The Redfish Music Festival, named after the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve, is a week-long festival with concerts along the Southern Oregon and Northern California coast. Musician and teacher, Fritz Gearhart, designed the festival and non-profit not only to bring the beauty of chamber music to smaller communities, like Curry County, but also to create a learning experience.

Chamber music, which is composed for smaller group of instruments, allows performers to bring complex classical music compositions to more limited spaces.

Gearhart says they wanted to kick off the festival in 2020, but had to hold off due to the pandemic. He also said that's why their first year of the festival was so scaled back. This year, they're coming back bigger and better.

“This summer is our first full summer," Gearhart said. "We’re going to have twelve students in residence, and four faculty members who will be playing concerts and coaching and practicing all week.”

Faculty members arrive from Nevada, Southern California, and Boston to perform and coach students who travel in from around the country. The youngest students performing range from fifteen years old to late twenties.

Gearhart explains the faculty will perform in the beginning of the week, while students prepare and rehearse to take over in the second half of the performance dates. But what makes this festival so unique, is that it's not just about the performances.

“We’re doing events during the week, some of them are not concerts, but they’re opportunities for community members to observe the teaching that we’re doing,” Gearhart said.

Gearhart said the events of the Redfish Music Festival are just as much about showcasing the work faculty and students put in, as it is the performances themselves.

“We’re playing Bandon, we’re playing Coos Bay, Langlois, Port Orford, and we’re going all the way down to Smith River," Gearhart said.

The festival kicks off with works by Beethoven and Brahms on Friday July 29 in North Bend, then it's a whirlwind of excitement lasting until Sunday August 7.

A full calendar of festival events and ticket information can be found at the Redfish Music Festival website.