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Guerneville has more than the usual dose and variety of outsiders.  That and the surrounding nature is why it is more memorable and more of an International destination than its more “ordinary” neighbor, Santa Rosa.

Many musicians view Sonoma County as the perfect place to get away from city life (crowded concerts/big halls).  Organizing over 2500 concerts in San Francisco and around the Bay, I moved to Guerneville to preserve inspired distance.  Also, after years of being too busy producing events in the Bay Area to travel abroad, I finally took the time to make what turned out to be a very successful, invigorating spring, Jungle, Temple and Archeological concert tour of Central America.  Afterwards it occurred to me that the typical focus toward Carnegie Hall seemed quite boring compared to actually performing a piano concert in a tree house in the Jungles of Costa Rica. When I returned I documented anecdotes and photos from this tour in my new book (see more info below).  Upon settling back home I also realized I live in a rain forest biosphere right here in Guerneville that is quite similar to the higher elevation cloud forests of Latin America.  My next concert tour from Los Angeles to New Orleans to Costa Rica focused on Chopin, Liszt and their Wild West and the Deep South musical descendants.  When I returned it occurred to me that I live in a bit of a “Wild West” town and biosphere right here in Guerneville.  Classical musicians might not at first think of Guerneville, Latin America or the Southwest as their preferred cultural destination but they call more remote destinations “getaways” for a reason!

Next time you need a “quick getaway” come to Guerneville!

We cannot thank the local resorts enough for treating our musicians like royalty!
Without the help of these resorts it would be even harder for me to thank our musicians adequately.  San Francisco Concerto Orchestra’s Favorite Resorts in Guerneville

Professional musicians from all of the most high-powered professional orchestras love to come to Guerneville to perform in Guerneville’s former mortuary.  In now what is my apartment/Music Inside Out & Center, the San Francisco Concerto Orchestra becomes The Mortuary Orchestra of Guerneville.  Our concerts here are intimate and the resorts here have had the foresight and generosity to help make this possible through consistently donating free rooms to our fine professional musicians.  These musicians drive for hours all to volunteer their services right here in the perfect little resort town of Guerneville because it is a one-of-a-kind orchestra!  So now over 200 musicians from all around the Bay Area who have all played with us whenever they could fit it into their busy schedules are now playing here and returning home to their many different orchestras to tell their fellow musicians and music loving friends about their little “getaway” and our new musical life in the middle of “God’s Country.”

As we get better known in Sonoma County will our events get crowded and noisy?  The best venues allow the audience to actually hear the music to its full effect.  There is nothing quite like the audience practically sitting inside the orchestra. Our orchestral concerts often “sell out,” but nonetheless don’t feel that crowded as with only 90 chairs and 30 musicians there are only 60 seats left for audience.

Over 20 years ago practically by accident, and certainly outside “the real world,” I founded San Francisco Concerto Orchestra.  Many musicians, including those with established international stature, have used the experience and exposure we provided towards considerable professional advancement.  Our orchestra gave me and many other musicians experience (the most valuable training) that most schools or orchestras weren’t willing to offer.  Since our musicians play and teach in the Bay Area’s best known schools and orchestras, word of what we keep providing keeps spreading and instilling a bit of “guilty conscience” within other organizations.  So then perhaps Bay Area orchestras and schools kept finding more ways to feature their own members and students as well as up and coming talent from their own communities.  This is only logical as all of this is merely part of an inevitable shift in focus worldwide.

Why my concerts and this orchestra exist is also partly described in my new book I recently published.  Described as a “Best Seller” by The Arts Council of Sonoma County, it relates the history of my family and my idols to Gershwin, my own history, my orchestra’s history, and to music history (especially North and South American).  All is woven through pictures of my first Latin American Jungle, Temple and Archeological Concert Tour, the Mayan legend of the 13 crystal Skulls and America’s favorite Soap Opera’s recent metaphorically rather shocking and perhaps even alien portrayal of a Lesbian rock star trapped in a Man’s body as she evolves and transitions to cross over to new beginnings.  All My Children was my mom’s favorite soap opera and probably that of your moms, too.  That is why I included it in this book.

In other words without reading this book you probably will have no clue what it is about!

Come to a concert and buy it or call 707-604-7600 - $25