Lindsey Strand-Polyak, Education Program Director Baroque Music Festival, CdM

Lindsey Strand-Polyak holds a PhD in Musicology and a Master of Music in Violin Performance from UCLA, and is a regularly-performing Baroque concert artist on violin and viola, and an inspirational music-education leader. She is a passionate educator and arts advocate, who has worked with organizations including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Young Musicians Foundation, Education through Music—Los Angeles, Elemental Music Santa Monica, and the UCLA Mentor Outreach Program. In two decades in education and outreach, Dr. Strand-Polyak has taught in nearly every corner of Southern California, witnessing the immense impact that arts education makes across the economic spectrum.

Lindsey believes that historical performance and early music should be accessible to everyone, and young people can be energized to hone their research skills and depth of understanding and enjoyment of the history and performance of Western classical music through Baroque music workshops, side-by-side performances and clinics at all ages. In 2016, Strand-Polyak co-founded the community baroque orchestra Los Angeles Baroque (LAB), made up of dedicated musicians aged 16 to 81—amateur, student, and current- and post-professional—and has grown the organization to include its flagship “Big Band” Baroque Orchestra of over 30 players of all levels of musical ability, a chamber music outreach program for Los Angeles Public Library’s “L.A. Made” series, two Consort Clubs serving SoCal’s viol players, and more.

Since 2022-23 she has served as the Director of the San Francisco Early Music Society’s annual week-long Baroque Workshop which takes place every summer in the Bay Area of California. She adds the role of Education Program Director for the Baroque Music Festival, Corona del Mar’s new educational outreach initiative to her pedagogical resumé in fall 2024. The BMF’s program is made possible thanks to the generosity of donors to the Burton Karson Music Education Fund, since summer 2024, inspired by the Festival’s founder and Artistic Director Emeritus, Dr. Burton Karson.