Eastern Music Festival Concludes 58th Season On A High Note

Eastern Music Festival (EMF), Greensboro's nationally recognized classical music festival and summer educational program, just concluded a successful 2019 season of stellar performances and educational enrichment. The 58th Festival ran June 22 - July 27.

In 2019, over 21,000 attended EMF's 32 ticketed performances and 60+ free master classes, Young Artists recitals, pre-concert lectures, and events. EMF also presented 28 free programs in community outreach performances at libraries, churches, senior living communities, parks, schools, art galleries, and more. EMF received support from more than 250 individual contributors, philanthropic organizations, corporations, and in-kind donors. The Festival hosted its largest student participant population ever with 264 students from 41 states and 21 countries.

"EMF is a vital cultural and educational institution for Greensboro and the Triad," noted EMF executive director Chris Williams. "We celebrate these terrific audience, patron, and student numbers knowing that the Festival is on the right path as we head towards our 59th season in 2020 and our seventh decade in 2021."

"EMF is a unique, three-faceted arts driver that's an educational institution, a performance organization, and an economic engine of the Triad's entertainment and cultural fabric," added Williams.

EMF's many accomplishments this season included the addition of a new two-week Euphonium Tuba Institute and a new four-year contract with acclaimed music director Gerard Schwarz. EMF received significant and generous multi-year named gifts, including the establishment of the Alan G. Benaroya Music Director Chair and the Jack Hoffman Distinguished Guest Artist Program.

2019 marked the re-envisioned Tannenbaum-Sternberger Distinguished Teaching Artist Program. The Program brings acclaimed master teachers to EMF for short, intensive, focused study with the Festival's Young Artists. As expressed by a 2019 Distinguished Teaching Artist Marina Lomazov (Professor of Piano at the Eastman School of Music), "Having admired the Festival for years, I was delighted to be a part of it and to experience first-hand the wonderful atmosphere and highest quality of music making."

EMF provides more than $350,000 in scholarship support to deserving and talented students each year, employs more than 120 performing artists and support staff each season, and enlivens the Greensboro and Triad community through its performances and outreach activities. EMF partners with several regional institutions and organizations to produce the annual classical music institute and festival, including Guilford College, UNC-Greensboro, High Point University, Appalachian State University, Greensboro Public Libraries, City of Greensboro, Action Greensboro, Triad Stage, Greensboro Opera, Temple Emanuel, First Presbyterian Church of Greensboro, and Well-Spring.

EMF is fortunate to receive programmatic and general operating support from NC Arts Council, Arts Greensboro, the Lincoln Financial Foundation, the Mebane Foundation, the Cemala Foundation, the Tannenbaum-Sternberger Foundation, the DeJoy-Wos Family Foundation, the Greensboro and Summit Rotary Clubs, Starmount Forest Country Club, Yamaha, and Steinway Piano Gallery. EMF is also thankful for its in-kind and concert sponsors, including the O.Henry and Proximity Hotels, Pennybyrn, McMillion Capital Management, DMJ, the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro, Moore Music, the Winston-Salem Symphony, and Revolution Mill.

"We are grateful to our many sponsors, foundations, and patrons that support and appreciate what EMF offers in visibility and engagement," added Williams. "EMF's lasting relationship with our longtime and new sponsors and civic partners is proof that the arts are a valued and needed aspect of life in the Triad."

Eastern Music Festival recently concluded its 58th season on July 27, 2019, and planning is already underway for the 59th season, June 27 - August 1, 2020, in Greensboro, NC.

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