The Sitka Summer Music Festival was founded in 1972 by violinist Paul Rosenthal, a then aspiring artist just completing instruction at the University of Southern California with master violinist Jascha Heifetz. Mr. Rosenthal, a native New Yorker, began playing violin at three. He studied with Dorothy DeLay at The Juilliard School, Ivan Galamian and Josef Gingold prior to coaching with Heifetz.

Rosenthal found Sitka to be perfect for a chamber music festival when he visited the community on tour with the Arctic Chamber Orchestra. He immediately contacted several colleagues from the legendary Piatigorsky/Heifetz Master Classes and invited them to come to Sitka for the first Sitka Summer Music Festival in June 1972. At that time, a handful of people from around Alaska contributed just enough money to buy the musicians one-way tickets to Sitka, and just enough people attended the concerts to raise the money for their return flights. The musicians performed without fee that year in Sitka and have volunteered their talent every year since. To save on expenses, Rosenthal formed an early partnership with Sheldon Jackson College which allowed the artists and their families to live on campus, frequently in Stevenson Hall. Since 1972, over 150 professional classical musicians have performed with the Festival.

In 2011, Paul Rosenthal retired from the Festival. In his four decades as Artistic Director, Paul helped to nurture deep roots across the state: an enthusiastic audience, authentic friendships, and dedicated contributors. Paul carefully chose cellist Zuill Bailey as his successor to continue his tradition of consistently bringing the highest caliber of classical music to Alaska.

The Stevenson Hall Story

In 2010, Sitka Music Festival was fortunate to acquire Stevenson Hall on the historic campus of the former Sheldon Jackson College.  The building had been vacant ever since Sheldon Jackson College closed in 2007.  When Stevenson Hall went up for sale in 2010, the Festival was not in a position to purchase the building.  Fortunately, a friend of the Festival stepped forward and bought the building, then held onto it until SMF could raise the funds.  By early 2015, the Festival had raised the first round of funds and secured ownership of the building.

Following the purchase of Stevenson Hall, SMF immediately embarked on another round of fundraising – in order to renovate and make the thorough improvements that were critical to saving the building and realizing our future vision.  When SMF took ownership, there was no insulation, inadequate heat and electricity, and no sound proofing – important to our musicians who often rehearse simultaneously.  Besides making the building more comfortable and useful to our artists and staff, SMF desired to create a welcoming public space for visitors to enjoy our music and our company.  Major improvements began in 2015 when the foundation was repaired, followed by a full roof was replacement in 2017.  The remaining renovation work began in late 2019 and continued through May 2021 when we moved back into the building – just in time for our 50th Anniversary Season!  After the multi-year and nearly $5 million renovation, Stevenson Hall has been rededicated as The Miner Music Center at Stevenson Hall.

Finding a Home

Throughout the Sitka Music Festival’s history, world-class musicians have come to Sitka to perform throughout the month of June.  Through the years, they had been staying at Stevenson Hall, but when Sheldon Jackson College closed in 2007, the Festival was forced to leave its home, and find other accommodations for its artists and staff.  The cost of finding lodging for visiting musicians during Sitka’s busy summer visitor season was expensive, and it took away from our mission.

Purchasing and renovating Stevenson Hall gives us a permanent home that will help us improve our mission of providing top-caliber music across the entire state of Alaska. The Miner Music Center at Stevenson Hall will become a year-round center for classical music. SMF will build educational outreach programs and host more artists throughout the year. Those programs and artists will end up in Anchorage, Kotzebue, Bethel, Unalaska, Juneau, Talkeetna, and more than 30 communities across the state.  Stevenson Hall lets us create a home base to share the music we love with the state we love.