Ellsworth Peterson, Artistic Director of the festival, is professor emeritus at Southwestern University, where he presented Brown Symposia on the music of Mahler, Britten, Shostakovich and Messiaen, and on the classical music of Thailand.

He has served as Artistic Director of the three previous Festivals of the Arts:
Handel in Georgetown (2005) , Haydn in Georgetown (2006) and Schubert in Georgetown (2007).