San Francisco Festival of the Mandolin

04/20/2026

04/20/2026

Photos from the Festival (4/19/2026)

04/13/2026

Tickets for SUNDAY APRIL 19 Festival are available in advance online, or at the door.

Get tickets online for San Francisco Festival of the Mandolins -2026 here.

04/11/2026

Ethan Setiawan, Winfield National Mandolin Champion and Rockygrass Mandolin Champion, and Hildaland partner Louise Bichan are coming from Maine to perform at the Mandolin Festival.

Ethan's also doing an in-person/Zoom workshop on Saturday for Peghead, https://www.pegheadnation.com/news-reviews/events/live-in-person-and-zoom-mandolin-workshop-with-ethan-setiawan/,
a live concert for Peghead in San Rafael https://www.pegheadnation.com/news-reviews/events/hildaland-concert-live-in-the-peghead-nation-studio-saturday-april-18/
and then teaching the next week at Walker Creek Music Camp.

Ethan Setiawan has a command of the mandolin far beyond

04/10/2026

Cacciatore di Tesori is Irene Herrmann, Maxwell Apra, Janet Dows, and Kaethe Hostetter, presenting tightly arranged neapolitan and cosmopolitan tunes on mandolins, concertina, and guitar. Check out their new CD:

13 track album

03/28/2026

Hear the musicians of the future here now: Jasper Manning & Sophia Sparks, plus Manning Music Mandolin Youth Nikolai Davis, Lazlo Price, Emil Sabel. Jasper will also lead the Bring Your Own Mandolin orchestra in the tune "Layered Horizon."

03/26/2026

The Festival starts with the Bring Your Own Mandolin Orchestra at noon. Arrive in time to settle in and to participate with your mandolin or other instrument, and maybe a stand for provided sheet music. Listeners can enjoy lunch and the bar. Many people consider this the highlight each year.

Tentative plan:
12:00 Josephine Pellegrini of Aurora MO, "Vecchia Spagna"
12:10 Irene Herrman of Caccitore di Tesori, "El Quelite"
12:20 John Metras of Gravenstein ME, "Como Llora Una Estrella"
12:30 Ethan Setiwan of Hildaland, "Gairsay"
12:40 Jasper Manning, "Layered Horizon" (by ear w/ chord chart)
12:55 Josephine Pellegrini of Aurora, "Marijana," a Croatian folk song, in honor of the Croatian American Cultural Center - San Francisco

03/25/2026

"House band" of the Mandolin Festival since its inception has been the Aurora Mandolin Orchestra, unique for its varied repertoire, including traditional and semi-classical Italian, Spanish, Russian, specialty ethnic and contemporary orchestral compositions. The largest orchestra of its kind in the San Francisco Bay Area, Aurora consists of up to thirty professional and amateur musicians (mandolin, mandola, mandocello, guitar, string bass, accordion, flute and percussion) from various parts of the Bay Area.
fb.com/groups/47928741986

03/23/2026

The Gravenstein Mandolin Ensemble was formed in 2006 in Sebastopol, California, the home of the famous Gravenstein apples. Though their members are all from Sonoma and Napa counties, their music comes from Europe, Russia, Latin America, the USA, and beyond. The GME plays Bach and Beatles, Scott Joplin and Claude Debussy, plus a mixture of vocal arrangements from Cole Porter to Bob Wills. Eclectic is the word. Their CD “Sweet Harvest” was released in 2018, and will be available at the Festival, along with recordings and books by founder Gus Garelick.
fb.com/GravensteinMandolinEnsemble

03/17/2026

Sheri Mignano Crawford's "Born in Audacity" Presentation Schedule:
* 1:45P-2:00P
* 2:30P-2:45P
* 3:30-3:45P and Special raffle for Sheri’s books will be in the side room/bar.

Sheri’s new book "Born in Audacity" explains why and how the mandolin’s popularity soared between 1880 and 1900. She discovered the missing links that led to San Francisco becoming a major hub in the mandolin world: Interconnected mandolin clubs, mandolin teachers’ private correspondence, faculty status at conservatories, and mandolin troupes that traveled to world’s fairs
and expositions and performed for the popular lyceum bureaus in America.

Includes:
* 130+ never seen before photographs of famous mandolinists
* Private correspondence between mandolin teachers
* San Francisco’s role in bringing together the multicultural influence of Italian and Spanish dances
* Eight (8) tables showing the evolution of mandolin clubs and mandolinists