In addition to being its namesake, Franz Kneisel’s passion for chamber music is the heart and soul of Kneisel Hall.
Kneisel Hall offers three distinct programs for music students, young professional artists, and adult life-long learners.
Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival returns in 2023 with the best of chamber music. Join us from June 30 to August 27, 2023. We look forward to sharing a full slate of Friday and Sunday concerts, Open Rehearsals, Masterclasses, and the ever popular Young Artist Concert series.
Your donation supports our musicians and the music they make.
Other teachers who have had a powerful influence on her development have been Josef Gingold, Donald Weilerstein and Robert Mann. As the founding first violinist of the Mendelssohn String Quartet, she spent eight years with that group, traveling and performing internationally. She also performed and toured as the first violinist of two school-affiliated string quartets: the Bard Festival String Quartet and the Purchase Faculty String Quartet. She has performed and toured with the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society and Music From Marlboro. With her husband, violist Ira Weller, she directed and performed in the respected series “The Collection in Concert,” at the Pierpont Morgan Library for over ten years. She plays regularly at the chamber series, Da Camera of Houston.
Laurie Smukler is a dedicated and passionate teacher. In addition to The Juilliard School, she is a respected member of the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music and the Conservatory of Music at Bard College. She also spent 18 years as a Professor of Violin and Chamber Music at Purchase College Conservatory of Music; ten as Head of the String Department. She has been on the Kneisel Hall faculty since 1996.
Laurie Smukler has a particular interest in contemporary music and has premiered works by Wernick, Rorem, Subotnik, Paulus, Shulamit Ran and Adolphe.
Office: 36 Main St.
Campus: 137 Pleasant St.
Mailing: P.O.Box 648 Blue Hill, ME 04614
Office: 207-374-2811