In 2008, after 53 years of bringing some of the world’s best chamber music to Edmonton and area audiences, The Edmonton Chamber Music Society launched a new initiative – the Summer Solstice Music Festival. 

When the Summer Solstice Music Festival was envisioned, there was no summer chamber music festival in the Edmonton region and the opportunity to bring a festival focus to the genre was unexplored. In that first year Dr. Patricia Tao took on the role of artistic director; a role she has continued in since.

The vision behind the Festival was novel in presentation. The Festival would place emphasis on bringing together musicians who did not routinely perform together. It was hoped that by bringing together less formal groupings of musicians, that the resulting collaborations would have the effect of pushing the boundaries of regular chamber music fare and blurring the lines between traditional classical music and other genres of music that could be fit into the intimate format of a chamber music performance.

Over the years this vision has grown to include novel venues and musical programs.

The Summer Solstice Music Festival now always includes a more intimate concert held in an alternative venue such as the Yellowhead Brewery, where patrons can sit together at tables to eat, drink, and enjoy the music.

It also always includes a free noon hour concert in the Art Gallery of Alberta. In 2019 that concert was held on the main floor, which was open to the public and just visible through the Gallery windows to passersby. In this setting patrons were able to combine two complementary art forms in one visit – chamber music and fine art. 

The Yellowhead Brewery