Fort Bragg on the Mendocino Coast
Event
- Title:
- Mendocino Music Festival
- When:
- Sat Jul 10, 2010 - Sat Jul 24, 2010
- Where:
- Mendocino - Mendocino
- Category:
- Festivities
Description
Mendocino Music Festival was established in 1986 as the dream of local musicians Walter Green, Allan Pollack, Susan Waterfall and other music lovers to present fine music with a mix of professional and local musicians. It was their desire, and still is, to create an opportunity for classical music education on the Mendocino Coast.
- July 1987 – With the cooperation of the community and California State Parks, the first festival was presented in a smaller version of our current tent on the Mendocino Headlands State Park next to the Ford House Museum and Visitor Center. The tent seated 400 people and the orchestra consisted of 56 musicians. Four orchestra and four chamber concerts were presented. The current tent seats more than 840.
- July 1989 – A fully staged opera was added.
- July 1992 – A Young Musicians Scholarship Program began, a program that continues today with a name change to the Emerging Artists Program.
- July 1996 – The Piano Series was added and presents master pianists in an intimate daytime lecture/recital format.
- July 2005 – The Village Chamber Concerts began and feature local musicians in daytime concerts at various venues in Mendocino and Fort Bragg.
Each year we put up a 16,000 square foot tent and build a performance hall literally “from the ground up” overlooking the Pacific Ocean. We established a year-round presence in the town of Mendocino with our office in the Old Bank Building on the corner of Main and Kasten streets. Concerts, dinner parties, and events throughout the year build on that presence.
Our national and international reputation as a respected music festival has helped increase Mendocino’s cultural identity. Mendocino is not only a vacation destination but an arts destination as well. We work to build strong economic ties with the business community and individual donors. We’ve developed a large volunteer network of more than 200 people that help out at the festival and at our year round events.
Mendocino Music Festival is a member of the Arts Council of Mendocino County, the Mendocino Arts Showcase, the Mendocino Coast Chamber of Commerce, and Mendocino Coast Performing Arts Production Alliance where we share storage space, set pieces, props, and costumes with other local performing arts organizations.
Contact Phone: 707-937-4041
Venue
Description
No visitor who sees the village of Mendocino rising out of the mists in the morning can remain immune to her charms for long. This quaint town is unique in all of Northern California, perhaps in all the world. Many compare the charms of Mendocino to a New England sea coast hamlet but few places on earth can boast the rare combination of scenic beauty, artistic flare, exquisite cuisine, world class shopping, and friendly locals found here.