Paul Festa

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Paul Festa[1] is a San Francisco-based writer, filmmaker and violinist.

1 Writing
2 Film
3 Music
4 Film appearances

[edit] Writing

Festa's essays have appeared in Nerve (website), Salon.com, and three editions of the Cleis Press's annual Best Sex Writing anthology (2008[2], 2006[3] and 2005[4]). His essays, fiction and journalism have won numerous awards[5].

[edit] Film

His film Apparition of the Eternal Church[6] is about the response of 31 artists and writers, including literary critic Harold Bloom, filmmaker John Cameron Mitchell, Scissor Sisters singer Ana Matronic, novelist Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket), and drag performers Justin Bond (Kiki & Herb) and Jackie Beat [7], to the music of Olivier Messiaen. It won awards at several film festivals.[8]

[edit] Music

As a violinist, Festa won the San Francisco Symphony Young Musicians Award, toured Scandinavia as soloist with the California Youth Symphony, studied violin at the Juilliard School from 1990 to 1993, and performed in New York with Albert Fuller's[9] Helicon Ensemble[10]. Fourteen years after a repetitive strain injury curtailed his musical career, Festa resumed public performances in 2007 as both violinist and actor with the Stephen Pelton Dance Theater[11] in San Francisco, and the North Bay Shakespeare Company[12] in Novato, California[13]. At the Boston University Messiaen Project[14] conference "Messiaen the Theologian," in October 2007, Festa and pianist Luke Berryman gave the U.S. premiere[15] of Messiaen's recently discovered 1933 Fantaisie for violin and piano (List of compositions by Olivier Messiaen). He gave the New York premiere, with pianist Melvin Chen[16] in February 2008. In April 2008, with pianist Steven Vanhauwaert[17], he gave the West Coast premiere in San Francisco, and the Los Angeles premiere.[18]