Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival

July-August

This festival in Santa Fe, New Mexico, started in 1973 and has since produced a range of musical programs from the baroque to the modern. The festival began impressively: the acclaimed cellist Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was the first honorary president, and artist Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) produced the first of her now-famous posters and program covers. Fourteen artists presented six Sunday concerts that first year; now dozens of musicians of international acclaim take part. Youth concerts, open rehearsals, in-state tours to Indian reservations and small communities, out-of-state tours, and National Public Radio broadcasts have expanded the audiences.
Santa Fe, with its ancient tri-ethnic culture, has a great roster of historic buildings, and from time to time they serve as concert halls. For instance, chamber music concerts have been presented in the Romanesque Cathedral of St. Francis, built in 1869; the Palace of the Governors, in continuous use since 1610; and the 18th-century Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, where altar bells rather than dimming lights signal the end of intermissions.

CONTACTS:
Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival
P.O. Box 2227
Santa Fe, NM 87504
888-221-9836 or 505-983-2075; fax: 505-986-0251
www.santafechambermusic.org

SOURCES:
GdUSFest-1984, p. 121
MusFestAmer-1990, p. 95