DANIEL PEARL BERKSHIRE SCHOLARSHIP She found her place in a world of music

By Jane KaufMan The Berkshire Eagle

As a child with a July birthday, Kathryn Andersen Day’s presents were tickets to Tanglewood to see violin soloists.

Among them were Itzhak Perlman, Midori and Joshua Bell. She herself took up the instrument in the third grade at Allendale Elementary School. Her first teacher was Alla Zernitskaya.

By the time she was a senior at Pittsfield High School in 2003, she knew she wanted to pursue a life in music but wasn’t exactly sure of how it would take shape.

Partly inspired by its generous award, she applied for the Daniel Pearl Berkshire Scholarship.

“I don’t think I could have predicted all of the incredible opportunities and memories that would come from the education that I received as made possible by the Daniel Pearl Scholarship,” Day said. It allowed her to

“think bigger, beyond our wonderful life in Pittsfield, to what else was possible.”

Pearl was a reporter for The Transcript and The Berkshire Eagle. He went on to The Wall Street Journal. In 2002, as chief of its South Asia bureau in Bombay, while working on a story about terrorism, he was kidnapped and killed in Pakistan. The scholarship was established the following year, and Day was its first recipient.

In addition to being a journalist, Pearl was trained as a classical violin- ist. He played guitar and mandolin. While living in the Berkshires, he performed in a Bluegrass band.

Day was inspired by Pearl’s passion for his work.

“I knew I wanted to find something that made me excited to work and live every day,” she said.

Today, at 38, Day is The Juilliard School’s associate director of K-12 music programs. With a team, she writes and prepares curriculum, traveling globally to work with music teachers and provide professional de-

In her middle school years, Day played with the Pittsfield High School Chamber Orchestra, a commitment that forced her to rehearse prior to starting her own school day.

And in high school, she was named concertmaster of the Empire State Youth Orchestra in Albany, which she took on with some trepidation, “wondering whether you can lead the orchestra the way you think you should and the way you hope you can.” She grew to love the role.

After receiving her bachelor’s degree in music at Harvard College and her master’s in music at The Juilliard School, Day returned to the Berkshires as a Tanglewood Music Fellow for three summers. Performing on those stages, she said, “where I’d grown up envying those who were there, was just an incredible feeling.”

Daytime at Tanglewood was also inspiring: walking across campus, talking and rehearsing with musicians from the Boston Symphony Orchestra, faculty and other fellows.

“I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do,” she said. Her visit included a tour of what she called “the last safety net for children and families of Phnom Penh, the least fortunate of the least fortunate.”

The charity was founded on an old garbage dump, Day said, and “many of these children and families were first found and identified as being in need because they were scavenging.” in Thailand associated with Juilliard, and Day was asked to liaise that engagement.

She played violin while the children and families had their meal of rice and remembers the kindness among teenagers there as well. Speaking about the experience, Day’s voice catches with emotion.

“The trust and love that these children had for me as a stranger just blew me away,” she said.

That visit imparted a certain perspective on her life.

“And he took a liking as did I,” Day said. “I found myself dressing up on the days when I would meet with him. And about a year after we first met, he asked me out. A year and a half after that we were engaged.” velopment.

On Oct. 26, 2019, Liam Day and Kathryn Andersen married at Mass MoCA with his father officiating. A New York band played.

Now residents of New York City, they are the parents of Hudson, a 3-year-old, whom they bring to Tanglewood, and they’re expecting a second boy in May.

Today, as a teacher, Day has certain goals in mind.

In her work, she frequently draws upon her experience in the Berkshires, starting with Zernitskaya, who imparted a poise and ease in her technique that has allowed her to pursue her passion for the instrument without injury.

“I just was so motivated to keep learning and learning more,” she said.

In 2016, Day was in Phnom Penh, Cambodia visiting a Juilliard collaborating school. While there, she was invited to visit the Cambodian Children’s Fund.

“I can’t tell you how often I think about that experience, and how fortunate I feel for the life I have and what I’m able to do, mostly through my music, but through all the opportunities I’ve had,” she said. “And I think it really goes back to experiences growing up with the education I’ve had and the work I’ve been able to do through music.”

In 2017, Day met a trumpeter living in Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia. He was invited to play a concert at a school

“I’m always trying in my work to infuse this curiosity and creativity in students to know more, and to express themselves to their full capacity through music,” Day said.

“And I think it’s certainly something that started with Alla,” she said, referring to her first teacher. “But it’s something that teachers and my experience has continued to develop in me as a musician.”

“If I can help someone plant that seed for younger students who maybe otherwise wouldn’t have access to it, then I’ve been successful in my work.”

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