Mozart in the Woods

Fifty years ago, something special happened in the remote woods of Pennsylvania, and its song still carries on the wind today. In 1976, Carl Ellenberger, a musician before becoming a physician, gathered friends in a nineteenth-century Chautauqua Auditorium in Pennsylvania’s Amish country. They thought it was a beautiful location to play the music they loved, and that it would also be fun. That gentle beginning turned into the organization called Gretna Music and nearly five decades of summer music-making, drawing audiences from across the Mid-Atlantic region to hear over 750 exceptional performances by more than 2,000 musicians from five continents. Gretna Music has welcomed the Audubon String Quartet, Dave Brubeck, Ravi Coltrane, Canadian Brass, Susanna Phillips, Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Sonny Rollins, and Hilary Hahn, to name just a few. Within “Mozart in the Woods: Gretna Music’s 50 Years” are their stories and the stories of Mt. Gretna and its residents: from financial collapse to the literal physical collapse of the hall, from cultural evolution to existential arguments over artistic integrity. Gretna Music has weathered storms, celebrated joyfully, and thrived. Ellenberger’s historical account captures this long moment in time, which has simultaneously passed in the blink of an eye, while also offering a blueprint for similar endeavors. “Mozart in the Woods” is perfect for audiences and performers alike, as well as for students of performance and performance management.