For a complete list of upcoming Chamber Concert Series performances, click here.
The final concert of last season’s Union College Chamber Concert Series began on a special note when the College presented Daniel Berkenblit, series director, with the Founders Medal for his efforts in bringing “an extraordinary cultural institution” to campus and the Capital Region.
President Stephen C. Ainlay thanked Berkenblit for his “boundless passion, sincere generosity and keen attention to detail” in making Memorial Chapel a regular stop for the world’s most renowned performers. During the last 36 years, Berkenblit has organized some 470 concerts in the acoustically superb chapel as part of the Union College Chamber Concert Series.
Ainlay presented the medal for Berkenblit to wear on a ribbon around his neck. The Founders Medal was created in 1968 to honor a person who embodies the vision of the College’s founders and who has made a distinctive contribution to the welfare of the College.
Joining the two men on stage were members of the Emerson String Quartet, longtime Union friends, who performed an all-Brahms program later that afternoon.
“Throughout it all, you have modestly stayed in the wings while audiences cheer the artists,” Ainlay told Berkenblit. “Today, it is our turn to acknowledge you, the artist, for bringing this wonderful music into our lives.”
Berkenblit received a standing ovation from the sold-out audience and an impromptu round of “Happy Birthday.” He celebrated his 78th birthday the next day.
In addition to the Emerson String Quartet, Berkenblit has brought to Memorial Chapel such renowned artists as Musicians from Marlboro, Boston Camerata, Emmanuel Ax, Lang Lang, James Galway and Wu Han. During the last concert season, Berkenblit helped arrange separate gatherings between students and pianist Emmanuel Ax and the Emerson String Quartet.
“Dan's concert series is a great treasure for the Capital Region. One has the opportunity to hear some of the finest soloists and ensembles in the world," said Dianne McMullen, a professor of music and College organist. “As part of my music appreciation classes, I require students to attend several concerts. After the course is over, many keep coming back. In fact, a number of upper-class students have told me that they wish they had paid attention to the advertisements about the series during their initial years at Union.”
A native of Brooklyn, Berkenblit holds a medical degree from SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. Founders Medal, standing ovation for the man in the wings He served a residency in pathology at Brooklyn Metho- dist Hospital before working 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 nearby Lake Spofford Hotel.
He and his wife, Phillipine, live in Schenectady and Stratton, Vt.