Baroque Music Festival, Corona Del Mar
PROGRAMS
Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar (annual Summer Festival)
The Festival comprises five concerts over eight days, Sunday to Sunday, typically in the final full week of June, annually. Funding is sought on an annual cycle. The total cost of each yearly Festival is ~$200,000, adjusted in future years for inflation, for direct and indirect costs. Of this ~$110,000 is direct costs, and $90,000 is administration; Festival marketing, advertising, design and print; and fundraising. Funding would help cover increasing costs of hiring on average 35 professional Baroque specialist musicians each year on the organization's Collective Bargaining Agreement with the American Federation of Musicians (Local 7, Orange County); and to continue and expand student and family activities in Festival week, from attending open rehearsals in child-friendly surroundings to building and promoting a side-by-side rehearsal and/or performance program for aspiring young SoCal-based Baroque musicians for select future concerts. ==46th Festival Season, June 21-28, 2026—Bright Cecilia: The Power of Harmony== Parisian Pleasures (soloist Elizabeth Blumenstock with the Festival Orchestra); Leclair A-Minor Violin Concerto, Rebel ballet suite "Les Elemens"; Marais and Rameau ballet suites; Bach violin and harpischord sonatas (Blumenstock, Matthew Dirst); Italian concertos in Sherman Gardens (Judith Linsenberg, recorder, and strings); Spanish 18th-century guitar and string quintets by Boccherini and solo guitar music (on period instruments, in socio-historic context) at St. Mark Newport Beach; Handel's Ode for St. Cecilia's Day with international soloists Hannah De Priest, soprano, and Nicholas Phan, tenor, and 8-voice chorus and full orchestra. Full concert schedule at: https://bmf-cdm.org/2026-programs/ ==47th Festival Season, June 22-27, 2027—provisional theme: Tales of Enchantment== Opening concert of mainly string-based orchestral works and concertos; Monday recital; Wednesday and Friday string-based chamber music at Sherman Gardens/Witte Hall (tbd); Vocal/Opera/Choral finale with one/two-to-a-part chorus and local and international soloists. ==48th Festival Season, June 18-25, 2028—Bach-Fest== Elizabeth Blumenstock's final Bach series before her future retirement in 2029 or 2030. Focus is Bach's late masterpiece, his large scale Mass in B-Minor. Opening concert of Bach and others' orchestral works and concertos; Monday recital - potentially SAKURA cello quintet (5 cellists in Bach and other arrangements); Wednesday and Friday string- and wind-based chamber music by Bach, Bach's sons and others at Sherman Gardens or new Witte Hall, Newport Beach Public Library, plus possibly Bach secular chamber cantata(s); Vocal/Choral Finale: Bach's Mass in B Minor. ==49th Festival Season, June 2029—series details to be announced ==50th Festival Season, June 2030—anniversary series details to be announced *programs subject to change*
Increased funding for the Festival each year allows us to hire the "brightest lights" among emerging and established Baroque soloists and chamber musicians on the national (and international) early music scene, putting Orange County on the map on an ongoing basis for this well-regarded, enriching, and much-loved sub-category of classical music within the performing arts. It also ensures the Festival survives for future generations to enjoy and be educated from, and for that to happen education work and community building within the framework of the annual season is also desirable if funding can expand to accommodate it in a significant way.
Burton Karson Music Education Program (launched October 2025)
Created to inspire future musicians and music lovers through youth music education with: storytelling "performance practice" concerts for under 18s and their families to get comfortable around smaller-scale live classical music outside a school band concert setting; in-class workshops and mini residencies; presentations and more, the Burton Karson Music Education Program and Fund honors the Festival's founding artistic director Dr. Burton Karson (1934-2025) who was a Professor of Music at Cal State Fullerton for many decades and led the Baroque Music Festival (without salary) from its first series in 1981 until his retirement in 2010. This newly launched endeavor is an ongoing educational outreach program separately funded from the annual Festival budget by the Burton Karson Music Education Fund alongside project-based grants and educational partnerships (e.g. school Booster clubs, college music department visiting professor budgets, etc.). The Education Program Director is Dr. Lindsey Strand-Polyak, a much-respected music educator and Baroque violinist and violist. Learn about Lindsey and the program here: https://bmf-cdm.org/education-fund-program/ Below is the average budget for a single, standalone education concert, designed to introduce Baroque stringed instruments in a chamber ensemble format to kids from all backgrounds from Newport Beach, Costa Mesa, Irvine and neighboring cities in a performance "practice" setting, where (adults and kids) devices are switched off and away, but the complete silence of a concert hall setting is not required. "Coloring with Corelli" sheets and crayons are provided for younger kids, and more complex coloring sheets and pencils (18th-century etchings!) for teens and adults, to keep calmly busy while listening to the instruments and storytelling; all children sit up close to the performers—there is no separating high stage as in a school assembly hall—they could almost reach out and touch the instruments. After the 30-40-minute presentation, which is tailored to specific age-groups depending on the concert and youth participants, there is a facilitated Q&A, instrument petting zoo (with baroque bows to hold), and snacks and mingling with the musicians, students, educators, and parents and guardians (as applicable.) The first "performance practice" concert was scheduled for October 12, 2025, at the Festival's venue home since 1981, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, Corona del Mar, in the informal space of Michael's Room. There is a repeat performance on June 6, 2026, at Mission Valley Public Library in collaboration with San Diego Early Music Society's Education and Outreach Program. Further projects scheduled or pending: Santiago Canyon Community College (Orange): outreach concert on campus May 8 - baroque violins, baroque oboe, baroque cello and viola da gamba, theorbo; Santiago Canyon Community College: 2-day residency October 14-16, 2026 "Coloring with Corelli" at Sherman Library & Gardens - co-promotion, October 2026
The purpose of the Burton Music Education Program is two-fold: first, to build a greater understanding and curiosity among students to question the "why" behind how a piece of music sounds or comes to be performed, supporting and expanding their learning outcomes (across all subject areas, not just music), strengthening their research skills and willingness to explore and question, as well as bringing depth of understanding to their own musical performances. Second, to increase the diversity and expand the age of our June Festival audience, which is well-represented in the 55+ and especially 65+ range, less so in the lower age brackets, despite accessible programming and pricing.
The Festival's long running "Students Go for Baroque" program continues with student rush concert tickets currently $10 for ages 12-29 in fulltime education. NMUSD (Newport Beach school district) accompanying parents or guardians (one per child) also qualify for the $10 price with proof of their child's enrollment, thanks to a grant from the City of Newport Beach (current Spring 2026) and for 2026 and 2027 Santiago Canyon Community College students' families also qualify in connection with the BKMEP projects in this period. Dress rehearsals on Saturday afternoons have been open free of charge to students aged 12-29 with pre-registration since 2022, and they have the opportunity to sit up close to the musicians to hear rehearsal details, and can talk to the musicians at break.
We hope to expand this program to allow younger families similar opportunities, perhaps at Sherman Library & Gardens where there is space to move around freely outside. The main challenge to the existing "Go for Baroque" program and its expansion is the time of year: schools finish late May or early June, and many families are travelling, or students are attending summer camps, in late June. We hope that over time, school- and other campus-based activities through the Burton Karson Music Education Program during the regular school year will offer a bridge to bring young people and their families in to the main Festival concerts. We also continue to offer a Festival internship to a young aspiring arts administrator based in Orange County.
These future programs need funds for marketing hours, educator contact, program research and development, as well as running the projects themselves, combined with support from the Burton Karson Music Education Fund.
CONTACT
Baroque Music Festival, Corona Del Mar
P.O. Box 838
Corona del Mar, California 92625-0838
Zen Edwards, Executive Director
baroquemusicfestivalcdm@gmail.com
Phone: 949 760 7887