About Us

Redwood Arts Council was founded in 1980 by a group of music lovers whose goal was to bring quality entertainment to the Occidental community. The Redwood Arts Council books concerts that rival the quality of chamber music performances in large metropolitan areas.

The term "chamber music" evokes images of classical instruments-a flute, strings, or perhaps a piano. For us, a chamber performance simply means the artist appears in a small setting with close to perfect acoustics. A diversified program of outstanding music is regularly presented.

During the past twenty-nine years the Council has presented more than 275 performances in its chamber music series, featuring such internationally acclaimed artists as Leslie Parnas, Bonnie Hampton, Anner Bylsma, Robert Mann, James Buswell, David Abel, John Gibbons, Nathan Schwartz, Julie Steinberg, Anonymous 4, the Oberlin Piano Trio, the Alexander, Mendelssohn, Stanford, Colorado, Coull, Lark, Australian, Cavani, Parisii and Kronos String Quartets as well as Keith Terry, The Klezmorim, The Cambridge Buskers, The Amherst Saxophone Quartet, The Modern Mandolin Quartet, Richie Cole, Rosalie Sorrels, and Tuck & Patti. Local artists have included members of the Santa Rosa Symphony and of the Occidental Choir, Allaudin Mathieu, Janet Greene, Chaskinakuy, and Patrick Ball.

The majority of the performances occur in Occidental in the 130-year-old Community Church. The exceptionally fine acoustics of this church has drawn high praise from both audiences and artists. The essential quality in the music and in the relationship between listener and musician is what makes this experience extraordinary.