HURLEY, N.Y. — The Woodstock area has been an epicenter of art, music, and culture for over a century, with musicians and artists flocking to the community since the establishment of the Byrdcliffe Colony in 1902.
In 1915, Hervey White, early founder and worker at the nearby Byrdcliffe began the Maverick Festival at the Maverick Art Colony, 102 acres of land he had purchased ten years prior. A concert hall was built a year later, now at 120 Maverick Road on the outskirts of the town of Hurley. The festival, created to give a platform to emerging talent with an ethos of community and utopian free-thinking, has carried on into the 21st century, over 100 years later.
“The Maverick is the oldest summer chamber music festival in America,” said Alexander Platt, Music Director of Maverick Concerts. “The Maverick Concert Hall was built in 1916, which was formally when the series began, and we have been going uninterrupted ever since.” Platt explained how the festival has evolved in its extensive history.
“It started off as purely a classical chamber music festival on Sunday afternoons, but in the 22 years that I’ve been privileged to be the music director, we’ve also grown into a much more eclectic organization,” Platt said. “We have all kinds of concerts, also on Saturday nights.” “Saturdays can be classical, but it’s equally also jazz, world music, folk music, and Americana, the great tradition we have in the Woodstock area,” Platt added.
“It’s every.
