The Sierra Summer Festival

By Barbara Campbell

Many people have asked how the Sierra Summer Festival came into existence and I will attempt to recount the history of the organization to the best of my knowledge.  One always fears offending those who are accidentally omitted.

In 1978, a group of music loving, community minded people (Myron Crain, Betty Frampton, Clark Vaughn, Dan Hayden and Nina Kelly to name a few) got together to see if Mammoth Lakes could be a viable location for a summer music festival.  Dave McCoy offered the use of Warming Hut II and the festival committee was formed.  They contacted Bogidar Avramov, a second homeowner in Mammoth Lakes, then head of Loyola Marymont Music Department and the conductor of the Beverly Hills Symphony.  He welcomed the idea of bringing the symphony to Mammoth Lakes.  He had suggestions of smaller ensembles who could give quality performances as well.  The Beverly Hills Symphony, originally know as the Westside Symphony, played at the festival for several summers, but the cost of a full sized symphony orchestra was astronomical for our little mountain town.

Each year more and more talented local musicians ask Avramov if they could play and perform with the symphony orchestra.  Trombonist Elliott Thompson, Suzanne Stokes with her string bass and Wes Hawks on his clarinet come to mind as local performers who sat in with the symphony during those early years.  Hillside seating and picnics were popular at these concerts and banners were made to brighten up the festival site and Canyon Lodge, formerly called Warming Hut II.  Workshops of all types were offered by a variety of talented people to broaden the visitor experience and the festival.

The Sierra Summer Festival Committee started to expand and wanted to bring big name artists to Mammoth.  Attracting concert goers from out of the area was a major problem since Southern California had all the big talent right at their doorstep.  There were many obstacles to overcome such as inclement weather and major earthquakes, but the committee boldly moved ahead with a wide variety of music in an effort to meet the musical tastes of the community.  On one occasion, garbage bags were handed out to all the concert goers at the Kinston Trio concert making that a very memorable rainy concert.

The early years of the Sierra Summer Festival were very difficult financially and logistically, but a core group of volunteers stepped up to the plate to salvage the event physically and financially.  My involvement was minimal during the first few years of the festival, working on the beautification of the festival site.  When it appeared that the festival was going to find new leadership or close its doors, I volunteered to take the reins and try to move (it) forward.  I met with Bogidar Avramov and we decided that there were many fine musicians locally and perhaps what we needed to do was to put the idea of forming our own Eastern Sierra Symphony Orchestra out to the press and see what happened.  The result was that our first season, Bogidar conducted a 16 member chamber orchestra, followed by 32 member chamber orchestra the following and by the 3rd year, we had a 64 piece orchestra.  We were able to bring top musicians from the Southern California musical community to serve as first chair for many of the orchestra sections and serve as master teachers as well.  The Eastern Sierra Symphony Orchestra was created and the community was extremely supportive of our efforts and provided with some housing and rehearsal space.

As the years passed, we were blessed with a wonderful donor base and began to receive grants.  One grant was for the purchase of staging, making it possible for us to include dance and musical theater in our programming.  We had scaled the festival down to a size that we could handle both physically and financially.  It became apparent that the various types of music could be handled by others.  The arrival of the Felici Trio in Mammoth added strength to the chamber music element of our arts calendar so there could be a wide variety of events to satisfy the many musical tastes and interests of our residents and visitors.

The Sierra Summer Festival went “full circle” as it learned some costly and difficult lessons through the years, but the end result is that it has created a symphony orchestra, a vibrant arts community for the enjoyment of all and continues to bring symphonic music to our Eastern Sierra.  Bogidar Avramov is to be commended for his continued leadership of the orchestra.  He has had dedicated committee chairpersons throughout the years (Betty Frampton, Myron Crain, Jim Tenny, Vic Guder for example) and Mammoth Lakes is most fortunate to have the community support for these events that bring credibility and visitors to our beautiful Eastern Sierra.