Festival Orchestra with guest conductor Francesco Lecce-Chong and soloist Julian Rhee. “Igor on My Mind,” Allan Pollack’s fun-loving, energetic and rhythmic piece, impishly steals motifs straight out of Igor Stravinsky’s orchestral music. Then the real Stravinsky will be heard in the Violin Concerto in D, a neoclassical piece in four movements, written in the summer ...
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 4 (7/26) Rehearsal order: Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring Górecki, Ad Matrem Lauridsen, Lux Aeterna
Hailed as “imaginative, skillful creators” by the New York Times, the Calder Quartet captivates audiences with its explorations of a broad repertoire, always striving to fulfill the composer’s vision in their performances. The group’s distinctive artistry is exemplified by the musical curiosity they bring to everything they perform. One of America’s most satisfying—and most enterprising—quartets" ...
American blues harmonica player and bandleader who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal figure in helping to revive the Chicago Blues movement of the 1960s, Musselwhite has often been called a "white bluesman.” He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2010. At the ...
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 4 (7/26) Rehearsal order: Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 4 (7/26) Rehearsal order: Lauridsen, Lux Aeterna Górecki, Ad Matrem
The annual concert by the wonderfully talented young string players from the Festival’s Emerging Artists Program is anticipated by all who love hearing accomplished musicians interpret chamber music classics. CHOOSE SEATS AND BUY
Three-time winners of Scotland’s “Live Act of the Year” award, Skerryvore have evolved from their humble beginnings to become one of their country’s leading Celtic rock bands. With a mix of bagpipes, fiddles, accordions, and whistles, alongside guitar and vocals and underpinned by driving bass, drums and keys, Skerryvore represent the best in contemporary Scottish ...
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 4 (7/26) Rehearsal order: Górecki, Ad Matrem Lauridsen, Lux Aeterna Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring
The final concert will open with Ad Matrem, Henryk Gorecki’s sacred work for soprano, mixed chorus, and orchestra. Based on the text of the 13th century hymn, Stabat Mater Dolorosa, this piece is almost a symphonic poem. Lux Aeterna, by Morten Lauridsen, is a choral work fashioned on texts from several different Latin sources, including ...
Treat yourself to a swirl of sparkle and song as the 26-voice Festival Chorale fills the air with festive cheer in two concerts, December 6 & 7, 3:00 pm, at the Mendocino Presbyterian Church, under the direction of Matthew Evans. From timeless carols to unexpected delights, every note is wrapped in warmth and joy, like ...
Treat yourself to a swirl of sparkle and song as the 26-voice Festival Chorale fills the air with festive cheer in two concerts, December 6 & 7, 3:00 pm, at the Mendocino Presbyterian Church, under the direction of Matthew Evans. From timeless carols to unexpected delights, every note is wrapped in warmth and joy, like ...
Sunday, December 14, 2025, 7:00 PM
Abalone Room, Little River Inn
Kenny Washington with Pianist John R. Burr
Wines and treats (savories and sweets)
Celebrate Kurt Weill with a screening of Susan Waterfall's 2021 film, The Life and Music of Kurt Weill, followed by a live performance by mezzo-soprano Silvie Jensen with pianist Sarah Cahill. We'll ...
Celebrate the richness and resonance of American song in this uplifting spring concert featuring the 24-voice Mendocino Music Festival Chorale. In two performances, May 2 and 3, An Afternoon of ...
Celebrate the richness and resonance of American song in this uplifting spring concert featuring the 24-voice Mendocino Music Festival Chorale. In two performances, May 2 and 3, An Afternoon of ...
The Mendocino Music Festival is, first and foremost, a community of music lovers who collaborate to produce the Festival, create the music, and enjoy the performances. Volunteers are at the ...
Imagine yourself... ...in a stunning seaside setting, with a small gathering of fellow opera lovers, grazing on delicacies both savory and sweet, sipping fine wines and other libations, enhanced by ...
Susan Waterfall’s biographical film on Ludwig van Beethoven provides the perfect prologue to this summer's programming. The riveting story of western classical music's greatest composer, and the turbulent period of history he inhabited, includes excerpts from 25 of his works, along with compelling contemporaneous art and images.
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 1 (7/12): Bernstein Candide overture, Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3, Beethoven Symphony No. 7.
Paris is closer than you think! For one enchanting evening, the Mendocino coast transforms into a celebration of French flavor and joie de vivre. It's An Evening in Paris, the ...
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 1 (7/12): Bernstein Candide overture, Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3, Beethoven Symphony No. 7.
When virtuoso Irish playing jumps the pond running naked through the wide open fields of bluegrass/Americana, JigJam is born. Bluegrass and American Folk music originated from the group’s home, and ...
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 1 (7/12): Bernstein Candide overture, Prokofiev Piano Concerto No. 3, Beethoven Symphony No. 7.
To kick off the Festival's 40th season's orchestral offerings, Allan Pollack will lead the musicians in Leonard Bernstein’s sprightly Candide overture. The energy will continue to flow when soloist Stephen ...
Exploring a wide range of genres, Bay Area vocal band Business Casual is celebrated for their smart and surprising covers of popular songs. What would Mozart sound like as performed ...
With her dynamic guitar playing, formidable songwriting and pure vocals, Carolyn Wonderland hits the stage with an unmatched presence, mixing the depths of the Texas blues tradition with the wit ...
Beethoven's charming, enigmatic, and deeply felt Sonata No. 7 in D Major, Opus 10 No. 3 will be played by Susan Waterfall. The brooding and complex String Trio in C ...
For Brittany Davis, sound is three-dimensional. It is size, shape, and color. It is language. Blind since birth, Davis discovered a world of vivid, vibrant color in music. A childhood ...
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 2 (7/17): Puccini la bohème.
Cuban-American artist and musican John Fonseca Fatum is the solo creator of Jacksonport, named for the small Wisconsin town where he spent summers growing up. Now a Los Angeles-based songwriter, ...
Formed in New York City in 1995, Solas quickly rose to prominence as a revolutionary force in Irish-American music, and they have been lighting up stages across the globe ever ...
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 2 (7/17): Puccini la bohème.
Pianist Anthony Ratinov’s impressive talents will be on display when he performs selections from Debussy’s Douze Études, both Book I and Book II. The compositions address aspects of pianistic technique ...
Virginia-based folk-rock band The Steel Wheels have spent almost 20 years writing, recording, and touring, all the while constantly honing their evolving brand of American roots music. Additionally, they are ...
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 2 (7/17): Puccini la bohème.
Zoe Ellis's dramatic and colorful voice is known to music fans in the Bay Area and beyond. Described by reviewers as "a resourceful and inventive vocalist," she sang for many ...
Puccini’s famous opera is the story of love, friendship, poverty, and tragic death. Set in Bohemian Paris of the 1830s, it tells of four friends, all struggling artists of one ...
Rehearsing Festival Big Band (7/18).
This dynamic collaboration between guitarist William Coulter and violinist Edwin Huizinga explores the world’s musical landscape. Their performances blend iconic favorites with classic ballads, mixing North American folk and Celtic ...
Maiya Sykes, a classically trained vocalist and producer, wowed the audience at last year’s Festival Big Band concert. A graduate of Yale University, she continued her musical education at The ...
“Few string quartets can command the stage like the Calder Quartet,” according to The Washington Post. The extraordinary ensemble is just as renowned for its expert, empathetic readings of core ...
Prepare for an exciting evening of piano and keyboard work by perennial favorite, Julian Pollack (AKA J3PO). The San Francisco Chronicle calls him a “ferociously assured and creatively dazzling pianist, ...
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 3 (7/22): Shuying Li Purple Mountains overture, Barber Violin Concerto, Beethoven Symphony No. 6 (the "Pastoral Symphony").
The energetic duo of Sarah Cahill and Regina Myers will excite you with their interpretations of a wide range of contemporary two-piano music. The two San Francisco-based pianists have collaborated ...
Enjoy a delightful evening of gourmet food and music at one of the area’s leading restaurants, with premium wines generously supplied by Husch Vineyards. Located seven miles south of Mendocino on the Pacific Coast Highway (CA-1) in Albion, California, its bluff-top location on the Albion headlands allows panoramic views of the Pacific and breathtaking sunsets.
For the past 50 years, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet has been making some of the most potent and popular Cajun music on the planet. Born out of the rich Acadian ...
Rehearsing Festival Orchestra 3 (7/22): Shuying Li Purple Mountains overture, Barber Violin Concerto, Beethoven Symphony No. 6 (the "Pastoral Symphony").
In what has become something of a Festival tradition, Julian Pollack will join Susan Waterfall on one piano for the Sonata for Piano 4 Hands in D Major, Op. 6, ...
Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter, pianist, and national radio host Laila Biali has headlined festivals and venues on five continents. Winner of a Juno award, and a 2026 Grammy nominee (alongside Lady ...