About the Festival

History

The Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival was started in 1999 by artistic director and flutist Linda Chesis. A renowned flutist who has collaborated with Jessye Norman, James Levine, and the late Jean-Pierre Rampal, Chesis made appearances each summer at chamber music festivals throughout the United States. As a child, Chesis' husband spent all his summers in Cooperstown, at a house his family still owns at the north end of the lake. Chesis longed to spend more time in Cooperstown, and realizing that the village had as much to offer as other festival venues, set out to create the Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival.

 

"Once I saw the barn at The Farmers' Museum, I knew that would be a fantastic place for the festival," explains Chesis. After clapping her hands to test the acoustics, Chesis contacted the museum. The Farmers' Museum had faith in the idea, and what started in 1999 as a festival of two evening concerts and one daytime concert for children has grown through community support to fifteen concerts offered throughout the Cooperstown area in 2008.

 

Operating under the auspices of The Farmers' Museum through the 2005 season, the festival is now a separate non-profit corporation.