“We work with our hands all the time, and so we are especially excited to add a little support to Greenagers, where young people learn to use their hands to make the Berkshires a more wonderful place for all of us.” —Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax
South Egremont — As guests walked up to the performance tent on Sunday, July 24, the late July breeze carried the soothing sounds of Emanuel Ax and Yo-Yo Ma warming up for the early evening concert and conversation, their second annual benefit for Greenagers held at April Hill Farm in South Egremont. A few feet away, sheep grazed, oblivious to the excitement building among the guests or the buzz of greetings emanating from the reception tent. As the last guests were being seated, Greenagers Board Chair David Sheehan gave welcoming remarks and the world-renowned artists prepared to begin. A bleating sheep got a playful cello reply, followed immediately by the opening piece, Mendelsohn’s “Song without Words, Op. 109.”
Mendelsohn, Ma noted, was a “wonderful citizen musician” who understood that human nature and nature both needed to be present in music, going against the emphasis on rational knowledge during his time. This proved a fitting introduction for an evening celebrating the best of human nature in one of the most beautiful natural settings imaginable.
Will Conklin opened his executive director’s message with gratitude, writing, “They came back! Generosity unbounded is how I see it and it is reflected back yet again by all of you who have come to share in this experience.” The 220 donors who filled the tent clearly shared his sentiment, raising $90,000 for Greenagers while enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime (twice for some in the crowd) opportunity to hear two of the world’s most inspiring musicians.
Recalling that last year (their first fundraiser for Greenagers) they celebrated “how head, heart, and hands needed to work together in service,” Ma shared their joy in returning as “Oldagers playing in support of Greenagers.” For this year’s program, he explained, they selected pieces by composers who went out of their way to help others, as Greenagers staff and young people do, as well as composers whose works were inspired by walking through idyllic fields similar to the ones found at April Hill Farm.
As they segued to Dvorak’s “Four Romantic Pieces, Op. 75,” all of nature seemed to be tuning her strings—the grain glowed in the hazy sun, the hills rolled in deep purple and green, and the cosmos and hydrangeas picked from the Greenagers’ garden waved with delight. Ma built on the theme of generosity in speaking of the friendship that existed between Brahms and Dvorak. After learning that Dvorak’s first attempts had been scorned, he noted, Brahms selflessly wrote to his own publishers to make sure they published every one of Dvorak’s works.
As they did at the inaugural concert, the two lifelong friends blended humorous jabs with mutual respect to throughout the performance. As the bees hovered over the Queen Anne’s lace, Ma bantered (as he is known to do) about the stage he and Ax have reached in their friendship, leading seamlessly into Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Flight of the Bumblebee” to laughter from the crowd.
Ma later shared that their favorite exchange as performance partners discussing musical selections went something like this: Ax commenting, “It’s so beautiful,” followed by “And it’s so difficult.” A new development in Ax’s thinking, Ma revealed, was the question, “So, what?” Humor aside, Ma noted that, like Brahms, Emanuel Ax never gave up, no matter how difficult things were, for “in trying you triumph.”
As Ax played the descending treble thirds passage, a brief transition to the major key in the Brahms Cello Sonata in E minor, Op. 38, (which they first recorded together in 1985), a murmuration of starlings swept down like an airbrush across the hills. In his notes to the sonata, Brahms instructs that “the piano should be a partner—often a leading, often a watchful and considerate partner—but it should under no circumstances assume a purely accompanying role.” Indeed, watching the two artist friends play, Ma leaning back with closed eyes, Ax leaning forward into the rhythmic bass notes, one could feel the give-and-take of their lifelong friendship. “We’ve been through so much of life together, built so much capital,” Ma said, “we somehow sense each other’s breath, timing, without even looking at each other.”
The second-to-the last piece, Faure’s “Papillion” (the French word for “butterfly”) felt like a love letter to the earth, with the clouds morphing to pale lavender and the wind calming so the nearby bird song and butterfly dance could be fully appreciated. The staccato piano accompaniment punctuated the cello notes that swirled in tight, clean riffs, lifting energetically and then pausing, as butterflies do.
And the final selection, Harold Arlen’s “Somewhere over the Rainbow” arranged by Tom Poster, felt like a love letter to humanity. Amidst all of the angst in our country and world, for a short pause, there seemed to be nothing more urgent than the thought “There’s no place like home”—home in these Berkshire hills.
Following a standing ovation, the performers traded instruments for wooden stools, settling into a dialogue with Greenagers’ Executive Director Will Conklin about topics that connect culture, youth, and community. “We have a shared experience of beauty and an opportunity to gain wisdom from each other,” he noted. “When we experience something together in a common setting, it brings us empathetically together,” Ma added. “It helps us listen to what people are saying and get aligned—which makes us happier, richer, more fulfilled.”
While acknowledging the guest artists’ medium and intentions, Conklin stated that, for Greenagers, the medium is composed of rocks and soil, wood and vegetables, but the goal is the same: that people leave with greater gifts than when they came. Whether tilling the farm or clearing the trails, he said, Greenagers youth are also “trying to create something beautiful and useful, always working toward a greater goal than themselves.”
As Conklin emphasized the importance of nature and teaching young people to care for the land, Ma cautioned that “Nature has the greatest imagination, but she guards her secrets jealously.” If ever young people needed a time to connect with nature and the infinite possibilities she presents, surely it is now, and there could be no better way to do that than putting your hands in the soil and planting your feet on the ground. If ever young people needed to feel needed, it is also now. “What better way to serve your community and see your impact than by donating 10,000 pounds of produce to families that need it, as Greenagers did this year?” Conklin asked, drawing enthusiastic applause.
“How can we make sure the greatest number of young people possible gets to experience these programs and this place?” Conklin asked in closing. One important initiative being discussed, he explained, involves establishing a vocational school to train students from Mount Everett and Berkshire Hills, building on the Pathways to the Trades program Greenagers runs. Ma endorsed those efforts and the need to make vocational education a priority. Ax added that supporting young people whose talent is working with their hands is every bit as important as supporting those whose talents are tied to the screen, the stage, or the boardroom. He also relayed his own experience working with piano students, which affirmed that the best way to connect with young people is personally, through shared passion.
“We’ve both been coming to the Berkshires for over 40 years, partaking in this paradise every summer,” Ma reflected, as the first hints of changing weather brought the conversation to a close. “It’s critical that we support programs like Greenagers that help our community create year-round jobs and train young people to fill them.” Judging from the exuberant standing ovation, those in attendance wholeheartedly agreed.
(To learn more about Greenagers and its vital work in our community, go to https://theberkshireedge.com/non-profit-business-greenagers-deep-roots-abundant-harvest/.)
