Give Me Liberty, Give Me Song: America’s Journey at 250

Tom Strange, curator of the Sigal Music Museum, will offer an overview of the piano’s history in the United States, highlighting how builders in a new cultural and economic landscape developed innovations shaped by local conditions and changing musical tastes. He will then introduce several landmark instruments from the Piano Performance Museum—Geib (1824), Nunns &; Clark (1833), and a Steinway square grand (1865)—discussing their makers and distinctive qualities. Musical examples will be performed by Patricia García Gil, Postdoctoral Associate and Artist-in-Residence at Cornell’s Center for Historical Keyboards. Catskill Mountain Foundation Now in its 28th year, the Catskill Mountain Foundation is a nonprofit arts organization that produces programs and workshops and operates multiple cultural venues, partnership initiatives, and signature festivals throughout the region.