Conductor, pianist and educator Jeffrey Kahane has agreed to a long-term contract as Artistic Director of Sonoma State University's summer-time Green Music Festival through 2004. Kahane was appointed the first Artistic Director of the Festival in 2001 by university president Ruben Arminana. The new agreement extends Kahane's role for the next three seasons.
In 2001, the Festival enjoyed a successful second season under Kahane, attracting more than 8,500 people. That figure almost doubled the attendance of the inaugural season in 2000 which attracted more than 4,800 people to the outdoor Festival site by the lakes on the SSU campus.
Planning for the third season of the Festival in the summer of 2002 is almost complete and is expected to add both chamber music concerts and the visual arts to the offerings over a four-week period from July 4 to August 4, 2002. For the third season, the festival's name has been changed to the Green Music Festival.
Arminana said he was "very pleased that Jeffrey will continue to bring his substantial talents, creativity, passion for education and experience with other top-notch summer festivals to the task of building the Green Music Festival into a major arts festival."
Kahane said he was "deeply honored and thrilled by this appointment. It is a long-standing dream come true to be given the opportunity to help create and nurture a major arts festival that will bring some of the world's most distinguished artists and ensembles to the North Bay."
Kahane said he is particularly interested in providing a broad range of educational experiences for artists, students and audience members spanning the widest possible spectrum of ages and backgrounds.
Under his leadership last summer, the Festival offered an expanded program over four weeks of three outdoor concerts featuring both symphonic music and jazz, a Youth Festival Weekend with performances by students in the Festival's educational programs, and a lecture series on Jack London.
The Green Music Festival is the summer music and arts festival slated to move to its permanent home, the Donald & Maureen Green Music Center on the SSU campus, when the Center is completed.
The goals of the festival are to blend world-class performances with educational opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, and to become one of the major arts festivals in the United States.
The festival is supported by more than 40 businesses, foundations and individuals.
