Financial aid may be available. If you are seeking funds to participate in this program, click to review and complete our Financial Assistance Application and a Pendle Hill staff member will follow-up with you shortly (please do NOT register online). Thank you for your interest.

Enjoy an alcohol-free New Year’s Eve celebration, with hors d’oeuvres reception and home-cooked dinner, lively concert in the Barn, ice cream social, and midnight candlelight Meeting for Worship.

Many of us find ourselves living under an oppressive cloud of anxiety, concerned for our families, concerned for our nation, concerned for our planet. Music offers a potent antidote. Speaking to us beyond words at the level of spirit, it releases sadness, shivers, or joy – helping us remember who we are and nourishing our capacity for love and resistance.

In “Music of Inspiration for an Age of Anxiety,” we will explore the many ways that composers have used music to confront and overcome vexing personal and social concerns. Bach stands up to hostile public opinion. Brahms grapples with the grief of family loss. Fred Astaire sings and dances through the Great Depression, and American composer Florence Price battles racial discrimination.

“Music of Inspiration” shows musicians contending with adversity and reminding us that music can be an indispensable part of our own “emotional toolbox,” instilling us with resilience and hope for transforming our daily lives.

Leader(s)

Karl Middleman is a versatile musician, composer, lecturer, and conductor of many choirs and orchestras, including the Philadelphia Classical Symphony, which he founded and directs. Maestro Karl mixes scholarship with showmanship, peppering his lively presentations with musical tales, film clips, and piano demonstrations. A career educator on the faculty of Temple University, Karl is currently also a Commonwealth Speaker for the Pennsylvania Council on the Humanities.

Travel directions to Pendle Hill. FAQs about Short-Term Education Programs (please read before calling). Click to view the flyer.