For two weeks of every summer, the Village of Bear Valley–50 miles east of Angels Camp at 7,000′ elevation in the Sierra– becomes like Camelot, a magical, mystical place. This is a place where the music is the difference and the synergy between the people who make the music and the people who love the music. The Festival beckons music lovers of many tastes. Here, they find not only their favorite classical music, Broadway tunes, and opera but also popular music and rock and roll. Now, generations of families have been making music and memories together in this special place.
With a focus on the classical genre, but with a wide variety of other music as well, the Festival presents three weekends and two intervening weeks of performances. From the intimate chamber music to the songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein, to magnificent piano concertos to the familiar and glowing songs of Disney, the Festival presents a full range of offerings whatever one’s taste in music. More than 5,000 people will attend 16 different musical events over the 16 days of the Festival.
This year our focus is on families and creating “memories for a lifetime.” The Festival is convinced that the next generation of live music audiences will come to classical music from the experiences they share with parents, grandparents and friends in live concerts, hearing beautiful and familiar music. With a Opening Night of ABBA music with adbacadabra to the Disney in Concert: Magical Music from the Movies to a final Sunday afternoon rock concert, the Festival will offer nearly half of its events primarily to families.
The Festival is presented in the Village of Bear Valley, founded 45 years ago as a ski village and second home community serving Central California and the Bay Area. Today it boasts 325 homes, 125 condos a small hotel, a youth hostel, a ski resort with more than 17oo acres of skiable terrain.
Audiences are drawn to the Festival, not just for the splendid music, but also the extraordinary surroundings of Bear Valley and its Sierra setting. There are few more dramatic places in California than this Valley, bounded on the North by the Mokelumne Wilderness, dropping a mile from Mokelumne Peak to the river below, and on the South by the lakes and forests extending to the the Dardenelles cinder cones. Relaxing and just unwinding in a nature dominated enviroment is a special experience or attendees will find a wealth of outdoor activity to keep them busy From hiking and mountain biking to sailing and kayaking to river rafting and exploring the caves and mines of the Mother Lode, or a wildflower walk in Bear Valley, the area has become home to audiences that both revel in the music, serenity and fully engage with the outdoors that surround them.
