Ventfort Hall: 'Child Labor in the Gilded Age'

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LENOX, Mass. — Join author Chaim Rosenberg and learn how two million American children under 16  - some as young as four or five - at the close of the 19th century were employed on farms, in mills, canneries, factories, mines and offices, or selling newspapers and fruits and vegetables on the streets. 
 
He will speak at Ventfort Hall on Aug. 15 at 4 pm. A tea will follow his presentation.
 
His talk will highlight pictures of child workers in America taken early in the 20th Century by Lewis Hine. Children as young as five years were put to work as newsboys and newsgirls, selling gum, delivering telegraph messengers, working in the mines, making glass bottles, mattresses and clothing, working in the slaughter houses, picking cotton, cutting fish, working in the cotton mills and all manner of work, earning little money to help support the family. 
 
Child labor in America ended in 1938 with the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
 
Rosenberg was born in South Africa, lived in Tel Aviv, London and Sydney before settling a half-century ago in the United States. After a career in Psychiatry, affiliated with Harvard and Boston University medical schools, he turned to the study of American history, writing fifteen books focused largely on the role of the individual in shaping American greatness. 
 
In 2013, he published "Child Labor in America." He wrote a biography of Francis Cabot Lowell, whose 1814 water-powered textile mill was the beginning of America's industrial revolution; and Cyrus Hall McCormick, whose horse-powered harvesting machine revolutionized agriculture worldwide. Rosenberg's other books focus on the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and the Loyalists in the American Revolutionary War. His book "Yankee Colonies across America" won the 2016 non-fiction prize of the New England Society in the City of New York. "Shield of David," published in 2022, tells the role of Jews in the American armed forces from the Revolutionary War to now.
 
Tickets are $30 for members and with advance reservation; $35 day of; $22 for students 22 and under. Reservations are strongly encouraged as seats are limited. Walk-ins accommodated as space allows. For reservations visit https://gildedage.org/events/ or call us at (413) 637-3206. Please note that all tickets are nonrefundable and non-exchangeable. The historical mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.
 
The summer series of Tea & Talks is sponsored by the Dobbins Foundation.

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Prima Music Foundation To Perform at Ventfort Hall

LENOX, Mass. — Prima Music Foundation returns to the Berkshires with a series of summer concerts at Ventfort Hall.

The first concert in the series will take place on Thursday, June 27 at 4 pm with. There will be a cash bar serving beer and wine and will open one half hour before the concert.

Join Artistic Director, Anastasia Dedik, and the Prima Music Foundation who will present Piano Extravaganza with piano works by J.S. Bach, F. Chopin, C. Chaminade and S. Prokofiev performed by pianists Victor Rosenbaum, Anastasia Dedik, Visha Nguyen and Anna Shelest.

According to a press release:

Anastasia Dedik, born in St. Petersburg into a family of distinguished musicians, holds degrees and honors from the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory, and The Juilliard School. Anastasia’s transformative experience at Oberlin as a female Russian immigrant inspired the creation of the Prima Music Foundation—a non-profit dedicated to nurturing and showcasing talented pianists. Through PMF, Anastasia offers performance opportunities and educational guidance, including master classes with esteemed instructors. The annual Rising Stars Piano Camp in Berkshires is held at BMS from June 22 to the 29. The Camp provides an exceptional learning environment, fostering the growth of young artists. As the Artistic Director of the Summer Concert Series at Ventfort Hall in Lenox, Anastasia showcases both established and emerging talents, with ticket proceeds supporting scholarships for the Camp. PMF's primary focus is providing scholarships to those in need.
 
American pianist Victor Rosenbaum has concertized widely as soloist and chamber music performer in the United States, Europe, Israel, Brazil, Russia, and Asia in such prestigious halls as Tully Hall in New York and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia. Recently retired from the faculty of New England Conservatory in Boston where he taught for more than fifty years, he chaired its piano department for more than a decade, and was also Chair of Chamber Music.
 
Nguyen Visha was born in Vietnam and holds a PhD from Moscow State Conservatory. She is the laureate of international competitions, including 1st prize at the Rubinstein international competition (Paris, 2008), 1st prize at the Russian Scriabin Conservatory (Paris, 2009), 2nd prize at the International Olympic of Art (Moscow, 2011) and 3rd prize at Scriabin’s International Competition in Moscow (2012). Due to the war in Ukraine she had to move to the USA with her husband, a renowned Russian pianist and teacher and their young child. She continues her musical path in New York City, teaching piano to kids, and at the same time, playing concerts with unique programs. She is the only Vietnamese pianist who played and recorded all 48 Preludes and Fugues, all 6 partitas and Goldberg-variations by Bach.
 
Hailed by The New York Times as a pianist of “a fiery sensibility and warm touch,” Anna Shelest has appeared at numerous venues including Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Wiener Konzerhaus in Vienna, and Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City. Anna’s ongoing project, Donna Voce, started in 2019 as a series of recordings surveying music for solo piano and piano and orchestra by women composers from the last three centuries. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Anna makes her home in New York City with her husband and two sons. To learn more, please visit www.AnnaShelest.com


Tickets are $45 general admission. Reservations are required as seats are limited. For reservations visit https://gildedage.org/pages/calendar or call  (413) 637-3206. Note that all tickets are nonrefundable and non-exchangeable. The historical mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.

 

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