Shenandoah Valley Music Festival facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Shenandoah Valley Music Festival |
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Shrine Mont, Shenandoah Valley Music Festival's venue
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| Genre | Rock, Country, Bluegrass, Americana, Symphonic |
| Location(s) | Orkney Springs, Virginia |
| Years active | 1963-Present |
Shenandoah Valley Music Festival presents a concert series each summer that takes 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 Shenandoah Valley Music Festival is a nonprofit organization.
Concerts take place in the pavilion of Shrine Mont, formerly the Orkney Springs Hotel, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is now owned by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.
The Shenandoah Valley Music Festival has held its concert series each summer since 1963. Despite the Coronavirus epidemic in 2020, the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival still took place with all concerts held in September of that year. Since that year, strict measures were undertaken, such as wearing masks & social distancing.
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.
