Shenandoah Valley Music Festival


Shenandoah Valley Music Festival is a concert series that takes place mid-July through Labor Day weekend at Shrine Mont in Orkney Springs, Virginia. The Festival started in 1963 as a way of bringing symphonic music to the rural Shenandoah Valley. Symphonic music is still included in the series; other genres including bluegrass, country, folk, pop-rock, roots, and Americana are also presented. Past artists have included Bruce Hornsby, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Home Free, The Temptations, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kenny G, LeAnn Rimes, Ricky Skaggs, Kris Kristofferson, Pure Prairie League, Poco, and The Beach Boys.
The Festival is a nonprofit organization.
Concerts take place in the pavilion of the former Orkney Springs Hotel, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is now owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, which calls it "Shrine Mont".
Despite the Coronavirus epidemic and having to reschedule some of its concerts to 2021, Shenandoah Valley Music Festival is taking place in 2020, starting Aug. 21.

History

In the early 1960s Helen M. Thompson, executive secretary of the American Symphony Orchestra League, and Col. Robert Benchoff, Headmaster of the Massanutten Military Academy, sought to bring symphonic music to Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Under the artistic direction of conductor Dr. Richard Lert, they hosted the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival's first concert, held in the gymnasium of the Massanutten Military Academy in 1963. The Festival has since branched into hosting a multitude of genres including rock, country, bluegrass, folk, Americana, and pop.