magnet for incredible musicians, artists, and venues. And through Full Steam Ahead, we get to share the stories behind those who inspire us. Today we're honored to welcome Daniel Straup, founder and president of the Chandelier Music Festival, now celebrating its 33rd season. Daniel is an internationally accomplished pianist, conductor, educator, and visionary whose passion has built one of the county's premier summer classical music festivals while creating opportunities for exceptional young musicians to launch their careers. The STEAM Fund is proud to partner with the Chandelier Music Festival through our youth and visiting artist outreach program, bringing internationally acclaimed musicians into schools and community spaces to inspire the next generation. So without further ado, Daniel, welcome to Full Steam Ahead.

SPEAKER_00

Thank you. It is an honor and a privilege to be here today. I founded the festival back in 1993. And before we get into this interview a little bit more, I'd like to read our mission statement.

SPEAKER_01

Please do.

SPEAKER_00

The Chandelier Music Festival encourages and promotes the careers of exceptional musicians through an annual series of solo and chamber music performances. The festival is dedicated to bringing world-renowned artists to the Sullivan County community. Our Sunset Concert Pavilion sits atop of mountains in Chandelier. It's an intimate setting, and it has exceptional acoustics. One of our highest priorities is to partner with local arts and educational institutions and to engage people of all ages in the live concert experience. We are a 501 nonprofit organization, so any and all donations that are made to the festival are fully tax deductible.

SPEAKER_01

And worthy. And so, you know, normally we start out with, what do you want the world to know about the Chandelier Music Festival? But that kind of is what the world should know, right?

SPEAKER_03

But I think we should start out with what do you want the world to know about Daniel Straub and the Chandelier Music Festival in addition to the mission.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Well, I'm originally from Portland, Oregon. I was born and raised there. Finished elementary school and high school at Aloha High School. And as I was approaching my college years, I decided that I wanted to apply for the Manhattan School of Music here in New York because I had never been to New York before. And so I did. I applied and I was amazingly awarded a full scholarship to attend Manhattan School of Music, where I studied piano performance with my mentor, Solomon Mikowski, and I also studied choral conducting with Giampolo Broccoli. It was an amazing experience. And towards the end of my career in college, um, my partner and I we purchased a property, 75 acres, in Chandelier, Livingston Manor. And we originally bought it as a weekend uh vacation home.

SPEAKER_03

And that's Livingston Manor, New York, in the Sullivan Catskills. It's about an hour and a half northwest of uh New York City.

SPEAKER_00

That's right. And so that was our first experience here. And when was that? Oh my goodness. It was about 38 years ago. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

I'm trying to do the math. I'm not that quick.

SPEAKER_00

I was so inspired by the beauty of the mountains and the land, the streams, the ponds. I mean, Sullivan County is absolutely gorgeous. Um and I thought to myself, wouldn't it be an amazing experience if classical music could be a part of the scene? Um so that the artist could be surrounded in natural beauty. And that was my dream, and that's when I started.

SPEAKER_01

Uh Wow, she you kind of bought it, not with that intent, but always from the very beginning with that vision, right? That that was and it was the 80s. I finally got the math.

SPEAKER_03

And in 1988, uh I did the math, actually.

SPEAKER_01

Um we're not that quick, but we get there. Uh so so that was always like it was an inspiration that you had. And again, not the idea of why you bought the property, but something that you said, wow, this could be special.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, after two or three years living there, it was just like, well, my career is in piano performance and choral conducting, and I'd love to have music here in the mountains.

SPEAKER_03

So take us back to 1993. Um, you know, you sort of uh alluded about what inspired you, but but what inspired you to start the Chandelier Music Festival?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I thought wouldn't it be great if students could attend a festival in the mountains here in Sullivan County and practice their hearts out as long as they wanted to? And so the vision of Chandelier Music Festival came to fruition. And in the beginning we taught students private lessons and master classes, and they were enrolled in career development courses on our property. They lived on property.

SPEAKER_01

Students from elsewhere, students from here, where where have they come from? How'd you find them?

SPEAKER_00

All over. Uh they came from Manhattan School of Music, Manis, um from Boston, and some came from Korea and China who were enrolled at Juilliard. And so most of the students were um that we accepted were already students at major music conservatories.

SPEAKER_01

And their summers were free and they got to live in this beautiful sanctuary and learn from the masters, which is amazing.

SPEAKER_03

So so I think we should paint the picture a little bit.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, paint the picture.

SPEAKER_03

The Chandely Music Festival sits on the top of a mountain, Chandelie Mountain, which is outside of Livingston Manor, New York, and it is beautifully set into the wilderness, really. Um there's a farm nearby, right? Yes. And but but it's mostly wooded, wooded, and and you have developed the property, um, which we'll talk about a little bit later on in the interview uh about how how the property has evolved. But I I really want the listeners and and the viewers to to understand that this is a beautiful uh country estate that that uh that you that you created uh for musicians to be able to, in the beautiful Catskill Air, where people used to come to convalesce from from different diseases and things like that, but are here, we're here now to make music and to practice and perform. Right. And that that's just a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_01

Right. The setting is truly when you when you pull into the Chandelier Music Festival low-case property, it is it's stunning.

SPEAKER_00

Well, you have a pond to the right, it's a stream to the left.

SPEAKER_01

And it is woods, but it's not like you're in the middle of the woods. You you have this estate um lawn buildings and then beautiful trees, and it's just it really is a very, very special land. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_03

So when you first imagined the concept of the festival, um what did you hope audiences would experience that they couldn't experience anywhere else?

SPEAKER_00

Well, I never wanted it to be large, like hundreds and thousands of people. Our we sat maybe 90 to 105 people was sold out for us. So they are up close and personal to the stage, to the performers, and it's just an incredible um place and way to listen to music.

SPEAKER_01

Because so we kind of skipped a step there. So you had these students, but then you also then have performances. We we miss that piece.

SPEAKER_00

While the students were taking private lessons and master classes, um, we also had a concert series where we brought professional artists in. So at night after dinner, because they all ate dinner with us. Um we would go to the sunset concert tent at that time and uh listen to beautiful music and an intimate atmosphere.

SPEAKER_01

Is there something b that you think about when you look back now over those students and over those performances that um you should be so proud of on every year on every level that makes you more proud than anything else? Is there one thing that sticks out that says, wow, we did that?

SPEAKER_00

Well, there is one student in particular. Um I'm skipping a step because I I worked at the United Nations International School for 33 years, and I met this wonderful young young girl, Amanda Brecker. Her mother is the famous jazz pianist, Eliani Elias. And I taught Amanda for probably eight years, and she is now a concert artist herself. And one of my proudest moments is when I could hire Amanda, someone I taught, to come and perform a live concert under a tent.

SPEAKER_01

Under a tent. In the beautiful Catsco Mountains.

SPEAKER_03

Right. Well, and we did see Eliana here what last last year, I guess it was, or two years ago. Two years ago, yeah. And uh and met Amanda actually, uh she was at the concert with with her daughter, Eliana's. Her little bitty daughter. Eliana's granddaughter, who came up actually on stage and sat on Eliana's lap while she played one of her one of her pieces, and it was just an amazing, amazing performance.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, she's a great artist. Um and her husband is Randy Brecker of the Brecker brothers. So and they concertize all over the world. They're probably number two jazz artists in the world. Yes.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah, that's a that's a worthy moment to be proud of, right? You taught her, you get to hire her and bring her into this this world. Did she were you still um mentoring students at that point? Because I think that there was a time that you did, and now then there's a time that you did not.

SPEAKER_00

I mean as a part of the festival.

SPEAKER_01

As a part of the festival, right?

SPEAKER_00

Um not at that point. Um at that point we just started hiring young artists to uh perform. To perform. Yes.

SPEAKER_01

And then over the course of a season, what is a season for the Chandelier Music Festival? And how did you decide that you would do that?

SPEAKER_00

Um part of it was how often should we hold concerts? You know, how many concerts are people up in Sullivan County wanting to go to? And we came up with a Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday scenario. So we'd have concerts at 8 o'clock at night after dinner, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and then when we were mentoring students, the students would perform on the last two concerts, and those we made matinees. Um and it would most likely be a Saturday and Sunday, and it would start at 3 p.m.

SPEAKER_03

So you talked about Amanda and you talked about the United Nations school that you that you taught at. Um what what uh you were there for how many years? Thirty thirty three years? Thirty-three years, recently retired, right? Yes. So you had a number of students in addition to Amanda that uh that I'm sure are are outperforming somewhere. Maybe you want to highlight a few of them or talk a little bit about it.

SPEAKER_00

Amanda is really the top of the top. Um but my years at the U United Nations International School, they were exceptional students. Um the school itself uh is eighty percent uh uh children of employees of the United Nations. So they are diplomats, sons and daughters. And the other twenty percent it's a private school. And um I was fortunate enough I was hired to uh teach private piano lessons initially. And after a couple of years, they found out about my choral experience and uh they invited me to be the senior chorus choral conductor, which I was then until I retired. And a few years into my conducting the senior choir, which were high school students, I decided wouldn't it be great to have a small select group? So I started a group called the Chamber Ensemble. So it was the United Nations International School Chamber Ensemble, and it was sixteen students and you know, equal number of basses, tenors, altos, sopranos. And we performed madrigals, vocal jazz, all kinds of repertoire. And I was lucky enough to tour with them on spring breaks. I would take those sixteen students, and we toured. Uh once we were in the Royal Chapel of the in Stockholm, Sweden, and we played there. Uh we played in Berlin, we we sang at the uh Berliner Dome. Um and it was just an amazing experience.

SPEAKER_03

So you taught you taught all these students, and I'm sure that they got a lot out of your teaching, but what did you learn from the students?

SPEAKER_00

Wow. Well, I learned that my true passion was to impart my knowledge to students and to try to inspire them to reach their highest level, uh to reach their potential. And even though they were not going to be professional concert artists, they carried themselves in such a way and they experienced music in such a way that it really gave me pride to see them come together as a group like that.

SPEAKER_01

Do you have a sense of of what makes a technically gifted musician connect differently with an audience than uh one a technically gifted musician who is really good at it, as opposed to one who has some audience appeal? Do you have a sense of what makes that happen? And is that something that a a teacher brings out, or it's just sort of innate?

SPEAKER_00

Well, the whole concert experience first you have the audience perspective, and then you have the soloist or chamber group perspective. When when I performed, what gave me the greatest pleasure is when I could share my ideas, my artistic ideas to the audience and that they might be able to hear music in a different way than they normally did or they usually did. It's different than the radio or playing a record or something.

SPEAKER_01

You're talking to people and you're you're making that connection. And I think that's what I'm asking, is that there are some musicians who just play music, and there's others who actually make that connection. And is that something you teach or is that something that you think a musician just has?

SPEAKER_00

Aaron Powell I think it's mostly innate. You know. You can try to share the experience of what they might feel, but I think the true musician it's it's in the heart.

SPEAKER_03

In the personality. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. Right.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, the a person, uh someone who has a more exuberant personality is is probably gonna be that way on stage and and have that enthusiasm, where somebody else who might be a little bit more pensive or or uh inward um is gonna be different. Trevor Burrus So let's move to the festival experience. Okay. Um, for someone who's attended the Chandelier Music Festival, how would you describe, or someone who hasn't, uh how would you describe the Sunset Concert Series?

SPEAKER_00

Okay. I'd like to sort of back up about how what we performed in the U.S. Well we were going to get to that actually. That was the next question.

SPEAKER_01

But that's fine. This beautiful building just is there simply for this. And I'm very curious, actually.

SPEAKER_03

So talk about the evolution of the property and the venue.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. In the very beginning, what I did is I had a cement slab poured. Um it's about the size of a football field. And it was about six to eight inches deep. So here you have this cement floor.

SPEAKER_01

Which I just have to say on the top of a mountain chandelier, which is a little bit like Siberia in the winter time.

SPEAKER_00

Of rockland.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So this is not a small feat, I just would like to mention.

SPEAKER_00

And so we would rent a circus tent, a big white circus tent, put it over this cement slab, and we'd have plastic chairs. And um that's how people listen to music. And as everybody who lives up here knows that, especially during the summertime, the weather can be unpredictable. And here I had on loan a nine-foot Steinway Grand from Steinway and Sons on 57th Street, who loaned me their concert grand, sitting here under this tent, and these storms would come up and wind, and you'd see the curtains, you know, blowing. And I was thinking, oh, I don't want that piano to get damaged. And I said, This has to stop. I I'm gonna I can't do this. I can't do this. So that's when I decided to build the pavilion. And it is completely enclosed. And when was that? Oh boy. I would say six or seven years after we started. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

So around the turn of the 2000 or so, 2001.

SPEAKER_01

And it's just used for a few weeks in the summer to house these musicians and artists.

SPEAKER_00

Now it is.

SPEAKER_01

Wow. That that's really generous. That that's how I think.

SPEAKER_00

Well we store a few things in the wintertime, but describe the new venue. Okay. Um it is uh completely enclosed, climate controlled. We have dehumidifiers, we have heaters, we have air conditioning. And I'm not an acoustic genius, but just somehow the the dimensions of the building itself lends itself to the most amazing acoustics that you could ever hear. Perfect for listening to music. You know, it's the type of acoustics when you clap your hands, it's just alive, you know. And you can talk from stage, and everybody in the back row of of the hall can hear everything you're saying. And you can talk like this, and they can hear you. So imagine when you have music reverberating in in that acoustic space, how amazing it is, and you're so up close and personal.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you're still sitting in resin chairs. Uh I don't know if they're the same resin chairs or not, but um, it's it's a very laid-back um rural environment production of world-class music. It's what a beautiful balance of this beauty with this beauty in this very small little community of Chandelier in Livingston Manor.

SPEAKER_00

It's very you mentioned the chairs, and I'm very excited to let the public know because nobody knows this yet. Uh three months ago, I made a capital investment for the festival of 104 leather chairs, no kidding. Padded cushions, padded backs, arms. Wonderful. They are stable, they are comfortable, and I can't wait for our audience to experience this. Because throughout the years, you know, those old resin chairs, audience members would say, Oh, Mr. Straub, can't you put cushions on the chairs? My my rear end gets tired after an hour and a half. And I kind of ignored it at that time. But now, yes, they're beautiful, they're black.

SPEAKER_03

Well, yeah. So that's the thing about Chandelier Music Festival and the venue itself is that every seat is a great seat. Absolutely. Anywhere that you are in the venue sitting, you have wonderful acoustics that you that you can clearly hear the performers and see the performers, which is which is uh you know an experience that that everybody should have uh and and come come to uh one of the sunset concerts uh during during this summer or future summers.

SPEAKER_01

It is a privilege, it is a very nice season. that that many don't know exists right in our backyard. It's truly such a great opportunity. But here's another question. When the artists come, what's their reaction to the beauty of the comfort of that? D do you ever get a sense of them that it inspires them a little bit musically?

SPEAKER_00

It's funny you asked that question because this just happened a year ago. Misha Kalen, you know, a fabulous violin violinist uh and his trio, they came and performed a concert and um they were getting ready at that time to cut a CD. And he said Dan, can I stay a couple days afterwards and practice with my trio in your pavilion? He said it's the most amazing place to play. And I said absolutely Misha be my guest. And they did and they prepared for recording their next CD for two days. Fantastic. Before they left. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know a better way to say that, but it's it's so pure up there. It the air is clean. I used to say that people come up here to breathe the air that that we breathe because it's crisp and it's clear and the nights are chilly and the mornings have dew. And you just can't believe that we're an hour and a half from New York City and this amazing space exists that is sort of untouched by the world. It's really special.

SPEAKER_03

So I believe you mentioned that you had world-renowned violinist Midori at Chandley Music Festival. Do you want to talk a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00

Aaron Ross Powell Yeah Midori and I are very close friends. And I actually went to London this last year and we had lunch together and I invited her to play for this summer and she said Dan I'm re I'm getting ready to record like four CDs of all Bach violin works and my time is just really cramped. She said but in a couple of years ask me again I'd love to come back. I'd love to play there.

SPEAKER_03

Now she was there in 2022 I think it was and and uh worked with some of the students that you had there or was it was it just a performance or it was just a performance yeah not just a performance with the Dory.

SPEAKER_00

So stay tuned in a couple of years we may have her back and this place to hear her play the pavilion I would just welcome you to stay tuned.

SPEAKER_01

So one of the things we talk about and we talked about um earlier this week too is the partnership between the Steam Fund, the Siegel Trust Enriching Arts and Music and our Youth and Visiting Artists outreach program which brings these world class artists into the schools how how has that resonated with you?

SPEAKER_00

I'm so excited about this new venture with the Steam Fund. We've already done two and uh we were at Livingston Manor Central School and we did a jazz performance the Mike Fahy jazz quartet and what it is is the musicians play a professional short set of music for in this case there were I think there were 110 students in uh junior high and no there was there was almost it was it was more than that it was probably around 150 students. Yeah and so Mike Fahy and his quartet played for them several pieces and then afterwards we opened it up for a question and answer and a lot of the students were musicians that played the same instruments. Randy Ingram was the you know the pianist so there were pianists students in in the in in the music room and also um a drummer, a percussionist and they get to actually talk to the artists and learn about what it's like to be in a professional ensemble like that.

SPEAKER_03

Trevor Burrus Well not only that once the QA was over the students actually performed for the artists and the artists were able to provide them with feedback and and give them some pointers and ideas of of how they could improve and what they were doing well. It was it it it and and it wasn't only the Mike Fahhey trio we had Melena Dayan is a mezzo soprano and her husband David Rosenmeyer and she is a producer of uh of the operas at the Metropolitan Opera am I correct?

SPEAKER_00

Correct.

SPEAKER_03

And and uh what what an amazing and and what an amazing experience that was for the kids because a lot of them hadn't experienced operatic music in that genre but but they got to hear her perform being accompanied by her husband and then did a QA also and then the chorus kids got to perform for them and and get their feedback so exactly and Melena and I go way back she was a vocal teacher at the United Nations International School and that was the connection.

SPEAKER_00

So I knew Melena for many many years and she actually taught a lot of my choral students she taught almost all of the chamber ensemble the select group private lessons and so when we partnered I thought this would be an amazing start to you know this outreach program and that the students themselves can play for the artists and get feedback.

SPEAKER_03

That was amazing and the exchange they were very into it they were and and then we actually launched the program at the Fallsburg Central School District right here in in the Sullivan Catskills with a flautist and uh companist that Karen Lerner and um the flautist uh gosh I'm having a a moment here uh Gilcrest.

SPEAKER_01

Yes Karen Gil Gilcrest and the thing Suzanne Gilkrestan yes yes yes you know students many students in Sullivan County many of the children in Sullivan County um would never have an opportunity to hear let alone meet and speak with musicians of this caliber. So for them to learn that they these are just people and they too if this is an aspiration of theirs there's an opportunity for them to grow that way and maybe someday choose to make this a career or or follow a different path. And it's just to me such a great experience and opportunity that they would never have if if an organization like yours wasn't there to help provide that. It's really special.

SPEAKER_00

Another thing that was just magic is that the teachers of these students would sit and watch their students you know interact with these professional artists and some of the questions were just amazing.

SPEAKER_03

Well we're looking forward to to many more of these programs in the future with with Chandelier Music Festival and Steam Fund. I think our mutual goal is to reach all of the schools in Sullivan absolutely absolutely so while we're on the on the topic of partnerships I know that you also have partnered with a SingleBite. A SingleByte is a not-for-profit uh local not-for-profit here in in Sullivan County that provides food education programs and uh in the schools and uh also feeds families that are in need here in Sullivan County.

SPEAKER_01

So talk about that partnership too a little bit Sims Foster and I go way back and Us too yes Sims Foster was born and raised in Livingston Manor, New York as were we and that's really where the Chandely Music Festival is Chandelie is a component part of Livingston Manor.

SPEAKER_03

Trevor Burrus His grandma and grandpa lived right down the street from us and his his father was our neighbor growing up was my neighbor your neighbor not my neighbor well Sims is now on the Chandely Music Festival board and that is our connection and I am incredible incredibly awed as in struck in a good way what he does.

SPEAKER_00

He feeds over 750 meals to underprivileged families kids I think it's actually 1500 a week a week it it has gone up and up and up and actually started with our with our Liberty Rotary Club but we don't have to go into that now but uh yeah that was a COVID that came out of a COVID Operation feed it was called and so you know I I so lucky that he is on the board because we we sit at length and talk about okay how can music be paired with food.

SPEAKER_01

Trevor Burrus Do you know that he was a music major right? That he played trumpet Oh that's right I had forgotten about Beabody I think beabody in in uh Baltimore So music is a part of him as as a youth it it's not lost on him so sorry no it's it's fine.

SPEAKER_00

So we sit and talk about how a single bite of food can be compared to a single piece of music and paired together and we have an event coming up and it's on uh it's in August and the Leslie Pinchick jazz trio will be performing and Sims and a single bite will be serving hors d'oeuvres and the pavilion will be opened and it will be very casual. Last year we did a dinner a formal dinner but Sims and I sat down and and and his executive director Audrey Garo we sat down and said wouldn't it be nice if just people were roaming and it was a little bit less formal. They could talk amongst themselves we can talk about a single bite and you can talk about the Chandelier music festival. So that's what we're doing this year. The all the doors and windows of the pavilion will be open will have jazz in the background and everybody will be mingling and and talking and socializing.

SPEAKER_03

And you have a a wonderful sponsor for the trio sponsor none other than thank you so much. The Steam Fund yeah so we're really proud to be to be part of that not only because it's the Chandelier Music Festival but also a single bite and and the foster supply hospitality people the connections and and that those partnerships are just really what it's all about when it comes to Trevor B and Sin's father as well as yours were founding board members of the Chandelier Music Festival. So that was Barry Foster and sort of the next the next leading is that that uh you know my parents Marge and Lee Siegel are are the inspiration really and and the legacy that we want to keep alive behind the Steam Fund. That's how the Steam Fund was created back in 2016. But uh they my parents were were huge supporters of the Chandelier Music Festival. They they from the time you started in 1993 they were at every sunset concert until they passed in 1908 and uh to 2008 and 2015 respectively and uh you know I I I kinda wanted to ask you that kind of support and I'm sure you get support from others like that um what what does that mean to you and the Chandelier Music Festival?

SPEAKER_00

Oh my goodness um Lee was such an amazing man and his picture hangs proudly in our breeze way and March and like you said they attended every single concert that we presented uh until they passed and it just means the world to me so looking back over 33 years do you think w do you feel like um the Shenley Music Festival has had a great impact on musicians in Sullivan County and is there more impact that you would like to have and what is that? Well I think the outreach program that we have started with the Steam Fund that is a priority and a goal of both of us I think we want to reach as many of the Sullivan County students as possible. And I'd like your perspective on where that's going and what we're planning for the future.

SPEAKER_03

Well look uh we have the the contacts in all the schools and and we have uh if you go to our steampundorg website uh you'll see a full uh menu of of artists uh that we can bring to the schools uh through the Chandelier Music Festival through the partnership with the Chandelier Music Festival at the risk of sounding like a little bit like a commercial here the more money we have the more artists we can bring to the more students and so supporting the Chandelier Music Festival, supporting the STEAM fund, these are that's the best way to keep that moving forward and so anybody listening and and most that listen to be honest with you are pretty strong supporters.

SPEAKER_01

So we we realize that but that is such an important piece to the whole puzzle for us whether it's through grants or individual donations I'm sure that's true for you. It's certainly true for us and that's where that money goes is to support these artists that could then help students fulfill their own dreams. And that's a that I can tell that that's important to you. It's really important to us.

SPEAKER_00

Trevor Burrus Absolutely and any donation large or small means the world to it doesn't matter what the amount is it just motivates us to work harder.

SPEAKER_03

Trevor Burrus Absolutely so you mentioned uh the the upcoming concert in the Sunset concert series we talked about every arch which happens well no yes it happens every summer exactly so where can our viewers and our listeners uh find out more information how to get tickets uh where to go for information who the you know who find out who the performers are um where where can they go?

SPEAKER_00

Absolutely our website is chandelier.org and I'm just going to spell it because some people put an A in there it's S-H-A-N-D-E-L-E-E.org and our complete if you click at the top performance series Sunset Concerts series the page will drop down and you'll see everybody that's performing uh coming up in August and we open on the 1st with a performance at CASS and then we continue on the sixth with our collaboration with a single bike CAS is the Catskill Art Space and that's right in on Main Street in Livingston Manor, New York.

SPEAKER_03

And we interviewed the director of CAS We did Sally Wright seriously and you can check out her podcast episode too.

SPEAKER_00

And what's great about the first is um it is free of charge and we're bringing a wonderful solo guitarist um he's a native of Madrid Spain and his name is Dan Garcia and he will be performing both classic and tango guitar music and it's free and open to the public. Fantastic and they can seat about 150 people. So chandelier.org with an E not an A, which I always do wrong or you can call our box office directly our number is 845477 and our box office manager Andrea will be happy to take your call and take your reservations.

SPEAKER_03

So this is a new part of our our podcast series but we're gonna do a lightning round here. Okay just a lightning round questions uh one one word answers maybe or or so first of all uh morning person or night owl morning morning person I awake up around 435 every morning favorite composer Mozart favorite concert hall Carnegie Hall one piece of music everyone should hear at least once Chopin's nocturne in D flat major which I'm playing by the way on my concert coffee or tea coffee if you weren't a musician what career might you have pursued that's a good question I was an athlete um as a youngster I was a gymnast an all-around gymnast and I would love to coach gymnastics team that would be fun uh last question one word that would describe the Chandelier music festival best inspirational love it love it love it so um you've devoted more than three decades to building something truly extraordinary um as you look five or ten years down the road um where do you see the Chandelier Music Festival? What's your vision for its future and what legacy do you hope it leaves for generations to come?

SPEAKER_00

Well we will continue to do our Sunset concert series and I I'm proud that we don't present just one type of music like a trio or a quartet we this year we have trios, quartets, solo artists and a chamber ensemble a vocal group which when they sing it's gonna be an amazing experience.

SPEAKER_03

They're gonna do madrigals and vocal jazz all all kind of music and we will always do that but I see the future with Steam Fund and moving forward big time I want to reach more students with you guys and and we will be hand in hand going to this looking forward to that for sure for sure so thank you so much for sharing your story and the evolution of the Chandelier Music Festival and and you know to our listeners and viewers if you've never been to the Chandelier Music Festival you all want to come and experience experience the just gem that we have here in Chandelie outside of Livingston Manor New York it's it's 90 minutes from the George Washington Bridge and uh it's it's just as you say inspirational the music the the mission and everything that's that's done there. So the land. Absolutely and once again uh you can find uh any information about the Chandelie Music Festival at chandelie.org uh that's s-h a n d-e dot org or you can go to the Steam Fund uh our Steam Fund um website which is uh steamfund.org and and there is a uh a link to the Chandelie Music Festival there. So once again uh we encourage you to check out the Chandely Music Festival at chandelier.org where you can access up-to-date concert information event schedules and contact information to learn more about Steam Fund please visit our website at steamfund.org like our social media pages follow us on Instagram subscribe to our YouTube channel and share these episodes with your friends it's the best way to keep the arts the music and the conversations moving full steam ahead thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next time on Full Steam Ahead.

SPEAKER_00

My pleasure