Spotlight on Anne Legêne, Adjunct Faculty in the Arts and Community Music Program

Eric Kramer with Joshua Enelamah

Adjunct Faculty in the Arts and Community Music Program Anne Legêne took part in two new art shows in the Berkshire area, and is currently participating in a slew of concerts around the state of Massachusetts.

Legêne is a founding member of Living the Change Berkshires, a group supporting local climate change and climate justice activists, and recently organized and curated a large art show titled “How Shall We Live?” on climate change for artists of high school age. Over 200 students from eight Berkshire high schools submitted work, and more than 100 pieces made it into the show, which is taking place at the Stationery Factory in Dalton, MA.

“As a musician I created and participated in a program for Long & Away, a consort of viols called "Song of Time" which was performed twice, in Stockbridge MA and in Watertown MA,” said Legêne. “I recently performed in a South Berkshire Concert, playing music by local composers Alice Spatz and Larry Wallach. I also recently performed with Crescendo in a concert of music by Giacomo Carissimi.”

Legêne has trained in a number of instruments and styles, including Baroque cello and viola da gamba. “Songs of Time'' was performed in November 2023 alongside fellow Long and Away founding member Karen Burciaga on treble and tenor viol, and James Perretta on tenor and bass viol, and was pitched as ‘700 years of delight for the muses’.

Legêne is currently rehearsing for a trio of concerts with the Arcadia Vols at Carleton-Willard Village in Bedford, MA. Born in the Netherlands to a family of musicians, she performs chamber music regularly on cello and viola da gamba with her husband, pianist and harpsichordist Larry Wallach, her sister, recorder virtuoso Eva Legêne, and harpsichordist Mariken Palmboom. She has been teaching at Simon’s Rock for 30 years.