Festival artistic director Linda Chesis saw Cooperstown as an ideal location for a music festival, with its picturesque lake setting, small town charm, restaurants and attractions, including the Glimmerglass Festival, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, The Farmers’ Museum, and the Fenimore Art Museum.

She started the Festival with three events in 1999, and since then the Festival has offered the region nearly 100 concerts and outreach performances from classical to contemporary, jazz to bluegrass, cabaret to kids’ concerts. In 2011, the Cooperstown Chamber Music Festival became the Cooperstown Summer Music Festival to better reflect the range of music it offers.

The Festival's 15th season, July 7-August 21, 2013, features REBEL Baroque Ensemble, jazz vocalist Hilary Kole, the East Coast Chamber Orchestra, the Amphion String Quartet, free community performances and more.

In past seasons, the Festival has featured: Midori, Hank Jones, the Tokyo String Quartet, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Tim Fain, Bill Charlap, Kurt Elling, Hilary Kole, Simone Dinnerstein, and Mark O’Connor.

Ticket sales cover one quarter of the cost of producing the Festival. With the generous support of donors, we can continue and expand our tradition of offering free community and outreach concerts, bringing world-class music to the lovely village of Cooperstown.