Schedule a Tour Discover Chapel of the Chimes
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Every year at the summer solstice, Bay Area composers and musicians fill Julia Morgan’s Oakland landmark with simultaneous live performances in every hallway.
1909Founded
115+ Years Serving Oakland Families
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Each June 21, Garden of Memory marks the summer solstice with a concert at Oakland’s Chapel of the Chimes, where music fills the indoor spaces and gardens. The building, designed with intention by Julia Morgan and the architects who followed her, turns into a maze of simultaneous performances, with composers, vocalists and sound artists performing in chapels, columbarium halls and stairwells across three floors. There’s no set path and no single stage. Visitors wander the halls, following whatever sound draws them next. Founded in 1996 by pianist Sarah Cahill, this tradition has grown into one of the Bay Area’s most beloved nights of music.
Presented each year by New Music Bay Area and Chapel of the Chimes, Garden of Memory turns a place built to honor lives into one that celebrates them through sound. Visitors move through halls lined with the names of those who came before, listening as musicians play. It’s part of something larger than a single evening. It’s a night when Oakland’s cultural community and Oakland’s history share the same rooms.
Garden of Memory is open to the public, but tickets are limited and must be purchased online in advance.
The Garden of Memory event at Chapel of the Chimes is held on June 21 each year (or the date of the summer solstice), and celebrates Bay Area musicians. They play throughout the columbarium halls and in the chapels so visitors can walk through and listen to whatever appeals to them.
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