A History of the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival

Beginning in 1982 as the Highlands Chamber Music Festival, with the assistance of a $5000 grant from Mr. and Mrs. Donald Kahn through the J. A. Hooker Charitable Trust of Miami, Florida, the Festival presented its first series of concerts in cooperation with the Hudson Library and the Highlands Episcopal Church of the Incarnation. The enthusiastic response from the music lovers of Highlands encouraged the founding of the annual season of performances.

In 1983 the Festival was incorporated through the efforts of Mr. Ted Hoffman, who at that time served as its Treasurer, with the professional services of local attorney John R. Mayer. In addition to Mr. Hoffman, members of the original Board of Directors were Ginger Butler, The Reverend Charles Bryan, and Dr. Lucas Drew, co-founders of the Festival, and Mr. Ernest Stevens. That same year the Festival was granted "Not-for-Profit" status by the Internal Revenue Service. Having firmly established an administrative foundation, the Festival proceeded to focus on its artistic development.

In July of 1983 the Festival inaugurated the Sunday afternoon/Tuesday evening series that was the center of its summer season for many years. In 1986 the Festival presented its first "Meet the Artist" series. Originally designed as an abbreviated program of performances for Saturday afternoons, this popular series grew to full-concert length while retaining its informal character.

The "home" of the Festival was the Great Hall of the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation. All concerts were given there through the first ten years. In 1991 (our tenth year), all eleven concerts were sold-out and there was a waiting list for tickets. For this and other reasons, in 1992 the Board decided to hold all Saturday concerts, and the Sunday and Tuesday concerts in the newly-remodeled sanctuary of the larger Highlands Methodist Church. This venue shift allowed us to better accommodate all those who wished to hear this beautiful music. In 1998 concerts were moved to the Community Bible Church in Highlands. In 1999, with a generous gift from Sanford Cohn and Ruth Gershon, the Festival acquired the CBC as a permanent home and gifted it to the town of Highlands for year-round use as a Performing Arts Center. After another wonderful lead gift from Bill and Nell Martin, the CBC was completely renovated, and 2001 marked the first year of performances in the newly named Martin-Lipscomb Performing Arts Center in Highlands. In Cashiers, the Festival has performed for many years in the newly-renovated Albert-Carlton Cashiers Community Library.

To complement the regular concert series held in Highlands, the Festival has carried its music to areas adjacent to the Western Carolina mountains. Over the years, concerts have been given at Tallulah Falls School, Tallulah Falls, Georgia; Sky Valley, Georgia; and at the Hambridge Center in Dillard, Georgia, as well as in Atlanta. A CD recording "Music from the Highlands-Cashiers Chamber Music Festival" is available from the Festival.

Under the guidance of its founder and Artistic Director, the distinguished double bassist, Lucas Drew, the Highlands Chamber Music Festival achieved a musical maturity that belies its youth. In 2000, William Ransom, founder and Artistic Director of the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta and Emerson Professor of Piano at Emory University began his duties as Artistic Director.

The past thirty concert seasons have brought together artists whose standards of excellence and commitment to chamber music have enriched the creative traditions of Highlands, Cashiers and the Western Carolina mountains. The 31st season will certainly continue that tradition with another exciting mix of old friends and new faces, the fun new series "Bach at Buck's" featuring solo and duo string music in the informal setting of a coffee house is back as is the "Movies about Music series. Along with that will be a series of dinner's on select Wednesday nights: Mozart at Wolfgang's - music and fine dining together in Highlands. Fall concerts, during the beautiful leaf season, have been a part of the Festival for many years, and the popular Festival of Feasts, a series of dinners given as fund-raisers to support the Festival, continues to thrive.

The Festival is a member of Chamber Music America and the Highlands Chamber of Commerce.

William Ransom
Artistic Director

Nancy Gould-Aaron
Executive Director

Lucas Drew
Artistic Director Emeritus