Tessa Lark plays a violin that is older than the United States.
Lark is a Grammy-nominated violinist and the artistic director of the Moab Music Festival, which marks its 34th season this September and will celebrate 250 years of diverse American roots music.
That means that when Lark performs in September, she will stand in a canyon that is several hundred million years old, playing a 400-year-old violin and celebrating a 250-year-old country.
“It’s very humbling,” Lark told the Deseret News in May after performing a solo set at The Grand America Hotel. “This idea of things existing long before us and way long after us, too — it’s humbling in a very relieving way ... when we’re long gone, that violin is still going to be singing and telling a story.”
The Moab Music Festival combines music and nature for a series of indoor and outdoor performances featuring chamber music, jazz, Latin music and more. One concert is held on an open-air boat on the Colorado River; another takes place along a guided hike; a few are held at Moab’s historic Star Hall; Red Cliffs Lodge serves as another venue.
The festival’s signature events take place in the Colorado River Wilderness Grotto, which is accessible only by a 45-minute boat ride. The grotto itself is acoustically perfect, and The New York Times once called it “nature’s own concert hall.”
“Something magical happens with every type of music that’s performed out in the canyons because of how ancient and raw the landscape is,” Lark said. “It creates a canvas that, because it’s so mind-blowing, it opens your ears to just be ready for anything.”
The canyon walls themselves have even influenced some of this year’s music. Lark shared that the festival’s composer-in-residence, Andrew Yee, was inspired by the sounds of Moab’s rocks when writing some of their music.
This year’s theme celebrates 250 years of American music — something close to Lark’s heart, as she grew up playing bluegrass music in Appalachia.
American music history has long been a part of the Moab Music Festival, Lark said. Although the festival draws musicians from around the world, it has welcomed a number of American composers and artists. This year will still feature global music, but Lark said the theme extends beyond music.
“Another beautiful thing about American history is the opportunity that people come to this country for,” she said. “That’s a big mission for the Moab Music Festival.”
The festival programming features a wide variety of American music, including bluegrass, New Orleans jazz, vocalists and more. It will also feature Indigenous and Native American history and music; renowned Navajo flutist R. Carlos Nakai will perform both a signature grotto concert and a free community performance.
“Indigenous history and Native history, you feel it in the air and in the rocks in Moab,” Lark said. “It would be remiss of me to not pay homage to that incredibly deep culture.”
The Moab Music Festival runs from Sept. 2-18. Scheduling and tickets are available on the festival’s website.
The lineup features world-class musicians, but Lark believes the concerts are for anyone, regardless of musical experience. When musicians and concertgoers are all stripped down to the bare essentials — bug spray, sunscreen, no cell service — the music can shine.
“If that sounds appealing — to slow down and not think about the grind of the day and be unplugged and just get back to the essence of what makes being alive an awesome thing — then the festival’s for you,” she said. “It doesn’t matter what your playlist looks like.”
