Thank you, Natchez!

The Natchez Festival of Music is proud to announce that our 26th season was the most popular, exciting, most-attended and diverse year of our Festival yet. “Four Flags Over Natchez, A Tricentennial Season” was dedicated to the 300th anniversary of Natchez and included the “Inspirations of Glen Ballard,” “An Evening of Andrew Lloyd Webber,” “The British Invasion of Natchez,” a Spanish street party, “Show Boat” and “Carmen,” just to name a few. The festival saw an increase in ticket sales from last year of over 77 percent and had attendees from several countries as well as all over the United States.

The festival extends a whole-hearted thank-you to the many generous volunteers, patrons, housing hosts, and a sincere thank-you to all who participated in and came to savor the beautiful music that enhanced our lives in Natchez. Our list of thank-yous is long and distinguished.

We want to thank the generous benefactors who, through their donations, have made the festival possible. We are appreciative for the superior artistic direction so graciously bestowed by Mr. Jay Dean (and his bands of merry musicians) who has dedicated his talents in guiding the festival to a stellar 2016 success.

The enthusiasm of the artists who came to stay in Natchez was infectious as they presented both “Show Boat” and “Carmen.” We are grateful that such a level of professionalism in music performance now has been recognized in Natchez. We look forward to attracting the same quality of performers in coming years.

We look forward with great enthusiasm to the 2017 season, which will be dedicated to the Bicentennial birthday of the State of Mississippi, the birthplace of American music. We look forward to the diversity of our own Mississippi kind, from opera to classical to country to blues. It speaks for everyone. The festival eagerly showcases Mississippi artists to perform in our productions as well as showcasing Mississippi artists past and present.

We will announce our 27th season, May 2017 lineup of events on our website, natchezfestivalofmusic.com and our Facebook page very soon. Stay tuned, and I hope you will enjoy what we have in store for next year.

 

Mary Lessley is the chairwoman for the Natchez Festival of Music.