History
The Woodstock Mozart Festival had its origins in the 1987 as part of a summer festival at the Woodstock Opera House entitled "Woodfest". Additional performances were scheduled for the following year, and the 3 week festival has continued to be held annually. Internationally recognized guest artists have been a mainstay of the festival since the beginning.
The festival's original conductor/artistic director was Charles Bornstein. Since 1983, guest conductors have been an integral part of the festival format. Performances have also included a chamber music series and concerts in the Woodstock square gazebo (as part of the City of Woodstock's concert in the parks series).
John von Rhein, classical music critic for the Chicago Tribune, writes "The Woodstock Mozart Festival has long been a means for local classical buffs to catch rising young musicians and established artists who seldom get to crack the sacred precincts of downtown Chicago."
In 1995, the Festival Orchestra was named "Chamber Orchestra of the Year" by the Illinois Council of Orchestras.
Read more about this topic: Woodstock Mozart Festival
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Well, for us, in history where goodness is a rare pearl, he who was good almost takes precedence over he who was great.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“These anyway might think it was important
That human history should not be shortened.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“For a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940)