Enriching Washington’s musical scene
Washington D.C. boasts one of the more robust classical music scenes in the country: we’ve been expanding it even further for five seasons, programming works of unusual sizes, some unexpected combinations, and several under-explored composers. Information about our 2027 festival will be available soon.
Announcing our 2027 Festival
The Apotheosis of America: Classical Music in 1940s Los Angeles
The 2027 Epiphany Festival transports eventgoers back to Los Angeles in the 1940’s, where scores of European composers and musicians fled the ravages of WWII Europe to take refuge in the rising prestige and glamour of Hollywood. They arrived in a growing city that already boasted a notable classical music scene. Together, their music created one of the most vibrant combinations of time, place, and talent in the history of Western music.
Join us as we celebrate the works of these composers, including Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, Elinor Remick Warren, Erich Korngold, William Grant Still, and many others.
Program information, tickets, and more will be posted in September.
Our Past Festivals
Each year, we devote time and thought to crafting unique programs centered around a specific theme. Please read more about our past four festivals below
Our 2026 Festival: The Majesty of Finland
Our 2026 festival, the fifth we’ve produced, was dedicated entirely to works by Finnish composers. Despite having a population around the size of South Carolina, Finland has produced an outsized number of the 20th and 21st centuries most important classical musicians, including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Kaija Saariaho, Osmo Vänskä, Susanna Mälkki, and Jean Sibelius, among many others. Over the course of three performances at Westmoreland UCC and three salon concerts, we explored the role music plays in Finland’s cultural identity, and which attributes unite these remarkable compositions together. We featured cultural mainstays like Sibelius’ 7th Symphony and tone poem Luonnotar alongside compelling but lesser-heard works, including Einojuhani Rautavaara’s stirring all a cappella Vigilia and Kaija Saariaho’s scintilating Quatre Instants. Read more about the 2026 festival below.
Ravel, painted by Tanya Qu (2024)
Our 2025 Festival: Maurice Ravel’s France
Our 2025 festival was dedicated to the French composer Maurice Ravel, whose 150th birthday falls in March, 2025. Perhaps best remembered for his ubiquitous Boléro, Ravel unique and fastidious approach to harmony, orchestration, and form embody a particular time and place unlike any other. Over three concerts at Westmoreland UCC, we will explore not only some of Ravel’s lesser known works, but also the composers who surrounded him, both the famous and lesser-known. These concerts will explore not only who Ravel was a composer, but what factors shaped the environment in which he lived and worked, including international influences, and the remarkable success of women composers in early 20th century France. We invite you to read more about this immediately past festival by clicking below.
Performances
Read about our past series of three festivals in 2019, 2020, and 2024
About Us
Learn more about the festival as well as our director, Andrew Jonathan Welch, and our associate directors Laura Choi Stuart and Collin Power.