AZ Music Fest

The stars really do shine brighter in Scottsdale North thanks to Arizona Musicfest! This nonprofit organization hosts some of the most notable stars of the music industry right here in North Scottsdale. Come out and experience some professional entertainment without having to leave Scottsdale North. To learn more, watch the video below.

Interview Transcript

– Are you a music lover that lives in Scottsdale North and you’re tired of having to drive all the way down into the Valley just to get your fix? We got a gift for you. We got a nonprofit organization that’s doing a series of presentations right here in Scottsdale North. Come on inside. We’ll tell you about it. Hey, gang, Scott with the Scott Gaertner group of Connecting Scottsdale North, and we are here tonight with Allan Naplan, the executive director of the Arizona Musicfest. Allan, here’s the big question for you. I think there’s a large group of people out there that would say yep, Scottsdale North is easily the most beautiful part of Scottsdale. It is the best place to live, but let’s face it. Culturally, if you care about culture, if you want to enjoy music, you’ve got to get on your horse and have a half a day’s ride south. What would you say to that?

– So our slogan this year, and it’ll probably continue for years to come is the stars shine brighter in North Scottsdale, and that’s true certainly because there are no street lights around here in North Scottsdale but also because the artists that we bring to Arizona Musicfest, which is at our core, is North Scottsdale. We feel very strongly that we are bringing tremendous culture to the North Scottsdale area through the celebrities that we have on our festival season.

– Awesome, I think that’s perfectly said. I love the slogan, and this is, we talked about it, this is a music fest which I think connotes you’ve got a weekend or two weekends kind of a thing. How is this set up?

– So we’re actually more of a presenting series. Our series goes from the beginning of November through middle of March. We’ll have 28 concerts this season. We’ll have over 30,000 attendees to these concerts. And, of course, we’re serving as the backyard venue for so many people in North Scottsdale, but then we’re able to bring up so many other people throughout the Valley because of the distinguished artists that we present.

– And they actually are distinguished artists. What is tonight?

– Tonight is New York Voices. This is a vocal jazz ensemble, Grammy award winning vocal jazz ensemble. They’re like Manhattan Transfer, the new generation of Manhattan Transfer. Later this season, the great Michael Bolton is coming, Chris Botti, Michael Feinstein. Earlier this season, we had Vanessa Williams and country star Sara Evans. So it’s sort of a who’s who of major artists.

– I think that really kind of says it all. So for you guys that had that thought like I was mentioning, by the way, this is primarily in the winter months.

– November through March, and yeah, the majority of our concerts are January though March.

– So the days are shorter. It’s dark out. People don’t feel like driving. This is right here. You don’t have to drive hardly at all, right.

– Exactly.

– And there’s a number of venues still?

– So we have one main venue, which we’re in right now, which is Highlands Church. It has 1,600 seats and is technical as capable as any great performing arts center in the nation. And then our orchestra plays at La Casa de Cristo, also in North Scottsdale off of Bell Road, and that’s a 1,200 seat, natural acoustic space, so it just rings with the sound of our orchestra.

– Oh, that is perfect. Well, I think that should give you a real feel that there’s plenty of culture in Scottsdale North. So if you get a chance, in fact, what’s the best way? It’s Arizona, Arizona? Go ahead.

– Check out our website, azmusicfest.org.

– Yeah, it’s really a nice looking website. There’s a schedule there. Can you even buy tickets there?

– You can buy tickets. Also, we have a lifelong learning series called Music Alive, which has over 150 events we’ll do this year between lectures and music programs where you can start playing ukulele in your 60s or 70s. We have drumming circles. We have a movie series. We have discussion groups about music. So there’s a lot going on here in North Scottsdale.

– Wow, that’s deep. Allan, thank you so much for taking the time. Really, I hope that you guys get a sense of the culture involved, and I really appreciate it.

– Thanks a lot.

About Scott Gaertner

Scott Gaertner

Scott Gaertner

Since 1984 Scott’s real estate career has always been committed to exceptional results and his business philosophy has always been “If you want extraordinary results, find out what the ordinary do – and then don’t do it!” Consequently his career has been a trail of astonishing successes created from ground-breaking methods.

His first year in real estate selling new homes for a large builder, Scott sold 101 homes and became the first recipient of the Arizona Homebuilders Association’s “Most Net Units Sold Award.” The Association created the award that year because they said nobody had ever heard of that many homes being sold in one year before! Later, due to his continued successes, he became the first recipient of the Homebuilder’s Association’s “Lifetime Achievement Award.”

In the resale home business, Scott continued his innovative trends by opening Scottsdale’s first real estate company devoted solely to representing real estate buyers. This pioneering event in 1990 was long before most had ever heard of the term “buyer’s agency” or considered buyer representation. After years of teaching classes and bringing much needed media exposure to the cause, buyer’s agency has become the accepted standard of practice. That cause complete, Scott moved on to a more traditional role with Keller Williams Northeast Realty. But of course, not in an ordinary way . . .

Shunning the conventional wisdom in resale real estate that says “Specialize in everything!” Scott adopted one small corner of the Scottsdale market to call his own. Using typically unconventional marketing methods and strategies, he became the dominant agent in one zip code of Scottsdale North. Dominant not only in numbers of sales, but in pricing successes for his clients.

By 2018, Scott’s techniques have proven so successful that he is now guaranteeing his results, and expanding his business to a much larger market in the North Valley.