By Scott Gaertner
Lifestyle Contributor
Are you a music lover and find that you have to drive way too far to get your fix of amazing music? Well discover Scottsdale North’s best kept secret, the Arizona Musicfest, and suffer no more!
The 28th annual Arizona Musicfest festival season brings a diverse lineup of exceptional artists right to Scottsdale North audiences. From country superstar Wynonna Judd to legendary music icon Neil Sedaka, Arizona Musicfest’s 2018-19 Festival Season will include 27 performances from November 2 through March 15. And the best part? Almost all of the performances are either located right here in Scottsdale North or they are just a stone’s throw away! No more driving in the early dark of those fall and winter evenings to travel all the way to downtown Phoenix or Tempe to hear the rhythms your heart has been longing for.
Arizona Musicfest has grown to become the largest Winter Music Festival in the country. Founded in 1991, the festival is a secular non-profit arts organization based in North Scottsdale, and produces an annual concert festival as well as important music education programs, youth performance opportunities and a community lifelong learning series for the Greater Phoenix area. Festival highlights also include Broadway’s leading man, Brian Stokes Mitchell; stars of The Venetian Las Vegas, Human Nature; jazz trumpet legend Herb Alpert and Grammy Award-winning singer Lani Hall; and Lonesome Traveler with special guest Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary, performing a journey through American folk music from the hills of Appalachia to the nightclubs of New York. Stellar ensembles coming to the Musicfest stage include the legendary Count Basie Orchestra, as well as swing greats Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.
Highlighting this year’s Festival Orchestra Week are two momentous concerts featuring violin virtuoso Gil Shaham and the Violins of Hope, a rare collection of restored violins from the Holocaust. The Festival Orchestra, under the direction of Maestro Robert Moody, is comprised of musicians from the nation’s finest orchestras. This ensemble will perform six concerts in February, including works by Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Bach, and Mahler. Award-winning American pianist Andrew von Oeyen joins the Orchestra for Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
“Arizona Musicfest has experienced tremendous growth over the last few years,” said Arizona Musicfest Executive and Producing Director Allan Naplan. “With a continued expansion of our Festival concert programming, including more performances than ever before with top level artists, we look forward to providing another exciting season!
Check out the 2018-19 schedule and tickets for all Arizona Musicfest performances at azmuscifest.org or by calling (480) 422-8449.
Scott Gaertner is an Associate Broker with Keller Williams Northeast, who for the past 25+ years has helped more people to find their lifestyle niche in the Scottsdale North area than anyone else. He also contributes his thoughts on lifestyle interests in the area. If you have something of interest in your community please contact us at [email protected]
