Baroque Music Festival Corona Del Mar

The mission of the Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar, is to present the beauty and range of Baroque-era music through professional performances with educational aspects at affordable prices.

A yearly Festival of five professional concerts over eight days every June, curated and directed by esteemed Baroque violinist Elizabeth Blumenstock, the Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar, has welcomed members of the community from all over Southern California and beyond to its events every year since its first Festival season in 1981. Performances are given by period instrument specialists and singers knowledgeable about historic styles, in churches and botanic gardens in pretty Corona del Mar and Newport Beach on the California riviera.

Large-scale works, with and without singers, are offered on the opening and closing Sunday concerts, while three mid-week programs give the opportunity to enjoy smaller scale vocal and chamber performances, all given by the finest musicians in the historically informed Baroque field.

This small, leanly run, organization is proud to be a community festival and welcomes you to its community. Events offer the chance to socialize with the musicians over “wine and waters” after concerts. The Festival takes pride in its lovely and varied venues, which add to the summer-festival-going experience and include beautiful Sherman Gardens in the heart of Corona del Mar. Past programs may be found at https://bmf-cdm.org/past-programs/ and the early years history of the Festival, under founder Artistic Director Dr. Burton Karson from 1981 until his retirement in 2010, is at https://bmf-cdm.org/festival-history/

In 2024 the Festival set up a separate fund to support education programs with the help of grants, individual and planned giving, and school/college partnerships. The "Burton Karson Music Education Fund," was created thanks to an anonymous gift in honor of Dr. Burton Karson, who subsequently passed, aged 90, in March 2025. Matching donations were solicited at the Festival Finale subscribers' dinner in June 2024, and 14 founding donors established for the fund by January 2025. The Burton Karson Music Education Program will officially launch in October 2025 and aims to educate and inspire today's youth to foster musicians and music lovers in Orange County. A children's concert at St Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, Corona del Mar, the Festival's smaller concert venue "home" since `1981, will kick off the program. The event is designed for children of all ages up to 18, and their immediate family members, and will be held in an informal setting in Michael's Room, not in the church sanctuary. Under the expert pedagogical and artistic leadership of Education Program Director Dr. Lindsey Strand-Polyak, our vision for the Burton Karson Music Education Program is to grow this initiative through workshops and residencies in local classrooms from pre-elementary through college, to truly nurture a love for this period of music, often called the "foundation of Western Music." Strand-Polyak and her carefully selected teaching artists will guide students in how to listen to and appreciate this engaging music (and play it!), and help students learn how to come to their own understanding of how and why composers and musicians existed in different places in Europe in that period (roughly 1600-1750) and worked as they did, through down-to-earth storytelling of the socio-historic context. Dr. Strand-Polyak is particularly interested in working with students who do not have a string-instrument program at their school, have just started a string program, or only have a very limited string-program, through Mariachi or similar ensemble, to help expand curriculum and enhance learning outcomes generally.

At the 2024 Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar, “All the Pleasures: The Italian Influence in London and Beyond” two of the five concerts sold out—both at Sherman Library & Gardens—and the organization saw its third highest ticket sales overall (after the highest in 2019, and second highest in 2023—both Bach Festival years.) The 44th Festival in June 2024 also saw a large increase in new ticket buyers from 33% in 2023 to 41% in 2024.

Additionally, 2024 saw the launch of the above-mentioned Burton Karson Music Education Fund in honor of its founder, Dr. Burton Karson, established to partially fund music education programs (alongside grants and educational partnerships) to inspire future musicians and music lovers of pre-elementary through college age; and to help build younger and future audiences for the annual Festival, for Baroque music (and classical music more generally) in Orange County, and across future generations.

The organization’s main goals for the annual June Festival and the new Burton Karson Education Program are:

a) To return to the 2019 audience level of selling out performances at the largest Festival venue of St. Mark Presbyterian Newport Beach which seats 325. For the 2025 Festival this venue will host the opening concert of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and closing concert of Vivaldi’s Gloria; 2026 Festival repertoire is to be announced, but the opening concert will feature string-focused orchestral works and concertos, and the Finale will present vocal work(s) with soloists and chorus;

b) To increase the retention rate of first-time-returning ticket buyers from the 2024 Festival’s 12% return rate to 25% or more, through strategically targeted communications; and to break even on the June Festival each year by securing sufficient (increased) annual individual gifts, grants and matching funds, Festival subscriptions, and ticket sales;

c) Outwith the June Festival series, the aim is to firmly establish the Burton Karson Music Education Fund in the geographical area’s music education and broader classical music scene, across a range of socio-economic groups, by building relationships with public school music faculty in several districts, Saturday music schools, community colleges, local universities, partnering venues and community organizations, and directly with families through existing and new local networks.

The organization's top five needs are:

1) Board members: Younger, well-connected, financially secure and more "time rich" board members; including identifying a new Board President;

2) Individual donors: Annually-renewing donors or sponsoring businesses to help fund the Festival each year (each in $10,000-$15,000 range) in addition to our growing support pool in the $50-$5,000 range (some returning donors are starting to increase their annual amount, given rising costs, and we continue to refine and roll out this messaging for those who are able to do so), matching funds, and grant support; 

3) Grant support for education & main annual program: New foundation-based support and other new grant support in the $5,000-$10,000 range per season for the emerging Baroque music education program (during the school year) and to help fund educational aspects and other rapidly-increasing program costs of the June Festival each year; 

4) Growth & sustainability: Programming/musicians/music librarian/Festival administration intern—increase needed in funding by $15,000-$20,000 annually to cover development in these areas and thus offer more flexibility in programming, allowing leadership to plan more than one year ahead. Baroque music takes many different performers to build compelling and varied programs, especially over a number of years of an annual cycle. Often, and increasingly so with rising living costs in Southern California, specialist instrumentalists do not live in the area and have to be flown in and housed. In 2025 the estimated cost of travel and expenses alone for the Festival's musicians is 13% of direct concert costs; and the cost of musicians' rehearsal and performance fees is 54% of direct costs. Plus, since the Festival has a Collective Bargaining Agreement with AFM Local 7 (Orange County) its musicians' fees increase annually, making it challenging to do works that require larger forces and/or more ambitious programs (or pieces our key supporters are asking us to feature!) that may require more rehearsal time each year, even as the quality and professionalism of the ensembles solidifies, and new, internationally-recognized soloists are keen to perform with us;

5) Special Festivals: As an extension of the above, 2027 is our Artistic Director's final "Bach-Fest" before retiring, and for her final Festival overall (year tbd) she will also want to "go large." As part of these Festivals, we'd additionally like to have built a rigorous profile with our education program in the immediate area to be able to offer such immersive experiences to young musicians as "side-by-side" rehearsals and performances where talented young players and singers from the immediate geographical area perform and learn alongside our specialist professionals.

Concerts, and education activities planned to date, take place in the City of Newport Beach. While Festival attendees generally skew to local- and nearby- area residents in the 56-65+ age range, there is representation of other groups, including families and local students. All concert venues are step-free and therefore accessible by all; wheelchairs and walkers are easily accommodated.

Approximately 25% of our mailing list of now nearly 2,500 resides in the 92625 or 92657-92663 zip codes. These local supporters represented 28% of Festival attendees in 2024, a small increase from 27% in 2023. Overall, attendees' residential areas include: Newport Beach including Corona del Mar, Balboa Island, Newport Coast; Irvine; Costa Mesa; Laguna Beach; Laguna Niguel; Laguna Hills; Mission Viejo; Orange; Santa Ana; Huntington Beach; Tustin; plus regular audience members come from further afield: greater Los Angeles, Long Beach; Claremont; Pomona; Pasadena; San Diego County; San Clemente; San Juan Capistrano; Dana Point, Riverside, Corona, etc.

Zip codes of ticket buyers/attendees in 2024 were as follows:
90001, 90015, 90024, 90028, 90034, 90048, 90061, 90265, 90266, 90275, 90503, 90505, 90620, 90630, 90631, 90720, 90732, 90740, 90802, 90803, 90807, 90808, 90814, 91001, 91016, 91030, 91101, 91107, 91301, 91302, 91304, 91436, 91711, 91730, 91740, 91741, 91767, 92025, 92054, 92078, 92203, 92210, 92240, 92506,, 92549, 92602, 92603, 92604, 92606, 92607, 92612, 92614, 92615, 92617, 92617, 92620, 92625, 92626, 92627, 92629, 92630, 92637, 92646, 92647, 92648, 92649, 92651, 92653, 92654, 92656, 92657, 92658, 92659, 92660, 92661, 92662, 92663, 92672, 92673, 92675, 92676, 92677, 92688, 92690, 92691, 92692, 92694, 92704, 92705, 92707, 92708, 92780, 92781, 92807, 92821, 92841, 92866, 92867, 92869, 92879, 92882, 92886, and 93514.

There is a tremendous amount of commitment among the Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar's leadership, musicians, staff (Artistic Director Elizabeth Blumenstock, myself as part-time Executive Director, plus seasonal managers) and volunteers, to deliver a high quality, excellently presented and curated, relevant, and pleasurable musical and educational experience at its concerts every season. This ownership extends to Festival Subscribers, regular attendees, and donors too—many who have supported the organization for decades and have folded in friends over the years as well, to build an invested community and help gradually renew our audiences.

Pride in continuing to be Newport Beach's only solely-classical-music-performing resident professional presenter, and our partnerships with Sherman Library & Gardens (since the first Festival in 1981), St Michael and All Angels Episcopal Corona del Mar (ditto, since 1981), and St Mark Presbyterian Newport Beach, is also important to us. While visiting groups will perform beautiful “hits” from this era of music in Orange County, either in partnership with Pacific Chorale for their annual Baroque programs, at Segerstrom Hall, or in occasional pop-up concerts by LA-based groups, there is something special about a boutique-sized (and run) summer music festival in the heart of the community that's centered around such joyful, uplifting music, which is just as much a fun social history lesson when Elizabeth Blumenstock gets speaking from the Festival stage, or Lindsey Strand-Polyak gets storytelling at an educational event, as it is a concert!

With music education in grade schools centered around fundamentals of rhythm and pitch, recorders, ukuleles/guitars, concert and marching band, and show choir—all important to the musical education tapestry—the Baroque Music Festival and Burton Karson Music Education Program can supplement and reinforce learning outcomes of string instrument programs in the area and across the county, and introduce important, and revelatory, string instrument and harmony concepts (right from the birth of the violin family and its inspirational composers: Corelli, Handel, Vivaldi and Bach included) to those institutions who do not have the capacity for an ongoing curriculum, while also bringing music-perspective history and "research skills" into the picture, for all ages—right through to seniors 65+ at our main stage Festival concerts.

The timing of the annual June Festival in early summer after the end of the school year for those ages 12-29 in full time education who are motivated to attend our dress rehearsals (free) and concerts ($10 student rush tickets), is a fantastic "deal" for any young person fascinated by this often virtuosic music. We want to spread the news of these opportunities far and wide to youth community members from all backgrounds, but we need funds and resources to do so.

Ultimately, questioning the "why" about what we are all hearing when we listen to live Baroque music in its many guises as well as appreciating how we all, universally, react to it emotionally—so all parts of our brains and bodies are engaged in activity listening—is for me an essential starting point for the preservation and growth of the performing arts classical music scene at all levels, and what makes this type of nonprofit work so rewarding.

The Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar, was founded by Dr. Burton Karson (1934-2025). I was an engineering student at Cal State Fullerton, where Dr. Karson taught, and I had the good fortune to take his music appreciation class. I learned so much from Dr. Karson that I signed up for one of his upper-division courses. Even though I had zero musical proficiency, Dr. Karson saw in me an eagerness to learn and an ability to identify works once I had heard them a couple of times.

After studying with Dr. Karson, I became a Classical Product Manager for the Wherehouse Record Store in South Coast Plaza until I finished my engineering degree. I became a regular attendee of the Baroque Music Festival. My wife and I were asked to join the Board of Directors, but professional and family obligations didn’t allow us to commit the time and energy required for the position, though we did join the Festival’s Advisory Board and contributed when we could.

After I had retired, I was asked to become the Board President in 2020, at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Festival survived the shutdown by providing original online content to our audience, keeping open lines of communication with our subscribers and donors, and, once it was allowed, holding a socially-distanced, semi-outside concert for everyone who donated to the Festival throughout the Pandemic to allow us to pay our musicians for the work they lost with the live Festival being cancelled in 2020 and 2021. Since COVID, our attendance and subscription numbers are back to pre-pandemic levels.

With only one part-time employee, the Festival didn’t need to lay anyone off, and thanks to generous donations from our supporters, taking advantage of COVID-relief grant opportunities, and sound fiscal management by the board, the Festival did not suffer long-term financial problems.

A problem the Board President and the Executive Director have to deal with is keeping an active and engaged Board of Directors. Many of our board members have served for over a decade, and while the Festival benefits from the continuity on the board, the Festival needs to bring in new energy and fresh ideas.