Birdfoot Festival

Birdfoot Festival empowers artists, inspires audiences, and upends expectations.

A rule-bending chamber music festival with a New Orleans flavor, Birdfoot Festival is recognized for its fresh approach and "youthful, rule-bending style" (Times-Picayune). Birdfoot believes that the dynamic musical culture of New Orleans -- characterized by intimate music venues with casual atmospheres yet an engaged listening culture -- has something to offer and inspire the future of chamber music.

Birdfoot provides time and space for artists to do their best work, and then brings musicians and audiences together to share meaningful musical experiences. Birdfoot presents performances by world-class musicians in intimate spaces so that you can be near the action.

Birdfoot's lively concerts take place in jazz clubs and concert halls, as well as schools, churches, community centers, street corners, cafés, office buildings, and more. A series of free Community Concerts brings great music to places where curious people already gather (and occasionally pop-up where they are least expected), starting conversations around chamber music outside the concert hall.

Since its founding in 2011, the Birdfoot Festival has presented more than 170 concerts and events and drawn musicians, friends, and fans from around the world.

Birdfoot 2023 journeyed beyond the concert hall with an unusual and adventurous season of music-making exploring our entwined relationship with the natural world. With music spanning several centuries, from Beethoven to John Cage and including ten living composers, Birdfoot 2023 featured a seven-concert Listening Pilgrimage that invited participants to celebrate the mythic dimensions of nature, bear witness to environmental degradation, and meditate on our place in the world.

Please visit Birdfoot's website for more about the festival, including programs such as an award-winning Young Artist Program, Artist Residencies, and HearHearNOLA (www.hearhearnola.org), that have been temporarily paused as Birdfoot recovers from the pandemic.

Testimonials

"… fiery, committed, intensely personal readings…the risk-taking energy was palpable…Birdfoot delivered what I want from any Louisiana festival" - Chris Waddington, Times Picayune music critic

Birdfoot "has made significant strides towards improving the climate and audience for classical music [in New Orleans]" - OffBeat Magazine

"Birdfoot Festival has distinguished itself as one of the most artistically compelling classical music festivals in the country." - Birdfoot artist

"Birdfoot is the perfect combination of music, joy and friendship." - Birdfoot artist

"Birdfoot Festival reminds us that classical music is not just for concert halls but is a way to enrich all of our lives, learn about the greatest music ever written, and explore the deepest levels of our own creative potential." - Birdfoot audience member