Dear Festival Friends,
It is with great sadness that—due to the coronavirus pandemic—we at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival are announcing the cancellation of our 2020 season, which was scheduled to run July 19–August 24 and be preceded on July 17 by the launch of our first-ever Opening Weekend Celebration.
A message from Marc Neikrug, Artistic Director
The Festival has been presenting extraordinary chamber music concerts since the summer of 1973, and we were very excited to share our 2020 season—our 48th—with you, our cherished community. As with arts organizations around the world that have decided to cancel summer events, many realities factored into our decision. First and foremost is helping to keep our patrons, artists, and staff safe and secure. In our view, the best way to do that is to follow social distancing guidelines, which, although they may be relaxed somewhat in the coming weeks and months, will likely discourage large gatherings and international travel.
Despite having to cancel this summer’s concerts, we’re still making partial payments to all the musicians who were scheduled to appear with us. This is a challenging time for them, and offering our support is a priority.
We’re also continuing to work very hard on our 2021 season, and both the planning of our future concerts and the thought of being reunited with our entire community is bringing us joy during this difficult time.
Please know that if you purchased tickets to our 2020 season, you have several options. You can donate the cash value of your tickets to the Festival, which is a 100 percent tax-deductible contribution, or you can exchange your tickets for a credit voucher that you or a guest can use for the Festival’s 2021 or 2022 season. Another option is to have the value of your tickets split between a donation and a credit voucher or refund. We appreciate your choosing one of the above options; however, if none of those work for you, we’ll gladly issue a full refund. If we don’t hear from you by August 1, 2020, we’ll donate your tickets to the Festival.
Any of the above requests can be made here, and you can also contact our Ticket Office directly at info@sfcmf.org or 505-982-1890. The Ticket Office is open Monday–Friday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Call volume may be high, so we appreciate your patience throughout the process.
The Festival has endured for almost 50 years because of your generous and steadfast support. Any contribution you make at this time is especially appreciated, as it goes right to the heart of the Festival. Your generosity allows us to present our outstanding concerts—featuring world-class musicians and high-level programming—as well as our extensive year-round music education programs, which we offer in select public schools throughout northern New Mexico and, due to the pandemic, are currently providing remotely. To donate to the Festival, please contact our Director of Development, Cece Derringer, by phone at 505-983-2075, ext. 108, or by email. You can also donate online by clicking here.
On a final note, even though our 2020 season has been canceled, you can still enjoy listening to Festival performances by streaming our free, easy-to-access Radio Series on our website. Every year, the series, which is produced and distributed by Chicago’s WFMT, offers 13 hour-long broadcasts filled with performances and interviews. The series includes our 2020 programs (which feature performances from our 2019 season) and goes all the way back to our 2007 broadcast.
A festival is only as strong as its community, and you’re among the strongest there is. We’ll miss you tremendously this summer, but we’ll also look forward to 2021 and to presenting our strongest, most powerful, and most meaningful season yet. As we mourn all the losses that have resulted, and will continue to result, from this pandemic, we’ll take solace in the healing and unifying power of music, and we hope that you will, too.
Please be safe and stay well.
Sincerely yours,
