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Brucknerathon 2025: September 5-7 in Windsor & Bristol, Connecticut
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The 15th "East Coast Brucknerathon" officially took place over the weekend of September 5 through 7. Activities got underway on Friday with participants attending a reception at the home of John and Marjory Berky. An a la carte dinner was enjoyed at a local restaurant. Over dinner, we celebrated BSA board member, Robert Alp's 80th birthday and paid homage to William Carragan who passed away in 2024. There was no Brucknerathon last year since many traditional attendees were in Austria celebrating Anton's 200th birthday.
Attendees travelled from California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and the State of Washington.
Many attendees recalled the 2023 Brucknerathon when during the Friday reception, board member, Michael Cucka called to inform the group that the listening session scheduled at his house the next day had to be cancelled since he had contracted Covid-19. That resulted in a mad scramble by John Berky to secure a suitable location for the listening session, assemble the scheduled recordings, set up a recording playback system and plan for the delivery of three meals - all in less eighteen hours. This time, everything appeared to be moving along smoothly until 11PM when Michael texted John that the belt on his turntable had broken. John proceeded to lug his sixty pound Technics SP10 MkII direct drive turntable from his basement and had it at Michael's by 7AM on Saturday. It was set to go by the 8AM start.
This year's event focused specifically on LP recordings - all but three being recently re-mastered and released. The listening session went according to schedule with breaks for lunch and dinner. The listening session ended around 11:30PM with the playing of the Finale completion to the Ninth Symphony. All eleven symphonies were played. Participants then returned to the Hyatt House Hotel in Windsor for a well deserved rest.
At 9AM on Sunday, the Bruckner Society of America held its annual meeting at the Hyatt House Hotel. The meeting was open to the public and several of the listening session participants attended. The meeting and the weekend's activities concluded around 11AM.
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