(LANESBOROUGH, Mass.) – The summer season opens at Ramblewild with an open house and forest concert featuring jazz-classical pianist Joel A. Martin on Saturday, May 16, 2015. Doors to the aerial adventure park open at 11am; Martin inaugurates the Music in the Trees concert series at 2pm. The park stays open until 6pm.

Joel A. Martin has toured with world-class artists ranging from Kathleen Battle to the Allman Brothers, and will be joined at Ramblewild by young musicians from Mt. Greylock Regional High School. With vast experience writing for and touring with operatic legends Kathleen Battle and Jessye Norman, jazz greats Cab Calloway Orchestra, Brazilian master Paul Lieberman and bassist Rufus Reid, multiple Grammy/Oscar/Tony/Emmy Award-winning composer Alan Menken, the iconic Allman Brothers band, and pop sensation Fergie, Martin uses his own real life experiences to motivate and educate audiences worldwide while making music on the highest levels. His 7th CD, “Jazzical Meets Menken,” was released in 2014.

Most recently Joel, produced an all-star tribute to the legacy of Nelson Mandela at Riverside Church in NYC featuring 300 voice choir, full band, narrators, video montages, and drumming/vocal groups from South Africa, Brazil, and America. Additionally he is working on producing a songbook, CD/DVD, and world tour for the Green World Campaign for the planting of trees around the globe. This project will pair famous singer/songwriters with well-known children’s choruses from around the world.

North America’s premiere tree-to-tree adventure park, Ramblewild covers 10+ acres with over 130 individual elements:  zip lines, balancing logs, rope ladders, cargo nets, suspended bridges, and more. Ramblewild offers an exciting, immersive, and unique nature experience that promotes physical well-being, builds self-confidence and teamwork, and fosters a deeper appreciation of our natural world. Boston Magazine recently called Ramblewild “quite possibly the most fun you’ll have this summer.”

The Ramblewild Aerial Adventure Park will be open from 11am to 6pm for free sampler sessions in the trees. Ages 7 and up. Reservations are strongly encouraged. Please contact rsvp@ramblewild.com for information and reservations.

Ramblewild staff will be on hand to lead guided nature hikes and tours of the Mission:Maple sugar bush.

Ramblewild is part of Feronia Forests, a forward-thinking sustainable forestry organization that is the proud steward of over 1,400 pristine acres of beautiful forestland in Hancock and Lanesborough. Dedicated to finding innovative ways to conserve valuable forests for future generations, Feronia promotes long-term opportunities that keep forests vibrant, healthy, and standing, combining recreation with conservation education.

Working with experienced ecosystem specialists, Feronia Forests, a certified B Corporation, creates smarter ways to keep trees standing, putting conservation theories into action by showing landowners everywhere how a new business model can help them find ways to sustainably manage forestland. For hundreds of years, people have associated profitable forestland with lumber sales, and as long as landowners see lumber as the best way to make a profit, deforestation will continue. Feronia Forests is working to change the industry from within, showing that healthy trees can offer long-term income opportunities rather than the short-term profit that comes from cutting forests down.

Donations will be accepted to support Feronia Forward, a 501c3 non-profit on a mission to teach students about forests and conservation while fighting Nature Deficit Disorder.

Ramblewild  |  110 Brodie Mountain Road  |  Lanesborough, MA