Guest artistic director for the 2011 Festival is Brooklyn Rider. As the resident string quartet of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, Brooklyn Rider has gained prominence in classical chamber music as well as other musical worlds often remote from chamber music. The quartet’s ability to find confluences among diverse musical traditions has yielded acclaim from a wide spectrum of sources: they have captivated NPR broadcasters (“classically trained to within an inch of their lives”) and traditional music critics (“four strong, feisty voices”) and online indie music bloggers (“violins, viola and cello sharp as knives”).

Brooklyn Rider has worked extensively with Kayhan Kalhor, arguably the best-known artist working the Persian classical tradition in the United States and director of Masters of Persian Music ensemble. Together Brooklyn Rider and Kayhan Kalhor released the very popular “Silent City” on Harmonia Mundi’s respected world music label. Brooklyn Rider has also collaborated frequently with Silk Road Ensemble veteran Kojiro Umezaki, who is master of the shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) and a faculty member at UC Irvine.

Both Kayhan Kalhor and Kojiro Umezaki will join Brooklyn Rider at the 2011 Laguna Beach Music Festival, making it a festival spiked with the many flavors these artists bring to the table. Classical quartet repertoire, contemporary musical composition, world music traditions and visual arts collaboration each will have a place in this many-faceted event. As always, the Festival will match prominent and promising artists, creating unique mentoring opportunities.

This year the Festival moves to its new home at Laguna Playhouse; Festival mainstage concerts are scheduled for February 10, 12 & 13, 2011. Informal concerts and other music-based activities will take place throughout the week at Hotel Laguna and in galleries, private homes and public spaces. A highlight of Festival concerts will be the world premiere of a new work by Brooklyn Rider violinist Colin Jacobsen for the quartet and Kayhan Kalhor.

The Festival is a joint project of Laguna Beach Live! and the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and is supported by the lodging establishments and City of Laguna Beach, the Laguna Beach Community Foundation, and corporate and individual donors.

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Festival Headquarters is Hotel Laguna, 425 So. Coast Hwy. The world famous Hotel Laguna has maintained the essence of early California, combined with the charm and elegance of Europe’s finest historical establishments. Concerts are held at Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Rd.