The Carmel Bach Festival is honored to be the recipient of a $350,000 donation from the Emile Norman Charitable Trust. Emile was a passionate supporter of the arts and a faithful patron of the Carmel Bach Festival until his passing in 2009. This meaningful gift—the largest awarded from his estate—attests to his love of the Festival and the music of J.S. Bach.
“The gift left by the Emile Norman Charitable Trust is a testament to the power of music and, more specifically, the power of J.S. Bach,” says Executive Director Nathan Lutz. “This gift helps ensure the financial sustainability of the Carmel Bach Festival for many years to come.”
Emile Norman was a prolific sculptor and an aesthete gallery owner who called the beautiful Big Sur mountaintop home. He and his partner, Brooks Clement, attended their first Bach Festival concert in 1946, marking the beginning of an impactful and devoted relationship. Throughout his decades of patronage of the Carmel Bach Festival, Emile attended countless rehearsals and concerts—resplendent in his all-purple outfits, including purple high tops—even serving as a Festival board member.
When he passed in 2009, he left instructions for his Trustee to reward the Carmel Bach Festival for the continuing joy that it brings to our communities, year after year. The Carmel Bach Festival accepts this gift with deep gratitude and reverence for his enduring legacy and support for the arts in our region.