"It was all like a dream, and I didn't want to wake up!*"

The 2011 Carlsbad Music Festival in September was a tremendous success! It began Friday night with the percussion of red fish blue fish at the Carlsbad Train Station and ended on Sunday with a haunting solo viola at the conclusion of the Calder Quartet's world premiere performance of bad black bottom kind, the commissioned string quartet by our Composers Competition winner Jacob Cooper.

In between, we experienced artists creating new worlds of musical possibility by mixing up sounds from European classical, African dance, and American indie music.  We heard new compositions by composers-in-residence Sarah Kirkland Snider, Florent Ghys and Matt McBane and Shara Worden, and heard performances by My Brightest Diamond, Build, Vicky Chow, Burkina Electric and Mando Basso, all while enjoying the beautiful Village of Carlsbad.

In addition to the raves of the Festival-goers, the Fest got great reviews in the press. Mark Swed of the Los Angeles Times said the Fest "is making a significant statement. It reminds me of what the Ojai Festival was before it became famous." James Chute of the San Diego Union Tribune praised Jonathan Moerschel's solo viola performance: "you could go a lifetime and never hear a more expressive, certain account” of the works he played.

*a quote from one of our fans!