Meadowmount School of Music Announces Leadership Renewals, Extending Artistic Director Janet Sung Through 2030

National Media Contact: Amanda Sweet, Bucklesweet | amanda@bucklesweet.com

Meadowmount Contact: Casey Boyer, Communications Coordinator | 518-962-2400 caseyboyer@meadowmount.org

Meadowmount School of Music Announces Leadership Renewals, Extending Artistic Director Janet Sung Through 2030

School Honors Legendary Violin Teacher Margaret Pardee and Opens Two Public Trails in Partnership with Champlain Area Trails

WESTPORT, N.Y. — Meadowmount School of Music marked a landmark summer at its 2026 end-of-summer benefit concert, The Great Meadowmount Celebration. The evening brought three major announcements. The school renewed its artistic and executive leadership, extending Artistic Director Janet Sung's tenure through 2030. It honored one of its most influential teachers with a lasting campus tribute. And it unveiled a new trail partnership that deepens Meadowmount's connection to its community and the Adirondack landscape.

The evening's leading announcement was the extension of Artistic Director Janet Sung's tenure through the summer of 2030. Meadowmount also announced the renewal of Executive Director Genevieve Twomey's contract. Together, the renewals affirm the Board's confidence in the team guiding the internationally renowned summer music school into its ninth decade.

“I have spent many summers at Meadowmount, and what has always distinguished this place is the seriousness of its purpose,” said Hans Jørgen Jensen, longtime Meadowmount faculty member and Professor of Cello at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music. “Janet and Genevieve understand that tradition deeply and have given it new energy. These renewals are wonderful news for the faculty, for our students, and for string playing itself.”

“The Board's incredible support, especially during the earlier transition years, made this journey possible and allowed us to build a team that can confidently look to Meadowmount's future,” said Sung. “I am grateful to be a part of this future that aims to elevate the next generation of young artists and I am excited for what lies ahead.”

The celebration also honored the extraordinary legacy of longtime Meadowmount faculty member Margaret Pardee with the renaming of the school's Annex Dormitory as Pardee.

A teaching assistant to Ivan Galamian and one of Meadowmount's most influential violin teachers, Pardee devoted four decades to mentoring generations of young musicians. She was known for her uncompromising standards, her generosity, and her unwavering belief in her students. She also became legendary for welcoming students and their families each summer to the North Country farmhouse affectionately known as the “Pardee Farm.”

The concert also celebrated Meadowmount's growing partnership with Champlain Area Trails (CATS), highlighted by the recent opening of the Meadowmount Forest Trail and the Mount Inez Trail.

The Meadowmount Forest Trail begins just outside the school's Concert Hall and winds through mature Adirondack forest before connecting with the Mount Inez Trail. The trails give students, visitors, and members of the public new ways to experience the landscape that has long been part of the Meadowmount tradition.

“We are thrilled to join Meadowmount in this perfect collaboration,” said Arin Burdo, Executive Director of Champlain Area Trails. “We worked together to design this beautiful and historically significant trail and are excited to continue to cultivate such partnerships with cultural institutions to combine art and nature.”

The Mount Inez Trail honors Inez Milholland, the pioneering suffragist, lawyer, and advocate for social justice whose family once called Meadowmount home. Her legacy of courage, leadership, and public service continues to inspire both the Meadowmount community and the broader North Country.

“These announcements reflect the kind of organization Meadowmount strives to be: one that honors its history, nurtures the next generation of artists, and embraces its place within the Adirondacks,” said Twomey. “That combination has defined Meadowmount for more than eighty years, and I am thrilled to continue to be a part of Meadowmount as we look to the future.”

The celebration opened the final week of a seven-week season that welcomed 187 exceptional violinists, violists, and cellists from around the world. As one of the world's premier summer training programs for string players, Meadowmount continues to prepare the next generation of artists while building on a legacy that spans more than eight decades.

About Meadowmount School of Music

Founded in 1944 by Ivan Galamian, the Meadowmount School of Music is a seven-week summer program for young violinists, violists, and cellists. Its alumni include world-renowned soloists, chamber musicians, and principal players in leading orchestras, among them Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Pinchas Zukerman, Marin Alsop, James Ehnes, Stefan Jackiw, and Jessie Montgomery. Meadowmount offers a unique blend of tradition, rigor, and inspiration on its 240-acre campus in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York. With a capacity enrollment of 190, the school retains an intimacy that fosters personal attention and camaraderie. Many alumni return year after year as students, faculty, and guest artists, ensuring the continuity of the Meadowmount teaching tradition.

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