Historic Saranac Lake wishes to thank the many people who helped make possible a special event this month commemorating the history of Béla Bartók in Saranac Lake. On Sept. 8, world-renowned jazz musicians Lucian Ban and Mat Maneri presented “Transylvanian Dance” to a full house at the Left Bank Cafe. The musicians reimagined through improvisation the Béla Bartók Field Recordings from Transylvania. Century-old songs were presented with video projections, audio from the original Edison wax cylinder recordings, rare handwritten manuscripts and photographs taken by Bartók.

The concert helped support Historic Saranac Lake’s ongoing work to preserve and interpret the Bartók Cabin in Saranac Lake, where the great composer spent the last summer of his life. The event also supported the new museum exhibits in the Trudeau Building, where our rare collection of the personal effects of the great composer will be displayed. The first phase of the expanded museum will open next summer.

We are grateful to the musicians for traveling out of their way to bring “Transylvanian Dance” to Saranac Lake. We also wish to thank Brianna and Jarrad at the Left Bank Cafe for graciously hosting the concert in their beautiful space; Ann Culver, Nancy and Ed Murphy, and Hotel Saranac for sponsoring the event; Russell Fehrer for his expertise with the sound system; Billy Allen for loaning equipment; Pete Seward at Lake Flower Landing and Dave Filsinger at TrestleStreet for their advice and encouragement. Last but never least, my thanks to Historic Saranac Lake’s intrepid Program Coordinator Alex Krach for his AV expertise and unfailing can-do attitude.

Béla Bartók once said that his guiding principle was “the ideal of the brotherhood of peoples, despite war and all conflict.” This special concert connected us to people from a distant place and another era. It was a poignant and timely expression of our shared humanity.

Guests posed for a photo on the terrace of the Left Bank Café after the show. From left to right: Jane Maxwell, Billy Allen, Shamim Allen, Lex Dashnaw, Harvey Cohen, Doug March, Richard Rodzinski, and Danielle Ostiguy (Provided photo)

Amy Catania

Executive director

Historic Saranac Lake