(l) Executive Director, David Palmer, and General Manager, (r) Caroline Kinsey.
The internationally acclaimed Hot Springs Music Festival (HSMF) returns to live performances in Hot Springs June 7-11, after performing on Zoom last summer due to Covid.
This summer’s festival will include the exciting and highly popular Inside-Out rehearsal on June 7. Inside-Out allows the audience to sit among the Musicians and observe a professional Director and Musicians rehearsal as if they, the audience, were a part of it. This experience also allows the audience to meet and get to know the musicians and ask them more about themselves and their instruments.
On June 9, 10, and 11 there will be formal performances, including some of the musician’s favorite ensemble pieces one evening and another evening dedicated to an audience favorite, Potpourri, in which the musicians perform a broad range of pieces, including Broadway, Jazz, or pieces written for unusual instrument ensembles such as flute and bassoon, or violins and xylophone.
Over the past 24 years, the HSMF has established a positive international image for Hot Springs. The festival has hosted musicians from 25 nations. Festival alumni have become professional musicians in many leading symphonies and have won numerous international music competitions, most recently the 2020 Philadelphia International Music Festival.
This year an exciting new team of leadership has joined the festival. The new Executive Director is David Palmer. Palmer is a concert pianist who has performed throughout the U.S., Europe, and South America. He currently serves as Music Director for Chamber Music Amarillo, an ensemble within the Amarillo Symphony. He has worked with musicians across multiple genres, from Jazz to Latin to Country.
Joining Palmer to head the leadership team is Caroline Kinsey as General Manager. Kinsey is the principal French Horn with the Memphis Symphony after having served for 11 years as Principal Horn for the Arkansas Symphony. She received her Bachelors from the prestigious Eastman School of Music and a Professional Studies Certification from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She has played with numerous orchestras internationally
“We are particularly fortunate that their experiences include a lifetime of broad contacts with major internationally recognized leaders in the profession combined with experience building and leading successful musical ensembles and festivals in smaller venues, such as Hot Springs,” said HSMF board president David Childs.
“They are already laying foundations for significant improvements in the festival’s future: 1) negotiated a relationship with Central Theatre to serve as a venue for festival performances, 2) modernized the festival’s use of technology and social media, which has 3) significantly strengthened relationships with the festival’s 24 years of respected Alumni worldwide; 4) begun plans to present both musical and social festival events year-round, and 5) plan to improve awareness and marketing of the festival among regional metro areas.”For more information about the festival, visit www.hotmusicfestival.com or Facebook: Hot Springs Music Festival.
