The Mendocino Music Festival was established in 1986. It was the founding dream of local musicians Walter Green, Allan Pollack, Susan Waterfall and music lovers to present fine music with a mix of professional and local musicians, and the opportunity for classical music education on the Mendocino Coast. With the cooperation of the community and the Department of Parks, the first festival was presented in a tent on the Mendocino Headlands State Park in July, 1987. The tent seated 400 people and the orchestra consisted of 56 musicians. Four orchestra and four chamber concerts were presented.
In 1989, a fully staged opera was added. In 1992, a Young Musicians Scholarship Program began, a program that continues today with a name change to the Emerging Artists Program. The Piano Series began in 1996 and presents master pianists in an intimate daytime lecture/recital format. The Village Chamber Concerts began in 2005 and feature local musicians in daytime concerts at different venues in Mendocino and Fort Bragg.
In 2008 the Mendocino Music Festival will present fifteen evenings of music including three orchestra concerts, two evenings of opera, two chamber concerts, jazz, folk, world music and Big Band. Three of these concerts will include dance performances.
The main performance tent has more than 800 seats and the orchestra consists of approximately 80 musicians. There will be four Piano Series lecture/recitals, four Village Chamber Concerts, a Children’s Matinee, an Emerging Artists concert and a special jazz/pop concert on the last Saturday of the festival, for a total of 22 concerts between Saturday, July 12 and Saturday, July 26. All orchestra and opera rehearsals are open to the public free of charge.
MENDOCINO MUSIC FESTIVAL 2009 SEASON
Allan Pollack, Artistic Director & Conductor
Saturday, July 11 at 8 PM
Opening Night
THE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
Ginistera: Estancia
Beethoven: Symphony No. 7
Brahms: Violin Concerto
Alexander Markov, violin
Sunday, July 12 at 8 PM
MARIA MULDAUR
Blues, gospel, R & B, rock ‘n roll, jazz, American Roots, sassy & soulful Maria sings it all
Monday, July 13 at 8 PM
ALEXANDER MARKOV
String Fever
Brilliant violinist is a virtuoso classical and rock musician, backed up this evening by a tring quintet, bass and drums
Wednesday, July 15 at 8 PM
(Not Confirmed) SELDOM SCENE
Skilled musicianship, smooth harmonies, eclectic material and an urban approach istinguish this world famous, award winning bluegrass band
Thursday, July 16 at 8 PM
MUSIC of REFUGE & RESISTANCE
Masterpieces from Nazi Prison Camps
Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time & works from Terezin
Walter Green Memorial Concert
Susan Waterfall, piano & narrator
Jeremy Cohen, violin; Burke Schuchmann, cello
Erin Neff, soprano
Friday, July 17 at 8 PM
Opera! Puccini: LA BOHÈME
Young artists struggle with life, love, & heartbreak in this famous love story with sweeping lyricism & stunning orchestration
Saturday, July 18 at 8 PM
BIG BAND
Music of the great bands of the 30s & 40s into the 21st century
Sunday, July 19 at 8 PM
Opera! Puccini: LA BOHÈME
Young artists struggle with life, love & heartbreak in opera’s most famous love story with sweeping lyricism & stunning orchestration
Tuesday, July 21 at 8 PM
(Not Confirmed) Double Bill
IVA BITTOVÁ
Czech avant-garde violinist, singer & composer inventively fuses alternative rock, classical &
Eastern European Music
Wednesday, July 22 at 8 PM
THE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA
Stravinsky: Pulcinella
(complete score with singers)
Falla: El Amor Brujo
with Fanny Ara, Spanish Classical Dance
Thursday, July 23 at 8 PM
FESTIVAL CHAMBER ORCHESTRAS
Les Pfutzenreuter, conductor
Grieg: Holberg Suite
Elgar: Serenade for Strings
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons
Roy Malan, violin
Friday, July 24 at 8 PM
TBA
Saturday, July 25 at 3 PM
JULIAN WATERFALL POLLACK & FRIENDS
Jazz standards and original music that blends jazz, rock & pop genres
Saturday, July 25 at 8 PM
THE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA & CHORUS
Marion James Memorial Concert
Mozart: Concerto for Two Pianos
Carolyn Steinbuck & Susan Waterfall, piano
Mozart: Requiem
PIANO SERIES AT PRESTON HALL at 3 PM
PAUL HERSH
Monday & Tuesday, July 13 & 14
Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier Book Two
JOEL FAN
Monday, July 20
GLORIA CHENG
Friday, July 17
John Adam’s Phyrigian Gates, Lutoslawski
VILLAGE CHAMBER CONCERTS
Mendocino Presbyterian Church Sactuary
Holly Tannen
Satuday, July 18 at 3 PM
Festival Chamber Musicians
Thursday, July 16 at 3 PM
Roy Malan Duo
Wednesday, July 15 at 3 PM
YOUTH CONCERTS at FESTIVAL TENT at 2 PM
Sunday, July 12
CHILDREN’S MATINEE
Sunday, July 19
EMERGING ARTISTS CONCERT
William J. Sydeman
Lecture/Performance
Thursday, July 23 at 3 PM
Preston Hall
PO Box 1808 Mendocino, California 95460
Office: 707-937-2044
Box Office: 707-937-4041
Facsimile: 707-937-1045
Festival Manager: Nancy Harris
music@mendocinomusic.com
Box Office Manager: Brian Eich
boxoffice@mendocinomusic.com