Northern Lights Festival de Febrero is an annual classical and jazz music festival in the Lake Chapala/Guadalajara region, featuring the highest calibre of International musicians.
Northern Lights Festival de Febrero began as a dream in 2003 when Christopher Wilshere was still studying music performance at the University of Toronto. Since 1998 Chris had donated much of his time helping to teach young Mexican students in the Lake Chapala area. This experience inspired him to invite many of his friends and colleagues to Ajijic for a two week intensive music festival during one of the coldest months in Canada!
As a major part of this event we sincerely also believed in supporting the development of young, upcoming Mexican musicians by offering private instruction, public master-classes and by providing scholarships for students to continue their musical studies. By doing so, our aim was to increase the appreciation of classical music among the young people as well as enhance their musical abilities.
The first Festival was held in 2003 and was greeted with rave reviews and sold out theatres. Since then it has become the most anticipated cultural event in the Lake Chapala area and has garnered a reputation for excellence in Guadalajara. Christopher has always had a key focus on using the Festival to help Mexican music students and this has resulted in his acceptance to the post of Director of Music Education at PALCCO in Guadalajara, Mexico’s newest and most advanced centre for musical education. It also garnered him a prestigious Governor General’s Award from Canada, with Michealle Jean declaring Chris and the festival as “one of Canada’s proudest exports”.