Please join us in preserving a national treasure and home to Music Among Friends...

The Historic Music Shed...

Designed by E. K. Rossiter for Ellen and Carl Stoeckel, the Norfolk Music Shed opened its doors on June 6, 1906. The New York Times has described its beautiful redwood interior, modeled after New York's original Steinway Hall, as an acoustic marvel. For more than 100 years the Music Shed has served as the principal venue for the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival/Yale Summer School of Music and the Litchfield County Choral Union. Many of the world's greatest performers and composers including Fritz Kreisler, Jean Sibelius, Sergei Rachmaninov and, more recently, Pinchas Zukerman, Midori, Dave Brubeck, and the Tokyo String Quartet have appeared on its stage. With the exception of some minor adjustments over the years, the extraordinary Shed that Rossiter built in 1906 has survived intact to the present day.

... Desperately Needs Our Help

If it is going to continue to be home to great music for another hundred years, we must act now to save the Music Shed. A study completed by the engineering firm of Wiss, Janney, Eistner Associates in April, 2009, confirmed that the building will not survive beyond a decade without major repairs to the foundation, roof, exterior walls, windows, electrical and plumbing. And it must be brought up to 21st-century code for handicap access, restrooms and public safety. The same report recommended that, as a result of years of water damage, the Annex that was added to the rear of the building in the 1970s be replaced. And anyone who has survived a hot July evening, climbed the crumbling steps, squeezed into the ladies restroom, or paused at the discolored and cracking shingles will agree that audience comfort and maintenance issues abound.

An anonymous donor has committed $1,000,000
in 2:1 matching funds towards the restoration.

There will never be a more opportune moment to embark on the mission of saving the Music Shed and ensuring that audiences and performers can enjoy this remarkable concert hall for another century.

We need your help to secure this match.