Thursday, July 25 at 7:00 pm

Experience the magic that happens when Festival Artists and LEAD students join forces from the stage! This special evening features our talented conducting students (coached by guest conductor Miguel Harth Bedoya) leading a side-by-side string orchestra in music by the elegant Edward Elgar and the colorful Gabriela Lena Frank. Paired with collaborative music for LEAD wind players, this evening will fill you with optimism and hope for the future of music!

Wednesday, July 17 at 7:00 pm

This concert combines the power and grandeur of an orchestra concert with the intimacy of a chamber music experience. Capped by Beethoven’s charming and impressive octet for winds, audiences will also get to know the music of two historically-excluded composers: Melanie Bonis, a contemporary of Claude Debussy (who wrote over 300 pieces and attended the ​​Paris Conservatoire at the age of 16); and Carlos Simon, a GRAMMY-nominated composer, curator, activist, and Composer-in-Residence at the Kennedy Center. 

Wednesday, July 10 at 7:00 pm

Love is in the air in this artistically diverse and rich concert! Composer Alyssa Morris pays tribute to her love of the coast of Monterey, Antonín Dvořák dedicated his second string quintet to his beloved homeland of Bohemia, and Mozart – well, he loved his Quintet for Piano and Winds so much so that he told his father it was the best piece he had ever written! (Granted, he had yet to compose Marriage of Figaro or his final symphonies, but we’ll forgive him for his youthful exuberance over this colorful and creative gem!)