Summer Festival 2024
Tickets & Events Below
Alaska Airlines' Autumn Classics Week 1
Hailed by The New York Times at its Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor,” the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet was founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization in 2010. The ensemble (Karla Donehew Perez, violin; Abi Fayette, violin; Paul Laraia, viola; and Karlos Rodriguez, cello) believes in the unity that can be achieved through music and imagine their programs and projects with this in mind, redefining and reimagining the classical music experience.
Catalyst Quartet & Zuill Bailey - Sitka
Hailed by The New York Times at its Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor,” the Grammy Award-winning Catalyst Quartet was founded by the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Organization in 2010. The ensemble (Karla Donehew Perez, violin; Abi Fayette, violin; Paul Laraia, viola; and Karlos Rodriguez, cello) believes in the unity that can be achieved through music and imagine their programs and projects with this in mind, redefining and reimagining the classical music experience.
More than just a Summer Festival - The Sitka Music Festival is Alaska’s Premier Chamber Music Presenter
Founded in 1972 by Paul Rosenthal, the Sitka Summer Music Festival quickly became noted as a leading chamber music festival when Gregor Piatigorsky came to perform in 1974. The festival also drew national attention with articles in the New York Times and Los Angeles Times. Now in its 53rd season, the festival has grown to have a full year presence throughout Alaska. In 2021, the name “summer” was removed and the festival began using the name Sitka Music Festival. Under our current Artistic Director, Zuill Bailey, the festival has invested heavily in the community with community engagement concerts and events, and educational outreach. In 2023, the festival presented 79 events of which over half were free.
In Sitka, the Festival has grown to fill four weeks every June with as many as 28 concerts and events in various locations around Sitka with at least one free concert or event each week. In July, we host three weeks of concert programming featuring renowned guest artists and fellows at the Sitka International Cello Seminar.
Since the early ‘80s the Sitka Music Festival has presented the Autumn Classics concert series in September and Winter Classics in February – usually nine concerts per year held in Anchorage. Recently we have expanded to include concerts in Ketchikan and Sitka as a standard part of the Alaska Airlines’ Autumn and Winter Classics
Across Alaska, thanks in part to grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the Atwood Foundation, Festival musicians travel to at least three other Alaska communities per year. The Festival partners with local arts organizations, schools, or borough governments for these tours. To date, 42 Alaskan communities from Selawik to Port Alexander have enjoyed professional classical music performances, courtesy of the Sitka Music Festival.
What is Chamber Music?
Chamber Music is Classical Music in its most intimate and inviting form.
Attending a Concert for the First Time?
We want you to feel welcome! There is no formal dress code. Some people come wearing their finest attire and some people come wearing their rain gear or snow gear.