The closing concert of the 2007-08 Union College Chamber Concert Series began on a special note, with the College presenting Daniel Berkenblit, series director, with the Founders Medal.
“For nearly four decades you have brought to Union College and the region an extraordinary cultural institution,” said President Stephen C. Ainlay in a citation he read to open an All-Brahms program by the Emerson String Quartet, which joined Dr. Berkenblit and the president on stage for the presentation.
“Thanks to your boundless passion, sincere generosity and keen attention to detail, the Union College Chamber Music Series has developed a loyal following and made Memorial Chapel a regular stop for the world’s most renowned performers including, of course, our longtime friends, the Emerson String Quartet,” Ainlay said.
“Throughout it all, you have modestly stayed in the wings while audiences cheer the artists. Today, it is our turn to acknowledge you, the artist, for bringing this wonderful music into our lives.”
Dr. Berkenblit received a standing ovation from the sold-out audience and, after the presentation, an impromptu round of “Happy Birthday.” He was to celebrate his 78th birthday on Monday, April 28, 2008.
For the last 36 years, Dr. Berkenblit has been responsible for producing the acclaimed Union College Chamber Music series, first as talent chair, and since 1979 as series director. He has brought to Memorial Chapel many of the world’s most renowned ensembles and soloists including the Emerson String Quartet; Musicians from Marlboro; Boston Camerata; Emmanuel Ax; Lang Lang; James Galway; Wu Han, Pamela Frank and Yeesun Kim; the Guarneri String Quartet and Solista Di Zagreb.
Since joining the series, Dr. Berkenblit has been responsible for producing about 470 concerts.
A native of Brooklyn, Dr. Berkenblit graduated from James Madison High School, earned a bachelor’s degree from City College of New York, and a medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. He served a residency in pathology at Brooklyn Methodist Hospital before serving at several other hospitals and laboratories. He spent most of his career at St. Mary’s Hospital in Troy, from 1967 until his retirement in 2001.
His early musical training was on the piano, and he would go on to play the oboe in high school and in college. He became serious about chamber music – and perhaps about promoting it – during the summers of 1953 and 1954, when he traveled to Marlboro Music Festival from his summer job as a bus boy at the Lake Spofford Hotel about 20 miles away. It was at Marlboro that he heard musicians such as Rudolf Serkin, Blanche and Marcel Moyse and a number of others who were about to launch legendary careers. Though he continued his pursuit of a medical career, he had cultivated a passion for the music that he would later bring to the Union College Concert Series.
He and his wife, Phillipine, live in Schenectady and Stratton, Vt.
The Founders Medal was established in 1968 by Union’s Board of Trustees to honor a person who has made a distinctive contribution to the welfare of the College.