Chamber Music Festival of Lexington

The Chamber Music Festival of Lexington, now in its 15th season, occurs every fall in Lexington and was founded in 2007 by arts patrons Charlie Stone, Charles Thompson, and Nathan Cole—Los Angeles Philharmonic First Associate Concertmaster (and Lexington native). The Festival brings together a quintet of world-renowned musicians to offer central Kentuckians performances at the Downtown Arts Center, pop-up concerts, educational programming, and a world-class guest artist. Nathan Cole, First Associate Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is Music Director. Pianist Alessio Bax, violist Burchard Tang, cellist Priscilla Lee, and violinist Akiko Taramoto complete the core ensemble. In 2013, the Festival grew from one weekend to 10 days, and since then, the Festival has seen dynamic growth in its audiences and community outreach, with a total audience of adults and children of nearly 3,000. The Festival was proud to announce its inaugural 2018 season partnership with the talented musicians of the Central Kentucky Youth Orchestras, where students not only learned from CMFL’s world-class musicians from two of the most respected orchestras in the country but also played alongside them in concert. This exciting partnership will be continuing in future seasons. Many CMFL artists have grown up in CKYO's programs, including Artistic Director Nathan Cole, and past Artists-in-Residence Zach Brock and Ben Sollee. This combination of musicians at the top of their fields, innovative repertoire and venues, and strong local partnerships positions the Festival as an essential part of Lexington's vibrant music scene. This season, we have renewed our Composer-in-Residence program, commissioning a new work of chamber music that will have its world premiere during our Festival!