The Evelyn Dunbar Memorial Early Music Festival combines informed performance and scholarly inquiry.

Since its founding in 1996, the festival has provided exceptional opportunities for performers to prepare important masterworks with the guidance of leading scholars. Each festival has included masterclasses, pre-concert presentations, and lectures.

Magic and Majesty in the Music of George Frideric Handel

MAY 21-28, 2023

The centerpieces of this year's festival are Handel's Ode to St. Cecilia, a celebration of the art of music itself, and his opera Alcina, combining exquisite music with elements of magic and the supernatural. Distinguished featured guests include faculty violinist Carla Moore of the University of California, Berkeley, and guest scholar Alison C. DeSimone, who has written extensively on the intersections of music and theater in 18th-century England.

Festival History

Established through the generous support of Ruth Dunbar Davee and her husband, Ken M. Davee, the festival was named in memory of Ruth’s sister, Evelyn Dunbar, who was an enthusiastic participant in early music ensembles at Northwestern. Mrs. Davee earned her MA in 1937 and her PhD in English Literature in 1942, graduating with honors from Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. After her husband’s death in 1998, Mrs. Davee took over as president of The Davee Foundation. She was a member of the Bienen School of Music Advisory Board. Mrs. Davee died on April 19, 2011, at the age of 99.