Steve Thurston (2021)
The 2021 concert season at the Sembrich Museum, with the theme "Nature and Music," will be held in the fresh air, under canopies, with views of Lake George.
By nature, Suzanna Bernd is a leader who finds a way to say, “Yes,” and that open-minded nature kept The Sembrich — an organization seeped in rich history, grandeur and tradition — relevant when the pandemic forced cancellation of its 2020 season.
“For the first time in 80 years, we weren’t open to the public,” said Bernd, executive director of the museum and music festival named in honor of famed opera singer Marcella Sembrich (1858–1935). Sembrich lived and taught on Lake George, and she directed the vocal schools at both Juilliard and Curtis Institute of Music.
“In my mind, I was searching for a way to say, ‘Yes.’ I’ve met different people who are thinking of ways of saying, ‘No,’ and people who find ways to say, ‘Yes,’” Bernd said. “Our mentality is we have a wonderful resource for the community. How can we enrich lives within the pandemic environment?”
Limitations in place because of the COVID-19 virus pushed The Sembrich’s team — then recently hired and facing its first season together — to get creative.
“We pivoted and created an online festival,” Bernd said, noting that a website redesign was coincidentally unveiled as the pandemic hit. “It was very fortuitous that we had this new foundation.” The theme, “Musical Visionaries,” was transformed last season into “Virtual Visionaries,” a series of online presentations.
This season, The Sembrich will host events on the theme “Nature and Music,” with all programming offered on the property, under a canopy.
The lineup includes: family movies, a children’s opera, horn players from Philadelphia Orchestra, a world-renown accordionist, a bassist who composes a duet with the sounds of Lake George in real time, among others, all set among the wilderness that inspired the opera legend.
“We’ve all been watching our screens, whether Zooming, doing our work, watching TV, watching YouTube,” Bernd said. “And we wanted to give people the opportunity to get out of their homes and experience something. We think it’s really important to give people hope for the future.”
The trails on the property, with views of Lake George islands, mountains and the Sagamore Hotel have been open to the public even during the pandemic.
“Doing the presentations and being online was important, but also we wanted to find a way to give people a place to go,” Bernd said of the decision to keep the 4.5-acre preserve open.
The trails are on the remainder of the 55-acre estate the opera diva owned. Sembrich’s former boathouse, which she remodeled to serve as a vocal studio, is today a museum, where her life and the Golden Era of Opera are chronicled, and temporary exhibits from the permanent collection are showcased.
The Sembrich: 4800 Lake Shore Drive, Bolton Landing, N.Y. Click here for more information.