SAVE THE DATES!
43rd Festival Season, a “Bach Fest” JUNE 18-25, 2023
Winter Musicale Concert & Fundraising Dinner: Sunday January 29, 2023
Join us in person again next year at beautiful venues in the Newport Beach area
including Sherman Library & Gardens, Corona del Mar
Welcome to the Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar: an annual summer celebration of Baroque music held in the Newport Beach area of Orange County, California.
43rd Season Dates, 2023:
Sunday, January 29 – Winter Musicale
June 18-25 – Summer Festival Season
Our Festival offers five professional concerts over eight days every 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 the Newport Beach area.
The Festival’s mission is to present the astounding wealth and diversity of the Baroque era in a wide variety of ways, at affordable prices. Large-scale works, with and without singers, are typically offered on our Sunday concerts, while our three midweek programs give the opportunity to enjoy smaller scale vocal and chamber performances, all given by the finest musicians in the historically informed Baroque field.
We are proud to be a community festival and welcome you to our community. We offer the chance to socialize with our musicians over “wine and waters” following each of our concerts, and also take pride 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 notifications by email and U.S. mail 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
and the Festival Board of Directors
Jacques Vanders (left) with Ernest Spiehler, serving wines and waters at the Festival.Remembering Jacques Vanders (October 10, 1930 – November 1, 2021)
Jacques Vanders was the stage name of Hendryckus van der Ploeg, born in Heerlen, The Netherlands. Jacques was a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar, and, more recently, of the Festival’s Advisory Board. He never missed a Board meeting, unless he was traveling, and always volunteered at Festival concerts wherever he was needed. Jacques’ full-time job was as a travel agent but, in the evenings, he could often be found playing piano at the Balboa Bay Club and elsewhere. Although an accomplished pianist, he would refer to himself as a “cocktail pianist” and could play any song requested—from Bach to boogie-woogie. He also freely shared his music each week with retirees in Costa Mesa’s public housing. A video of Jacques performing Gershwin can be found on YouTube, along with an Edith Piaf medley.
Jacques earned a B.A. in French from UC Irvine and was fluent in French, English, German and, of course, Dutch. He was an enthusiastic world-wide traveler and, for many years, served as President of the African Travel Association of Southern California. Jacques was a permanent fixture on the local arts scene and well beyond, seeking out and supporting a broad range of artistic events and experiences, making friends along the way. His presence will be missed by many.
