Grand Canyon Music Festival

Support the GCMF & the Native American Composer Apprentice Project

2011 Winner — President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award.

2011 Winner — President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award.

Photo© Steven Purcell
Above (l to r): Clare Hoffman, Artistic Director, GCMF; Jordan Lomahoema, GCMF Native American Composer Apprentice Project student; First Lady Michelle Obama

Congratulations Grand Canyon Music Festival!
2011 Winner — President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award.
Watch Video
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GCMF Supporters:

Grand Canyon Music Festival
is sponsored by
Grand Canyon National Park and is supported by the Arizona Commission on the Arts with funding from the State of Arizona and the National Endowment for the Arts, and with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, and WESTAF – the Western State Arts Federation. Expansion of NACAP to Whitehorse High School in Utah is funded in part by the Utah Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Additional Sponsors include:

Learn how YOU can
Support the Festival

Order your Festival Poster today!

Posters and gift items available in our online Gift Shop

All proceeds benefit the Festival.

Festival Calendar

Access to the Arts
Click here to learn about accessibility at Grand Canyon National Park.

Casual atmosphere... casual attire!

Enjoy world-class music at a world-class venue — but leave your dress clothes at home. Escape to Grand Canyon for adventure-packed days exploring the park and enchanted nights revelling in the world's best music! Concert info

Need trip planning assistance, check out our Canyon Information page. We look forward to seeing you at the Grand Canyon this year!

Winner: National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award
President’s Committee on the Art and the Humanities
Winner: Governor’s Arts Award
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .August 24, 25, 30, 31, and September 1, 7, & 8
Shrine of the Ages on the South Rim of Grand Canyon, 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Aug. 24 & Saturday, Aug. 25

ETHEL
America's premier post-classical string quartet
Concert Details & Tickets

“Vital and brilliant”
— The New Yorker

Friday, Aug. 31 & Saturday, Sept. 1

The Catalyst Quartet; photo by Michael Shane

Photo © Michael Shane

The Catalyst Quartet
with guest ETHEL
Concert Details & Tickets

“Invariably energetic and finely burnished…The Catalyst Quartet played with an earthy vigor.”
— Allan Kozinn, The New York Times

Composer Richard Einhorn will join us on Saturday, Sept. 1, for a performance of his octet, “The Silence.

Join us for a pre-concert discussion with Richard Einhorn about his experience with sudden hearing loss at the age of 57, and how he has become an advocate for the hearing impaired.
Read more about Richard Einhorn

Ordering Festival products from our Gift Shop is another way you can show your support! We offer lovely giclee and poster reproductions by artist Ed Mell, along with t-shirts, and notecards.

Bring your family and friends to the Grand Canyon for a memorable, musical get-away. Make your room reservations and travel arrangements well in advance, as accommodations inside the Park will sell out quickly.
Trip planning info

Friday, Sept. 7

Photos: right © Lisa Hancock; left © Lisa Hancock
"A Night at the Opera"
Husband and wife singers Kirk Dougherty and Cabiria Jacobsen bring some of opera’s greatest hits to the Grand Canyon Music Festival stage, including semi-staged scenes from La Cenerentola, Les contes d’Hoffmann, and West Side Story.

Cabiria Jacobsen, mezzo-soprano; Kirk Dougherty, tenor; Jon Klibonoff, piano

"Jacobsen's performance was exquisite, … intoxicatingly understated, yet believably endearing."
— Classical Voice of New England

Concert Details & Tickets

Saturday, Sept. 8

"The Art of Song"
Enjoy the Art of Song from Baroque masters to contemporary classics. Husband and wife singers Kirk Dougherty and Cabiria Jacobsen perform works of Purcell, Handel, Britten, Gershwin, and Porter, as well as selections from two new song cycles, Vignettes: Ellis Island by Alan Louis Smith, and Craigslistlieder by Gabriel Kahane. Cabiria Jacobsen, mezzo-soprano; Kirk Dougherty, tenor; Jon Klibonoff, piano

"Make no mistake, tenor Kirk Dougherty has the goods, and then some… he is in possession of an exceptionally beautiful tenor…"
— Broome Arts Mirror
Concert Details & Tickets

Thursday, Aug. 30

Robert Bonfiglio, harmonica; Joe Deninzon, violin; Steve Benson, guitar Robert Bonfiglio

“As at home in the world of Grappelli and Oconnor as he is in the world of Jimi Hendrix and Steve Vai, Joe Deninzon may be our next national violin treasure!"
— Jedd Beaudoin www.seaoftranquility.com

Friday, Aug. 31
5 p.m. (at the Shrine of the Ages)
School of Rock student concert
Rock along with Grand Canyon high school students in this culminating recital as they display what they learned during the week-long School of Rock with Bonfiglio Group members Stephen Benson and Joe Deninzon. Read More

Sunday, Sept. 2
4 p.m. (at the Grand Canyon Community Building)
NACAP Concert
Native American Composer Apprentice Project. Read More

We're excited about this season's stellar group of artists. Come hear performances by:
the Catalyst Quartet, Robert Bonfiglio, Joe Deninzon, Stephen Benson, ETHEL (Kip Jones and Tema Watstein, violin; Ralph Farris, viola; Dorothy Lawson, cello), Cabiria Jacobsen, mezzo-soprano; Kirk Dougherty, tenor; Jon Klibonoff, piano; & Clare Hoffman, flute.
Read Artists' Bios