History:

Lucas Drew, having purchased a small summer house in Scaly Mountain, NC in 1974, organized a series of three concerts (two at the Episcopal Church and one at the Highlands Playhouse) in August 1976. Ted and Terry Hoffman and the Reverend John Reid were most encouraging.  These concerts benefited the Hudson Library and were a pilot project for the founding of the Festival in 1982.
 
Beginning in 1982 as the Highlands Chamber Music Festival, with the assistance of a $5000 grant from Mr. and Mrs. Donald Kahn of Miami, Florida, through the Janet Annenberg ****** Charitable Trust. This two-part grant was given to Dr. Lucas Drew through the University of Miami School of Music to create the Highlands Chamber Music Festival. The first series of concerts were presented in cooperation with the Hudson Library and the Highlands Episcopal Church of the Incarnation. The enthusiastic response from the music lovers of Highlands encouraged the founding of the annual season of performances.
 
The founding committee, Ted Hoffman, The Reverend Charles Bryan and Dr. Lucas Drew met in May 1982 in the new Parish Hall of the Episcopal Church to plan the logistics of the four week Festival in July.  The musicians chosen for the first Festival were mainly faculty members at the University of Miami.  The Festival concerts concluded with Schubert's "Trout" Quintet.