HISTORY OF THE FESTIVAL


The Festival de Música de Cámara de San Miguel de Allende, one of the most renowned in Mexico and Latin America, was founded in 1979 by a group of Mexicans and foreign residents with the idea of establishing a chamber music festival – based on the internationally famous festivals of Spoleto, Edinburgh and Marlboro – in their own city.

The National Institution of Fine Arts (INBA) joined them with enthusiasm, and the Festival began with a single weekly concert by a well-known group – the Fine Arts Quartet was the first – which during the rest of the week gave advanced classes to young Mexican scholarship students who wanted to refine their musical skills. By 2007, fifteen concerts were given in the Teatro Ángela Peralta and other venues, by seven different musical groups. Ten of these concerts were sold out, making the 29th season of the Festival one of the most successful to date.


Since our first season up to 2008, our thirtieth anniversary, 41 ensembles have performed – orchestras, quintets, quartets, trios and duos; 165 soloists have made their debut; five composers have premiered their works at the Festival; eight singers have performed – one soprano, two mezzosopranos, one tenor and one quartet, in addition to one dancer. Since 1989, many of the winners of the Irving M. Klein International String Competition (which takes place in June every year in San Francisco, California) have also debuted here.

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The Festival’s essential “raison d’etre” is educational, and thus every year we have offered young, advanced-level students from all over Mexico the opportunity to attend and participate in workshops and master classes, which take place during the two weeks of concerts. These workshops and classes are given by the quartet-in-residence that participates annually in the Festival, as well as the performing groups. To date, more than 1,000 students have participated in our Student Program. In 2007, 183 hours of classes were given and quartet-in-residence, La Catrina String Quartet, received unanimously positive evaluations from the students. We are bringing La Catrina back to San Miguel de Allende for our 2008 season.

During thirty years of effort, hard work and dedication - all for the love of music - we have enjoyed world-class artists from three continents. What was only a dream in 1979, has been made reality by the Festival de Música de Cámara – it is now firmly established and is known as unique in its genre in Mexico, as well as important on an international level, and draws more than 7,000 attendees every year.







ARCHIVE OF PAST SEASONS

1979 – Fine Arts Quartet
1980 – Fine Arts Quartet
1981 – Manhattan String Quartet
1982 – Manhattan String Quartet
1983 – Trio Budapest
1984 – Trio Budapest
1985 – Trio Budapest, Fine Arts Quartet, Jorge Risi
1986 – Fine Arts Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano, Marta García Renart, Jorge Risi and Wolfgang Laufer
1987 – Philadelphia String Quartet, Fine Arts Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano, Jorge Risi
1988 – Fine Arts Quartet, The Lark Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano, Jorge Risi, Marta García Renart, Cuarteto Dank-Wort
1989 – American String Quartet, Lark Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano
1990 – American String Quartet, Manhattan String Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano
1991 – Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano, American String Quartet, Lafayette Quartet
1992 – American String Quartet, Fine Arts Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano
1993 – Fine Arts Quartet, American String Quartet, Lark Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano
1994 – American String Quartet, Lark Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano, Borodin Trio
1995 – Colorado String Quartet, Lark Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano, Penderecki String Quartet, Borodin Trio, Cuarteto Ruso-Americano
1996 – Penderecki String Quartet, Lark Quartet, Ying String Quartet, Cuarteto Ruso-Americano


1997 – Tokyo String Quartet, Ying String Quartet, Dallas Chamber Orchestra, Ensamble de las Rosas
1998 – Tokyo String Quartet, Ying String Quartet, Penderecki String Quartet, Lark Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano, Chilingirian String Quartet
1999 – Tokyo String Quartet, Shanghai String Quartet, Ying String Quartet, Emerson String Quartet
2000 – Trio Harada Hattori Laredo, Ying String Quartet, St. Petersburg String Quartet, Amernet Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet, Mexico City Quartet
2001 – St. Petersburg String Quartet, Emerson String Quartet, Ying String Quartet, Gelato String Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet, Cuarteto de Cuerdas Latinoamericano
2002 – Tokyo String Quartet, Ying String Quartet, Marta García Renart, Jose White String Quartet, Ives String Quartet, Casals String Quartet
2003 – Fine Arts Quartet, Ying String Quartet, St. Petersburg String Quartet, Casals Quartet, Jose White Quartet, Corigliano Quartet
2004 – Ying String Quartet, Rossetti String Quartet, Jose White String Quartet
2005 – Ying String Quartet, Rossetti String Quartet, Vega String Quartet, St. Petersburg String Quartet, Natasha Tarasova, Gustavo Rivero Weber, Timothy Fain
2006 – Turtle Island String Quartet, Ying String Quartet, Vega String Quartet, St. Petersburg String Quartet, Olga Kern, Timothy Fain, Will Ransom
2007 – Imani Winds Quintet, Turtle Island String Quartet, La Catrina String Quartet, Cypress String Quartet, Cassatt String Quartet, Brentano String Quartet, Rossetti String Quartet