Kneisel Hall is an annual chamber music festival and school located in Blue Hill, Maine

Blue Hill, Maine

Blue Hill is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,390 at the 2000 census. It is home to Blue Hill Memorial Hospital, George Stevens Academy, the now-closed Liberty School, New Surry Theatre, Kneisel Hall, Bagaduce Music Lending Library, the Kollegewidgwok Yacht Club...

. The season runs for seven weeks each summer from mid-June until early August. A small faculty works with approximately fifty pre-professional musicians, concentrating almost exclusively on chamber music for strings and piano. Since 1986, pianist Seymour Lipkin has served as Artistic Director.

History

The origins of the festival date back to 1902, when violinist Franz Kneisel

Franz Kneisel

Franz Kneisel was an American violinist and teacher of Romanian birth.Born in Bucharest, the son of a German bandmaster, he learned to play the flute, clarinet and trumpet, as well as the violin...

 first brought his students to his summer home in Blue Hill. Kneisel and his colleagues in the Kneisel Quartet established a summer teaching tradition that lasted until Kneisel's death in 1926. After a long hiatus, the Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School was reestablished in 1953 by Kneisel's daughter Marianne Kneisel, pianist Artur Balsam, violinist Joseph Fuchs

Joseph Fuchs

Joseph Fuchs was one of the most important American violinists and teachers of the 20th century, and the brother of Lillian Fuchs....

 and violist Lillian Fuchs

Lillian Fuchs

Lillian Fuchs , an American violist, teacher and composer, is considered to be among the finest instrumentalists of her time. She hailed from a musically talented family: her brothers, Joseph Fuchs, a violinist, and Harry Fuchs, a cellist, performed with her on numerous commercial recordings...

. From Marianne's death in 1973, the post of Artistic Director was held by cellist Leslie Parnas.

Faculty

Ronald Copes, Laurie Smukler, Roman Totenberg

Roman Totenberg

Roman Totenberg is a Polish-American violinist and educator.He is the father of National Public Radio journalist Nina Totenberg...

, violin

Doris Lederer, Katherine Murdock, viola

Jerry Grossman, Joel Krosnick

Joel Krosnick

Joel Krosnick is an American soloist, cellist, recitalist, and chamber musician who has performed all over the world for over thirty-five years...

, Barbara Stein-Mallow, cello

Jane Coop, Seymour Lipkin, Marian Hahn, piano



Seymour Lipkin, Artistic Director

Ellen Werner, Executive Director

Patty Stowell, Director, Maine Young Musicians Program