The founder of a music festival tells its story.

In 1976, a young physician moved to a remote woodland in Pennsylvania to start his first job. He learned later that it was the home of a Chautauqua community from the 19th century. Eager to play his flute again after years of medical education, he called old school friends who had become professional musicians. With them and his community, he created Gretna Music in an idyllic location. In 1980, Time Magazine called it “one of six of the best” small music festivals in the US.

During Gretna Music’s fifty years, 2,100 musicians from six continents have performed over 750 concerts in two open-air venues in the woods: an 1892 auditorium that collapsed in 1994 under snow and a rebuilt version with excellent acoustics. In this rural ‘Carnegie Hall,’ musicians included players and concertmasters from major orchestras and chamber ensembles, jazz legends, chorales, Met Opera stars, Grammy and competition winners, MacArthur fellows, prodigies, and promising students.

By building a community around it, Gretna Music has proven that the vast ocean of the greatest and most enduring music written over a millennium can still move and connect with people in an era when societal change threatens to displace it to the periphery of culture.

Praise for the author’s Theme and Variations: Musical Notes by a Neurologist (2018)

“The most important book on music in years.” (J. Poynter, History Professor.)
“A void left by the sublime Oliver Sacks has been filled.” (M. Corley, Juilliard pianist)
“The words flow with charm and effortlessness.” (D. Stolper, editor, the double reed)