About the Oregon Coast Music Festival

The Oregon Coast Music Festival (OCMF) has grown from a Coos Bay performance of Haydn music to a two-week-long annual festival that draws 5,000 to its varied concerts in several Coos Bay area locations. The OCMF had its beginnings in 1978, when Dr. Charles Heiden and his family moved to Coos Bay with the idea of encouraging local children to learn about orchestral music. Heiden, who had previously served as professor of violin at Willamette University, said he wanted to go somewhere "culturally impoverished," to plant seeds of culture.