Sitka Music Festival

The mission of the Sitka Music Festival is to provide the finest classical music experience in Alaska through performance and education. In Sitka, the Festival has grown to fill four weeks every June with as many as 24 concerts and events in various locations around town. The summer Festival regularly involves over 25 business and community partners, plus nearly 100 volunteers. Every July since 2014, the Festival has hosted the Sitka International Cello Seminar, where a group of young pre-professional cellists spend three weeks of intensive study with Mr. Zuill Bailey and guest instructors. In Anchorage, 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. Recently, we’ve added free performances at the Anchorage Museum and regular visits to school orchestras and the Hiland Women’s Prison Orchestra. Across Alaska, thanks in part to grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Alaska State Council on the Arts, 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. These community visits usually include a school presentation or outreach performance to the elderly and infirm. To date, 42 Alaskan communities from Selawik to Port Alexander have enjoyed professional classical music performances, courtesy of the Sitka Music Festival.