May 4th 2026 marks the 200th anniversary of Frederic Church, the most famous of the Hudson River School of landscape painters whose mansion Olana, the Persian-styled castle on a hill, is perched atop this vast estate south of Hudson with spectacular views of the river and the Catskills beyond. The paintings are what he is best known for, making his fortune by showing and touring them on railroads throughout the States. But what of the music of Olana? Among the treasures there are two Chickering pianos, and it turns out that both Frederic and Isabel Church owned a vast collection of sheet music and entertained Gottschalk among their friends – and Annik LaFarge, author of Composing Olana, knows all the stories. Join us for a visit up to the bell tower on one beautiful spring day, for the music that once rang through these beautiful halls
Frederic Church 200 celebrations on WMHT:
Classical WMHT-FM: Music in Landscape: The Music of Frederic Church coming May 4
Available to stream here at classicalwmht.org
WMHT-TV: Language in Landscape: The Art of Frederic Church screens at Hudson Hall on June 4, 6:30pm
Premiere broadcast airing Friday June 5 (10:30pm); Sun June 7 (8pm), Wed June 10 (7:30pm)
Available to stream on wmht.org, the PBS App and WMHT YouTube
Frederic Church 200 celebrations nationwide: https://olana.org/fc200/
Celebrations at Olana include
special events May 2 ttps://olana.org/birthday
and the exhibition Frederic Church: Global Artist opening May 17 at Olana
https://olana.org/frederic-church-global-artist/
