NEWSLETTER
Hudson, NY — This August and September, one of the most unusual concert halls in America opens its doors again. At Churchtown Dairy, the farm and award-winning creamery founded by Abby Rockefeller in New York's Hudson Valley, a round barn built for cows becomes a home for chamber music. Chamber Music Churchtown returns for its second season, and this time it's not just back: it's bigger, expanding from its two-night debut into a five-performance festival, running from August 29th through September 6th, 2026.
Architect Rick Andersen's round barn, with its soaring timber frame and curved walls, was never built with an audience in mind, but its geometry happens to carry sound the way few concert halls can. Each summer, once the herd moves out to pasture, the space is reimagined as a listening room unlike any other.
Founder and Artistic Director Wendy Sutter, an internationally acclaimed soloist and chamber musician, has built the festival around the idea that great music doesn't need a formal stage to move people. This season, she's brought back familiar collaborators and welcomed new ones, all drawn from the same world-class circles: the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Society, and the Marlboro Festival.
Programming across the five concerts spans Mozart, Brahms, Dvořák, Schubert, and Beethoven, performed in a room where the audience sits close enough to watch a bow change direction.
"Last year we weren’t sure anyone would understand what we were trying to do — put a string quartet in a barn," says Sutter. "But something happened in that room. People stayed after the music ended, just to sit in the quiet. That told us this wasn’t a one-time experiment. It was the beginning of something we needed to keep building."
Churchtown Dairy continues to operate as a working farm year-round, blending regenerative agriculture, education, and community programming, with the concert series now firmly part of that mission.
What: Chamber Music Churchtown 2026 Festival (Five Concerts)
When: Saturday, August 29th – Sunday, September 6th, 2026
Concert I: Saturday, August 29, 6:00–8:00 PM — Mozart & Brahms
Concert II: Sunday, August 30, 3:00–5:00 PM — Dvořák & Schubert
Concert III: Friday, September 4, 6:00–8:00 PM — Brahms & Beethoven
Concert IV: Saturday, September 5, 6:00–8:00 PM — Schubert & Brahms
Concert V: Sunday, September 6, 3:00–5:00 PM — Brahms & Dvořák
Where: The Round Barn at Churchtown Dairy, 357 Co Rd 12, Hudson, NY 12534
Tickets & Info: www.chambermusicchurchtown.org/tickets
For additional information, please contact Melissa Davis at Ruby Press.
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