Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival Ltd.

We are dedicated to serving the art of chamber music, fostering our thriving audience by providing performances of the highest quality, by presenting both established and emerging artists from around the world, and by supporting the future of the genre through its extensive commissioning of new works. Artistic Director Marc Neikrug has nurtured one of the most enthusiastic chamber music audiences in the nation by maintaining the highest possible standards of programming, presenting performances of thrilling virtuosity, and consistently demonstrating the tremendous depth and breadth of the classical music repertoire.

As for our Education Programs, in schools already providing music education for their students, we fill out those programs through enhanced, intensive musical experiences, experiences those schools would not have the resources to provide. Programs such as lessons in violin or guitar at the elementary level; live concerts with world class musicians, paired with accompanying curriculum to heighten and deepen understanding of those performances; private lessons at the middle and high school level for serious students of music.

Where a school or institution does not provide music, we seek to provide the same as above, however we also provide direct instruction in order to convey basic concepts and skills in music to these students.

The Festival will be able to maintain its international standard of excellence by:
- Continuing to attract the finest artists in the world to come to Santa Fe to collaborate and perform together by paying them competitive fees and maintaining our standards of presenting high quality repertoire
- Searching out young and emerging artists and putting them together with the elder statesmen of the genre, thereby supporting the ongoing transmission of performance technique and interpretation in a highly professional setting
- Educating our audiences by consistently presenting the highest quality repertoire and performances
- Continuing to commission new works by both established and emerging composers

We have four key programs we place in schools:

Strings in Our Schools – providing elementary level violin instruction at four elementary schools. We serve nearly 90 students.

Music in Our Schools – providing in-school chamber music concerts, three times yearly, at fourteen schools in Santa Fe and northern New Mexico, with accompanying curriculum for students as well as teacher training.

Guitar in Our Schools – providing elementary level guitar instruction at one elementary school. We currently serve 30 students.

Dream Big Private Lesson Program – providing weekly private lessons to serious music students at the high school level. Lessons take place at school. We currently serve 31 students.

Through the decades of dedicated effort by Artistic Director Marc Neikrug, the Festival enjoys an international reputation in the classical music world. We must continue to be competitive in our artist and commissioning fees; we must continue to attract experienced staff leadership, and we must be able to meet the costs of concert production.

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival has a full time Director of Education who administers and develops all programs. Attention to appropriate curriculum, infrastructure and supportive programming is given to all programs. Specialists and artists are contracted to perform and teach in schools.

The Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival has created a center for artistic excellence in the southwest—a well-established gathering place for classical music listeners and performers. From here we must continue to be at the forefront of thoughtful programming, maintain our standards, and continue to foster young artists and composers, as well as future audiences.

Music in Our Schools is a well-established program and operates successfully. We serve nearly 5000 students. Plans are underway to digitize and publish curriculum, making it available to rural and underserved schools in New Mexico and through the country.

Dream Big is in its first year. We plan to expand the program within its current locale of Capital High School, serving more students there. We also plan to add feeder middle schools to Capital High – Ortiz Middle School, Nina Otero Community School, and El Camino Real Academy. Our immediate goals to are support students who wish to perform in high level honor ensembles through NM Music Educators Association All State Conference and Santa Fe Youth Symphony Association, and support students who wish to audition as music majors in college.

Guitar and Strings in Our Schools continues to develop and support new guitarists at Santa Clara Pueblo as well as new violinists at four elementary schools in Santa Fe and Pecos. Immediate next steps include participation in relevant professional development for instructors and the adoption of updated curriculum and student progress assessment practices.