Olga Bloom, far right in 2004 Photo:Nan Melville for The New York Times
We were saddened to learn of the death of Olga Bloom, who died on Thanksgiving Day at the age of 92. Thirty five years ago, Ms. Bloom, a violinist and violist, founded Bargemusic, a floating concert hall moored on the Brooklyn waterfront on a converted coffee barge built in 1899. A memorial concert in honor of Ms. Bloom is being planned.
Olga Bloom, Violinist and Violist Who Created Bargemusic, Dies at 92
If music can salve the soul, imagine hearing it accompanied by the balm of a river’s undulations, the twinkle of the Manhattan skyline, the soothing flow of river traffic. Audiences at Bargemusic, the city’s floating concert hall moored at Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn, have that experience several nights a week. It is one of the more magical places on the classical music scene and, for that matter, in all of New York.
That is thanks to Olga Bloom, a violinist and violist who 35 years ago converted a coffee barge built in 1899 into a performance space dedicated to chamber music. Ms. Bloom died at a Manhattan nursing home on Thanksgiving Day, said Mark Peskanov, her hand-picked successor as Bargemusic’s director. She was 92 and suffered from dementia and heart problems, he said.
What began as a weekly chance for conservatory students to play in public has grown into chamber music’s Old Reliable. Bargemusic now has around 220 concerts on its yearly docket, so no matter what the season, there is usually something going on at the barge. Mr. Peskanov plays at many of its concerts, along with major performers well known to classical music audiences like Alisa Weilerstein, Gil Shaham and Jonathan Biss, but also a legion of lesser-known musicians.
Thanks to Carolina Salguero of Portside New York for passing the news along.
Gregory Singer conducts the Manhattan Symphonie at Bargemusic