Mendocino Music Festival fetes 40 years of welcoming musicians, concertgoers

MENDOCINO CO. 7/18/26 — Mendocino Music Festival Artistic Director Allan Pollack says there was a real need for such an event when he and festival cofounders pitched its first tent in 1987.

“At the time, professional musicians seemed to be a bit disgruntled with the scene and the tension of being in these professional orchestras, and we wanted to create an environment in which they could come up, be musicians and pay attention to the music,” Pollack recalls. “And it’s spectacularly beautiful up here. We put up a small tent on the edge of Pacific Ocean, and we had eight concerts — four orchestral concerts, four chamber music concerts. That was the first year, and it was a huge success.”