Festival History

Winner of the national ASCAP Award for Adventuresome Programming of Contemporary Music every year since the award's inception sixteen years ago in 1982, Cabrillo Music Festival (CMF) is the longest running, continuous "new music" Festival in the United States. CMF focuses on the work of contemporary American composers writing for orchestra. "One of the pleasures of the Cabrillo Festival is its ability to infuse recent music with both the excitement of discovery and assured presence of repertory pieces," writes Joshua Kosman in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Founded by composer Lou Harrison and others in 1963, the purpose of Cabrillo Music Festival is to assist in the creation and presentation of new work written for orchestra. Each year, composers participate in the preparation, performance, discussion, and promotion of their work. Past participating composers have included John Adams, John Cage, Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, Philip Glass, Joan Tower, Terry Riley, Libby Larsen, Christopher Rouse, Joseph Schwantner, Virgil Thompson, Keith Jarrett, Tania Leon, Pauline Oliveros, Arvo Pärt, Carlos Chavez, William Bolcom, and many, many others.

An innovative showcase for some of the world's most celebrated artists, the Festival has earned praise for its innovative programming of contemporary music. With its focus squarely on compositions so new that their ink is barely dry, Cabrillo Music Festival regularly introduces new works. Since 1963, the Festival has given audiences more than 65 world premieres, as well as numerous U.S. and regional debuts. But Cabrillo is more than just performances. To experience the entire Festival is to truly live for two intense and incomparable weeks in the world of contemporary art and artists. CMF is best loved for its open rehearsals, special preview programs, educational and personal growth opportunities, and for the way it makes contemporary "classical" music accessible and fun. In 1991, Time Magazine listed Cabrillo as one of the best, the most unusual, and the most fun summertime festivals anywhere in America.

CMF has now entered its fourth decade with new leadership. Appointed in 1992, Music Director Marin Alsop joins a long succession of directors dedicated to contemporary symphonic music. These have included Dennis Russell Davies for seventeen years, Carlos Chavez in the early years, and John Adams as an interim director in 1990. In the words of John Adams, "The Cabrillo Festival is a one-of-a-kind festival without comparison anywhere in the United States. While most summer music festivals have become revenue-conscious pops series, Cabrillo has maintained an uncompromised and prestigious reputation for innovative programming and the highest standard of musical performances." The Wall Street Journal calls it "two of the most thoughtful and original summer musical weekends anywhere in America."

At the center of the Festival's diverse programming are five orchestral programs of contemporary music rehearsed and performed the first two weeks in August each year. Unlike other prestigious festivals, Cabrillo is not an adjunct to another symphony orchestra. The 68-member Cabrillo Festival Orchestra comes from all points in California and beyond, its members often foregoing other engagements in favor of the stimulation and challenge of the Cabrillo programs. At its core, Cabrillo is a composers' festival. Visiting composers can be seen everywhere during the Festival. They participate in open rehearsals daily and in "lunch with the composers" seminars. They make introductions to their works at performances, participate in post performance audience "talk backs," and are promoted in radio interview. They can be seen at receptions, during the Church Street Festival, at the Free Family Concerts, at Music at the Mission, and in numerous informal social settings.