Bay City News
There is no room at the inns of the Mendocino Coast this month.
But cellist Kathleen Balfe and other top orchestral musicians from the Bay Area and beyond will enjoy free classy digs for the two weeks of the Mendocino Music Festival, running July 13-27 and featuring classical, as well as jazz, big band, folk, pop, country, opera, Celtic and Americana music.
Eighty-two Mendocino Coast host families are sharing their homes, kitchens and art studios in 2024 for a long-standing exchange of friendships as well as mattresses.
"This arrangement is fairly typical among music festivals. But the Mendocino Music Festival is unique in that it presents a full orchestra more or less in the middle of nowhere," said Barbara Faulkner, the festival's executive director.
"Most of the Festival Orchestra players are Bay Area orchestral professionals on their summer breaks. Ticket buyers benefit because volunteer artist housing keeps ticket prices much lower than if we were paying for housing. It's a multi-layered thing that creates an extraordinary sense of place during the festival -- artists, audience members, locals and visitors all happily co-mingle throughout Mendocino and not just in the concert venues," Faulkner said.
Festival music emits from bright white circus-style tents perched on the edge of cliffs that plummet 50 feet down to the rocks and surf. Saturday's opening night features Miko Marks, a country music pioneer from Oakland who recently made her third appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.
Other performers range from Irish bluegrass band JigJam on July 18, to Mendocino-born-and-raised folk singer Gwyneth Moreland on July 17, to jazz-electronic artist Julian Pollack, an Albion native playing piano and synthesizer with his Julian "J3PO" Pollack Trio on July 16.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the South African group of Zulu singers on Paul Simon's album "Graceland," performs on July 26, but the show is nearly sold out.
Faulkner explains the music mix: "For the first few years the festival was entirely classical, but the founders love all sorts of music and eventually started presenting some other genres. The extremely popular festival big band concert originated as a one-time fundraiser but was such a hit that it's been happening ever since."
Susan Waterfall, festival associate artistic director, each year selects a classical musician whose work is covered in different genres. French composer Gabriel Faure (1845-1924) will be featured in 2024, including at Sunday's Festival Orchestra concert.
Balfe, first cello for the City of Granada Orchestra in Spain (who has appeared in California with the New Century Chamber Orchestra and at the Cabrillo Music Festival), is looking forward to hearing Evan Kahn, first cello of the New Century Chamber Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, perform Elgar's Cello Concerto at Sunday's Festival Orchestra performance: "This will be my first time hearing him play, and I have great expectations."
But she also enjoys being a spectator in Mendocino. "The festival offers a huge range of music. I would be happy as a clam being based in Mendocino and watching everything," she said.
She and her partner discovered Mendocino mostly by accident on the way back from the Trinity Alps. "It was a foggy night, and we felt like we had stumbled back in time when we found the beautiful romantic Mendocino Hotel," she said. "... I thought it was a beautiful area and put it on my list of places to get to know better. Last summer I made my second visit. My father and I took a little road trip up the coast. I am the interim president of the American String Teachers Association, San Francisco Section. I wanted to meet members who could let me know more about the state of string teaching in the further reaches."
That trip turned into a grand opportunity. "Amazingly, about a month ago, one of the regulars [who plays at the festival] needed to miss a concert, so they invited me to come play this year," said Balfe, who's also teaching cello at the Santa Rosa Symphony Summer Music Academy this summer.
Balfe is staying with Liz Helenchild, a Mendocino local radio icon for more than 40 years who lives with her partner in one of the tiny, eccentric houses that delight visitors and artists.
For the true Mendo experience, Helenchild has turned their bed over to the Balfe. But while Helenchild is looking forward to fun and learning about new music, she realizes her guests may not have much time to spend with her hosts.
"I might have breakfast for them, but they are usually gone very early to rehearse. They rehearse a lot," said Helenchild, formerly "Late Night Liz" on Fort Bragg's eclectic KMFB radio show until local programming was dumped by new owners who purchased the station more than a decade ago. Today Helenchild hosts the "Weekly World Muse" show on KZYX as "Bessie Mae Mucho."
Many of the hosts have personalities and community knowledge that intrigue visiting musicians. Tom Wodetzki of Albion, a longtime community activist known as "Moonlight' in his hippie days, in previous years hosted a viola player. This year, he'll likely host an opera singer.
Some local inns participating in the festival are using old-fashioned Mendo money: barter. Faulkner said, "We also rely on and appreciate the generosity of the 12 or so inns who are our hospitality sponsors. During their busiest season they support us by giving us rooms for the visiting bands, in trade for being the only businesses who get ads in our ticket brochure."
The Mendocino Music Festival runs July 13-27 with performances in the Tent Concert Hall, 45035 Main St., and Preston Hall, 44867 Main St., Mendocino. Tickets are $15-$65 at mendocinomusic.org.
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