A season to remember - 2025

Thank you!
This was a landmark season for the Mountain Light Music Festival. Thank you to all who joined us for a beautiful summer of music!
At the core of this festival is a spirit of celebration—the inner joyfulness of each person bringing their unique gifts and talents in service to our fellow man. Faculty and young artists are immersed in the creation and behold beauty. Restoration and the quiet majesty of the landscape give us life. 
This is what charms those who participate and attend the Mountain Light Music Festival. We invite you into a moment to contemplate, rest, be still, and know that the ability to lift one's spirit in festivity and connect with a renewed faith that restores souls helps sustain our purpose. 
Your Charitable Contribution Makes a Difference
A one-time gift to the Mountain Light Music Festival helps us determine programming for next season, secure artist faculty, recruit new young artist, secure venues, and promote the mentoring process. Please consider making a charitable contribution to Mountain Light Music. 
Make a GiftWhere Music Meets the Outdoors
Now in its 10th season, the Mountain Light Music Festival (MLMF) is an exclusive chamber music festival that makes its home in Pagosa Springs, CO. For two weeks in the summer, top musicians from around the country trade in the concert hall for the for the fresh air and breathtaking views of Colorado.

The visionary festival was founded in 2015 trombonist Brent Phillips, who is on faculty at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. As a boy, Phillips visited Pagosa each summer to participate in Voice of the Wilderness (VOW) outdoor adventures led by Chet Russel, backpacking through the glorious San Juan mountains and forests. When the former “President’s Own” U.S. Marine Band trombonist became a professor at Baylor University, Pagosa kept calling him back, and he launched MLMF through VOW in a fruitful, decade-long partnership.

Directed by Phillips and faculty Jon Whitaker, MLMF accepts an elite pool of collegiate musicians to participate each summer. The group is frequently joined by professional guest artists from University Texas El Paso, the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, Baylor University and more.
The Mission

We focus on our outdoor setting, community building in Pagosa, and using the incredible alpine wilderness as the perfect classroom for integrating music and nature. In addition to specialized musical training, we provide instruction in fly-casting, wilderness skills, orienteering, ecology, conservation, day hikes, and star gazing. Our activities and practice inspire creativity, provoke mindfulness, and introduce spiritual precepts to our craft. We believe this unique recipe is exactly what the aspiring young artist needs today.
2025 Artists
Faculty
Jonathan Whitaker
Professor of Trombone, University of Illinois
Steve Wilson
Professor of Trombone, University of Texas El Paso
Brad White
Associate Principal Trombone, ​Houston Symphony
Brent Phillips
Affiliate Artist, University of Houston
​Professor of Trombone, Baylor University (retired)
Young Artists
Kizer Brown
University of ​Arkansas
Adam Almeter
University of Illinois
Jonathan Kirchem
University of Illinois
Jackson Parker
University of Illinois
Nolan White
University of Illinois
Matt Williamson
University of Illinois
Isiah Vasquez
Rice University
Gannon Allen
Baylor University
Matthew Willingham
Baylor University
Grace Lipscomb
Baylor University
Tayton Crutsinger
Baylor University
Santi Amieva
Baylor University
Wyatt Bond
​Baylor University

Mountain Light Music Festival