Olga Bloom played viola in the prestigious Boston Symphony Orchestra. And she had a dream.
That when she retired, she would buy a barge, move to Brooklyn, and on that same barge,
moored on the Brooklyn shore right under the Brooklyn bridge, she would create a center for chamber music that would dazzle the New York City chamber-music audience.
In 1977 she retired. She bought a barge, had all her belongings moved onto the barge, and then hired a tug boat to pull the barge on the waters that connect Boston to Brooklyn. Her most memorable moment of that trip? Her encounter with Mr. Rockefeller.
When the barge passed Rockefeller Center, she waved and called out,
"JUST WATCH ME, MR ROCKEFELLER!"
When she arrived on the Brooklyn shoreline, right under the Brooklyn Bridge, she hooked up her barge. And almost singlehandedly, she transformed the barge into a very simple chamber music hall to which the chamber music crowd from New York City came to enjoy incredible chamber music playing on an incredible site.
And what a site. The sparkling night lights of New York City on the other side of the water: an incredible backdrop to incredible playing.
"Mr. Rockefeller, i hope you are watching!!!!!!!!!"
Many years ago I first read about Olga Bloom's story in the New York Times, was intrigued, and flew to New York to meet her in her now famous BargeMusic chamber music center.
On the afternoon I arrived, the folding chairs had been removed and a tall handsome man was sweeping the floor. When my interview with Olga was over and it was time for me to leave to get back to New York,
he offered to drive me.
But on the way back, he asked my permission to take a detour to show me a sample of his work
of which he was terribly proud of.
We drove to a skyscraper, and in front of the building were exquisite tiles, exquisitely laid.
Proudly, he pointed to them and said, "I was the one who laid those tiles....single handedly!"
His story was a sad one. He had had a great future with his union...until he had a disagreement with the head. The head retaliated. And had union members stomp on his back...and break it.............................
The only work left for him that he could do was sweep the floors of the Bargemusic.
Bargemusic — New York City’s floating concert hall
Moored in Brooklyn just under the Brooklyn Bridge, Barge music presents great music year-round. Walk across the gangplank of a renovated coffee barge into a “wonderfully intimate wood-paneled room with thrilling views of lower Manhattan and excellent acoustics.” Experience why critics call Bargemusic “the perfect chamber-music hall” and why artists say it is “unlike any other place in the world to perform.”
Please support Bargemusic.org
More about Bargemusic in Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bargemusic
