Castleton Festival

The Castleton Festival is a place where the future meets the present - the future stars of the opera and concert worlds are nurtured by its present stars, especially the world renowned Lorin Maazel:"Not only does the Maestro bring out the best in these young musicians, they bring out the best in him. And ultimately, that's what makes the Castleton so special; young artist-fueled summer programs abound, but where else can they learn from the undisputed best?" Gramophone Magazine (2010).

The Castleton Festival has become one of the world's fastest growing international music festivals and training grounds for young artists, with an annual attendance of over 13,000 in its fourth year.

Castleton was launched in the summer of 2009 by The Chateauville Foundation, the brainchild of Maestro Lorin and Dietlinde Maazel. The Festival was created to emulate the winning business model of the historicGlyndebourne, Santa Fe and Caramoor opera festivals. Castleton has touched over 3,000 young people through open dress rehearsals, master classes and through its superb CATS (Castleton Artists TrainingSeminar) program for advanced vocal students which runs parallel to the Festival. Castleton is committed to engaging CATS alumni to return in future seasons to perform leading and supporting roles.

Castleton 2012 was launched by Virginia Commission for the Arts, awarding the Festival its first General Operating Support funding. Three new mainstage productions and 3 major orchestral concerts were offered, exceeding summer ticket revenue goals by 30% and underlining the strongest sales in Festival history. Summer attendance increased 31%. The Festival is the largest non-government employer in central Virginia's Rappahannock County.

The focal points of the Festival's performance activities are twofold: Festival Theatre: a 648 seat air-conditioned proscenium theatre that includes multi-level seating and an orchestra pit accommodating 90 musicians; Theatre House: an intimate, state-of-the-art 138 seat proscenium theatre including seating on two levels and an orchestra pit accommodating 20 musicians.