Valley of the Moon Music Festival

Founded in 2015 by festival co-directors and historical performance experts fortepianist Eric Zivian and cellist Tanya Tomkins, the Valley of the Moon Music Festival reintroduces listeners to the classic repertoire they thought they knew, refreshing ears and minds through historical performance. The instruments we play today may appear static, but they have all undergone ceaseless advancement and alteration since their conception. VMMF turns back the clock on musical hardware by using a variety of different historical pianos, gut strings, and bow styles to portray the repertoire of the Classical and Romantic eras—roughly 1750 to 1940—as it would have been heard when it was written.

Each season picks a different vantage point from which to this vast repertoire. The theme of the season guides programming choices, offering guests a novel way of appreciating classics, as well as a chance to experience
less-familiar works. A selection of past themes includes:

• The 2023 season, TRANSFORMATION: Grand Works on an Intimate Scale, which focused on chamber arrangements of orchestral works, like Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony and Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto;
• The 2022 season, FANTASTIC UNIVERSE: Music of the Natural World, which centered music inspired by nature and the world around us; and
• The 2019 season, SALONNIÈRES: Women of Power & Influence, which explored the powerful women of the 19th century who were the lifestyle influencers and tastemakers of their day, and curated cultural events in their fantastic salons.

VMMF has always made education a priority and is committed to mentoring and supporting the next generation of musicians specializing in historical performance. Through its Cremona Apprenticeship Program, the Festival welcomes new and emerging historical performers and gives them both skills and a platform to embark on exciting careers as performers, curators, and members of the greater musical community. The Program, one of the few of its kind, is also open to established performers seeking education and training in historical performance practice.

VMMF is also dedicated to helping audiences understand the historical and cultural context of performance practice through its Blattner Lecture series, a favorite with audiences since its introduction in 2018. Over the course of its nine seasons, VMMF has become a community fixture, winning SF Classical Voice Audience Choice Awards for Best Chamber Performance, Best Instrumental Recital, and Best Vocal Recital in 2021-22.

Conceived and created in the town of Sonoma, VMMF has become an important part of the community, making the picturesque scenery of the area its home, and a focal point of its offerings. VMMF also prizes its partnerships with area venues, non-profits, and businesses, including a new partnership with the La Luz Center, a dedicated local family resource center.

The Valley of the Moon Music Festival is the country’s first historical instrument performance festival focusing on music of the Classical and Romantic periods, opening ears and minds to repertoire both familiar and rarely played. Since 2014, under Co-Artistic Directors Tanya Tomkins and Eric Zivian, VMMF uses historical practices to reimagine the way classical concert music can take part in a contemporary world… that’s music with guts!