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ABOUT US

History of the Maui Classical Music Festival

The Kapalua Music Festival was founded in 1982 by Maui visionary Colin Cameron and his wife, Margaret, with Yizhak Schotten and Katherine Collier as Music Directors. Held annually at the Kapalua resort, the Festival reorganized after 14 years, following the passing of both Camerons, and changed its name to the Maui Classical Music Festival. World-renowned musicians gather in a tropical setting of unparalleled beauty in historic venues across the island to create a program of wide appeal from the Baroque period to twenty-first century works. Distinguished ensembles, winners of international competitions, recording artists, illustrious soloists, principal chairs of some of the major orchestras of the world, and famous crossover musicians have performed at the Festival. Esteemed ensembles that have appeared at the Festival include the Tokyo, Shanghai, Jupiter, Amernet, Ying, and Formosa String Quartets, the Gryphon, Boston, and Koinonia Trios, and the Fine Arts Brass Quintet. Pianists Jon Kimura Parker, Wu Han, Ralph Votapek, Jose Feghali, Anton Nel, and Philip Bush, Kevin Fitzgerald, Gloria Chien, Anna Polonsky, and Heng-Jin Park have performed. Included are world-renowned violinists and violists Joshua Bell. Andrés Cárdenes, Cho Liang Lin, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Ilya Kaler,

Ani Kavafian, Nick Eanet, Scott St. John, Emanuel Borok, Arnaud Sussmann, and

Benny Kim, Martin Beaver, Robyn Bollinger, Soovin Kim, Aloysia Freedman, Fabiola

Kim, and Sarah Oates among others. Famous cellists have been David Finckel,

Steven Kates, Leslie Parnas, Steven Dane, Norman Fischer, Andrés Diaz, Godfried

Hoogeveen, David Requiro, Anne Martindale Williams, Clive Greensmith, Edward

Arron, Desmond Hoebig, and Ronald Thomas. Double Bass players Edgar Meyer,

Harold Robinson and Kurt Muroki, harpist Heidi Lehwalder, banjo player Bela Fleck, and prize-winning guitarists Ricardo Cobo, Dusan Bogdanovic, David Leisner, and Kevin Gallagher have appeared. Wind players have included David Shifrin, Eddie Daniels, Daniel Gilbert, Chad Burrow, Michele Zukovsky, Jim Walker, Lorna McGhee, Leone Buyse, William Ver Meulen, and Yoonah Kim. Over the years the Festival has received extensive coverage in national newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, the New York Times, the Hawaii newspapers, and travel and airline magazines. Feature articles written about the Festival have appeared in important musical publications such as Musical America, Chamber Music America, and American Record Guide.

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Katherine Collier and Yizhak Schotten, Music Directors for the past 42 years

Husband and wife team Katherine Collier, pianist and Yizhak Schotten, violist, directed festivals and music series for over forty years. In 1978, they founded the prestigious Lintin Music series in Cincinnati, Ohio. On Maui in 1982, they met Colin Cameron and his wife, Margaret, and began the Kapalua Music Festival, now the Maui Classical Music festival. In 1983, the couple founded the Festival International de Musica Classical in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and thee Belle Arte Concerts in Bellvue, Washington. In 1994, this music team was appointed music directors of Strings Music Festival in Steamboat Springs, Colorado where they served for fifteen seasons.

 

Amir Eldan, Co-Music Director

Amir performs as soloist , chamber musician, and guest principal cellist. He is professor of cello at the University of Michigan School of Music where he has known and collaborated with  Katherine and Yizhak for many years. We are thrilled to have him as part of our Festival.

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Mission Statement

The mission of the Maui Classical Music Festival is to enrich and educate Maui's community by presenting renowned musicians to perform the highest quality chamber music, to build a growing audience of multi-cultural citizens of Maui, other Hawaiian Islands and visitors, and to provide outreach educational programs.

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Board of Directors

• Jeff Alfriend, President

• Philip Brown, Treasurer and VP

• BK Griesemer, Corresponding Secretary

• Rona Landrigan, Recording Secretary
• Henry Arroyo

Keith Epstein

Joan Hayden

• Michael Hitchcock

• Judy McCorkle

• Casi Saranillio

• Teresa Skinner

• Jill Spalding

• Kent Stewart

• Colleen Welty

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Colin Cameron

Founder

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Margaret Cameron

Founder

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"Some stunning performances, some wonderful musical memories.

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How could you miss with artists of that caliber?

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It is easy to get hooked. You may want to go back year after year. "

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- American Record Guide

 

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"The quality of performance is amazingly high."

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- Musical America

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