Ventfort Hall Summer Concert Series to Include Members of BSO

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LENOX, Mass. — Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum will host an evening with Vicens Prats, principle flutist with the Orchestra de Paris, plus distinguished members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The concert,  the first in the Ventfort Hall Summer Concert Series, will take place on Thursday, July 29 at 7 p.m.

Prats studied in the Paris National Conservatory of Music with Michel Debost, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Alain Marion and Christian Lardé, and was awarded the Flute and Chamber Music First Prizes from the conservatory. He was awarded prizes at important international competitions: in Kobe (Japan) and the Maria Canais Competition in Barcelona and was unanimously voted first prizes in Flute and Chamber Music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musiqe et de Danse de Paris. He has worked with conductors as George Solti, C.M. Giulini, Pierre Boulez, Lorin Mazel, James Conlon, Kurt Sanderling, Wolfgang Sawallish, Daniel Baremboim, Seji Ozawa, and others. He has played as soloist with the National Chamber Orchestra of Poland, The Guildhall String Ensemble, Orchestre Nationale du Capitole de Toulouse, Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Zagreb Soloists, Budapest Franz Liszt Orquestra, among others. He also teaches courses and master classes in countries the world over.

The July 29 performance will also feature: Keisuke Wakao, assistant principal oboist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal ooist of the Boston Pops Orchestra; William R. Hudgins, prncipal carinetist of the BSO and the “Ann S. M. Banks Chair”, and Edmund Arkus, panist, who has performed solo recitals, piano solos with orchestras, and collaborated in many chamber music and sonata recitals for many years in the United States, Japan, and England to high critical acclaim. The program consists of "Trio Sonata in C Minor for Flute, Oboe and Piano" by Quantz; "Caprice on Danish and Russian Airs," Op. 79, and "Flute Sonata," both by Poulenc; "Carmen Fantasy for Flute and Piano" by Bizet, and other music for soloists.

The Ventfort Hall Summer Concert Series was spearheaded by Keisuke Wakao of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, who also organized the successful American-Japanese Cultural Exchange Concerts II at Ventfort Hall in May of this year. The concerts will feature friends and colleagues of Wakao including members of the BSO and other distinguished musicians. In addition, a concert organized in cooperation with the Chamber Music Foundation of New England and featuring The Young Russian Cellists and Jakov Jakoulov is part of the series.


Additional concerts in the series include: The Young Russian Cellists with Jakov Jakoulov accompanying on the piano, on Sunday, Aug. 1; and Keisuke Wakao and other members of the BSO on Aug. 9 and 16. All performances are at 7 p.m. and reservations are recommended for this intimate concert venue. A combined ticket for the four concerts is $100 or single tickets are $30 per performance. For reservations and more information, contact Ventfort Hall at 413-637-3206 or email info@gildedage.org Ventfort Hall is located at 104 Walker St.

An Official Project of Save America’s Treasures, Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum offers tours of the historic mansion, as well as lectures, concerts, teas, theater and other programs. This elegant Jacobean-Revival Berkshire "cottage," listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is open to the public year-round and is available for private rental. Built in 1893 for George and Sarah Morgan (sister of the financier, J. P. Morgan), Ventfort Hall has undergone substantial restoration, which continues.
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A Boutique Hotel is Bringing Guests a Luxury Stay in Lenox

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LENOX, Mass. — A new Inn is bringing a boutique-style stay for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Owners, Sullivan Capital LLC, purchased the property, located on 135 Main Street, in 2024. After a year or renovations, Garden Gables Inn is open for business. 

"Garden Gables started off as one of the many Berkshire cottages, 1790 was the date on that, and it's always operated as an inn," said Hospitality Manager Yvonne Walton. "It's just a great gathering place and relaxation spot for people to come and get the feel of Lenox, and just slow down and enjoy the nature and the surrounding area...get culture and art and see some great concerts. I think it'll be a wonderful place, definitely does more of the upper-scale hospitality." 

Owners Niko Giallouis and Eric Sullivan bought the property from the former owner. Sullivan had his eye on Lenox since attending a wedding almost 10 years ago.

"I came to a wedding in Lenox, probably six or seven years ago. Personally, just kind of fell in love with the area, and I guess that's kind of how it got on my radar. So you know from that perspective, as we got into the hotel business out towards an area, it was a place I was kind of monitoring and waiting for the right property to show up."

After purchasing the two underwent a full renovation, a project that cost around $1.5 million. The building, first built in 1780, required some TLC. Sullivan's wife, Jessica, who owns Jessica Sullivan Design, designed the inn.

Sullivan said they installed a new roof, repainted everything, renovated the bathrooms, installed new floors, a new HVAC system, and new plumbing.

"We really touched everything from the outside...I mean, all the aesthetics and layouts changed a bit," he said. "As I said, put about a million and a half into it. All new furniture, fixtures, everything. The design's completely different. It wasn't a full gut, but it was a heavy, heavy renovation."

The two like to collaborate with local businesses, and they make a point to direct visitors to local restaurants, businesses, and attractions.

"If guests are asking for recommendations, our customer service team, our guest services team, will relay that kind of information. Even if we can call and make a reservation for somebody, happy to do it," he said. "We aren't doing breakfast, but what we do is we have partnerships with a lot of the breakfast places downtown. We actually purchase a gift certificates for each person each day, so that they can use that to go downtown."

Sullivan hopes that guests don't see their inn as just a place to sleep and dump their bags, but make it an experience for anyone who stays.

"We really focus on kind of the experience side of things, so again, we want to give you the best experience you can have here...and we want that not just to be the place you put your bag and go do things. It's important to think of everything," he said.

Sullivan said partnerships are important to their business and are a way to connect with locals.

"The local partnerships, I can't stress that enough, because no matter how much and how great the room is, people are still going to want to go do other things," he said. "So, I think it just benefits everybody if we're all working together and so forth, and supporting the community, being neighborly too, because we are surrounded by residential homes...But we really try to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of love into the building, all the details, really care about the senses," Sullivan said.

The Inn's check-in and reservations are completely online. When guests arrive, all they have to do is check in online and receive their code that they will use to enter their room. Sullivan hopes this helps create less stress for guests and gets them to their room as fast as possible, especially after a long trip.

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