About the Fund
The Burton Karson Music Education Fund was established in June 2024 in honor of the Festival’s founding Artistic Director now Artistic Director Emeritus (since 2011), Dr. Burton Karson. The Fund supports the rollout of a new Education Program, undertaken by a dedicated pool of professional Baroque-specialist teaching artists, that will provide local Newport Beach and greater Orange County school- and college-age students with Baroque music workshops, clinics and presentations on campuses during the regular school year. The program will additionally encourage students and their families to attend dress rehearsals and concerts under the Festival’s existing “Go for Baroque” student discounted ticket program during the June Festival week each year, when their summer schedules allow.
We welcome gifts in any amount to the Burton Karson Music Education Fund! Donations of $1,000 or more received within the initial 6 months of establishing the fund (between June 25 and December 31, 2024), are recognized with “Founder Donor” acknowledgement. Please inform us if you wish to remain anonymous when making your gift. By the end of 2024 our goal is to raise $40,000 and to then partially invest the Fund to maximize monies available in future years to support the program’s musicians and administration, inspiring and engaging future generations of musicians and music-lovers through youth music education.
Founder Donors receive recognition on this website and in any printed materials relating to the program (program flyers, annual reports), as well as occasional email updates and meet-the-teaching-artists opportunities. We sincerely thank our Founder Donors to date:
Larry W. Allen
B. Norris Battin
Richard & France Campbell (in honor of their friend, Dr. Burton Karson)
Cheryl Czyz
Margaret Gates
Karin Gurwell
Jennifer Klein
Susan Mason
John McHugh, M.D.
Dr. Vina Spiehler
Mary Anne Turley-Emett
James White
- Donate by Check made payable to “Baroque Music Festival CdM” and mailed to the Festival’s P.O. Box – checks are encouraged for Founder Donor gifts ($1,000 and above) to avoid high online credit card fees for the BMF.
- Donate online monthly or one-time by clicking the button above. Please add a comment to inform us that your gift is for the Education Fund (BKMEF).
- Donate stocks, EFTs and mutual funds. The BMF now has a brokerage account with Wells Fargo. Please contact us for details.
About the Program
Led by our newly-appointed Education Program Director (and long-time Festival Orchestra violinist) Dr. Lindsey Strand-Polyak, this exciting new program aims to inspire classrooms of musically-inquisitive students at all levels—from elementary to college age—helping them to meet and enrich their learning outcomes and encouraging a socio-historic research-forward method of exploring classical musical interpretation, styles, and understanding, through Baroque music.
Bring Baroque Music to your School!
We look forward to forging strong relationships with local public and private schools, instrumental teaching studios and Saturday music schools, community colleges and universities! If you are an educator or parent and would like Lindsey and her small ensemble of SoCal-based Baroque music teaching artists to come to your school, please reach out to the Festival’s Executive Director Zen Edwards for information about Lindsey’s selection of in-school workshop themes, or to discuss options with Zen and Lindsey to create a bespoke workshop, clinic, masterclass, lecture-recital, or residency, for your institution. In some cases we can bring a program to you fully-funded. We look forward to exploring the best-fit programs for your students and schedule.
Education Program Leadership
