Festival artistic director Linda Chesis saw Cooperstown as an ideal location for a music festival. The Cooperstown Summer Music Festival began with three events in 1999, and has since offered the region more than 150 performances, from classical to contemporary, jazz to bluegrass, and cabaret to kids’ concerts.
The Festival has featured: Midori, Hank Jones, the American String Quartet, the Tokyo String Quartet, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, John Pizzarelli, Bill Charlap, Hilary Kole, Simone Dinnerstein, and Mark O’Connor.
Festival concerts have been featured on APM’s Performance Today, America’s most popular classical music radio program, with more than 1.3 million weekly listeners. Concert highlights also can be heard on WCNY, WMHT, and WSKG.
