45th Festival Season
La Serenissima: Vivaldi for All Seasons
Sunday, June 22-Sunday June 29, 2025
Requiescat in pace—Dr. Burton Karson
(November 10, 1934—March 26, 2025)
We are greatly saddened to announce the passing of the Festival’s cofounder and Artistic Director Emeritus, Dr. Burton Karson, on March 26, at the age of 90.
For 30 years from the first Festival in June 1981, Burton served as the organization’s artistic director, conductor, organizer, champion, muse and creative force. Since retiring in 2010, he continued to inspire his Artistic Director successor, Elizabeth Blumenstock, and the Festival’s volunteer Board of Directors. He regularly attended the June series every year.
The June 2025 Festival—La Serenissima: Vivaldi for All Seasons—is dedicated to Dr. Burton Karson in memoriam.
To learn more about Burton and his lasting legacy from the early years of the Festival, please visit: https://bmf-cdm.org/burton-karson/
Welcome to the Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar: an annual summer celebration highlighting the wonderful stylistic range waiting to be discovered in Baroque music. Join us for professional performances in beautiful venues in Newport Beach and Corona del Mar, Orange County, on the California Riviera.
2025 Festival Season – La Serenissima: Vivaldi for All Seasons
Ticket sales cover only 25% of Festival concert costs. Consider making a tax-deductible donation to raise essential funds for the 2025 Season
Our Festival offers five professional concerts over eight days in the second half of June. We enjoy the talents of extraordinary musicians playing Baroque instruments, and of singers who are sensitive to historical styles, performing in intimate venues in Corona del Mar and Newport Beach.
The Festival presents the beauty and variety of music of the Baroque era (c. 1600-1750) through professional performances at affordable prices. Larger-scale works, with and without singers, are offered on our Sunday afternoon programs, while during the weekday evenings between you will hear smaller scale vocal and chamber works. All concerts are given by artists specializing in historically-informed Baroque performance techniques.
We are proud to be a community festival and welcome you to our community. Socialize with our musicians over “wine and waters” following the Sunday afternoon and Monday evening concerts; learn more about this wonderfully uplifting music from artistic director Elizabeth Blumenstock’s program notes and in-concert introductions; and join us in our lovely and varied venues, which include the beautiful Sherman Gardens in the heart of Corona del Mar.
Not on our mailing list? Join here for occasional emailed and mailed notifications of concerts and other events.
In addition to complete program and performer information, our printed program booklet each year features ads from many local businesses. We are enormously grateful to all of them for their generous support and encourage you to support them in turn.
We look forward to seeing you at our concerts, whether for the hundredth or the very first time.
—Elizabeth Blumenstock, Artistic Director; Zen Edwards, Executive Director;
and the Festival Board of Directors
