Carmel Bach Festival Collection

Post September 17, 2024

Bach Festival History

Founders “Dene (Denny) and Hazel (Watrous) succeeded in their work not by doing something ‘to’ the community, but by partnering with it…. Dene and Hazel envisioned something that they believed would bring joy to the community, they figured out a way to do it, and…they got people so excited about their vision that everyone worked together to help them make it a success.” - Carmel Impresarios by David Gordon

The Festival began in 1935 as a four-day series of concerts at the Sunset School Auditorium and the Carmel Mission Basilica under the direction of Ernst Bacon. The Festival’s inception coincided with Johann Sebastian Bach’s 250th birthday, and the founders were guided by the premise that Carmel-by-the-Sea should become the epicenter of world-class music, art and cultural expression. Bach’s birthday allowed the founders to use his name to give the new classical music festival a distinctive identity, and while Bach has figured heavily into each season’s repertoire selections, the Festival has always sought to perform a wide range of music.

Denny and Watrous were musical producers and owners of the influential Denny-Watrous Gallery. They spearheaded the creation of the Carmel Music Society and its annual concert series in 1927, after booking a few of their own concerts and events in their home and studio on North Dolores Street and also in the original Golden Bough Theater on Ocean Avenue. With these early events, the two visionary women laid the path for a rich tradition of classical music in Carmel.

Festival Music Directors: Ernst Bacon (1935), Sascha Jacobinoff (1936), Michel Penha (1937), Gastone Usigli (1938-1955), Sandor Salgo (1956-1991), Bruno Weil (1992-2010), Paul Goodwin (2011-2021), Grete Pedersen (2022-)

In the Archives

The Henry Meade Williams Local History Department holds the largest collection of historical material on the Carmel Bach Festival, including a full set of festival programs (also available online), a huge collection of photographs 1930s-2010s, and an extensive collection of newspaper clippings and special edition newspapers. (See full collection guide.)

Additional material can be found in the poster collection, the Margye Neswitz Collection and the Weekly Sun Collection.

Beyond Carmel, archival material can be found at the Stanford University Archives (Sandor Salgo Papers) and the Stanford University Archive of Recorded Sound (Carmel Bach Festival Tape Collection).