CrestedButteMusicFestival.com
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Crested Butte Music Festival - Home
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About the Festival
The Crested Butte Music Festival (CBMF) was founded in 1997 by David J. Rothman and Charles Stegeman with the intention of bringing to Crested Butte, and other areas of the Western Slope, a wide variety of music featuring local artists whenever possible. It evolved out of a winter chamber music series that Rothman started in 1995, which in turn was a supplement to the summer Crested Butte Chamber Music Festival led by Claire Jolivet since 1989. In 1999 these two efforts were combined. Thus, the Crested Butte Music Festival now functions as the sole local year-round presenter of a broad array of both music and dance genres. Included are orchestral and chamber music, opera, jazz, bluegrass, ballet and modern dance, and arts education for all ages.
The Festival has always had a special interest in the music and art of our time, seeking to play a vital role in the creative process that generates new musical concepts. Since its founding, more than a dozen new works have had world premiers in Crested Butte. Composers, choreographers and poets have been in residence and featured in Festival programs. The Festival’s heritage of innovation was initiated in 1998 with the world premier of Dana Gioia’s Nosferatu, an operatic rendition of the masterpiece of German Expressionist drama. CBMF’s capability to foster new works of art was markedly enhanced in 2004 by the establishment of the Stanley H. Feldberg New Initiatives Fund. This fund will assure the continuing presence of CBMF in the forefront of innovation.
Musical leadership of the Festival began with the hiring of the first full time professional director in 1998, Paul Chambers. In 2000, Philip Greenberg was hired as the Festival’s first Conductor/Artistic Director while still Conductor and Music Director of the Savannah Symphony. In 2003 the baton was passed to Co-Artistic Directors/CEOs, Debra Ayers and Alexander Scheirle. Currently Mr. Scheirle is serving as Artistic Director and is preparing the 2006 season.
