Future Fifty Fund Celebrates Milestone
Posted: February 20, 2013
This summer, as the music echoes through the hills at Orkney Springs, the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival will celebrate its 50th anniversary.
In celebration of 50 years, music festival execs have established the Future Fifty Fund, with hopes of raising $100,000 by the end of the year.
“We are a little more than 20 percent of the way there,” said Executive Director Dennis Lynch.
“The festival has always been funded by the people, and people come from all over to attend.”
Lynch mentioned the thousands touched by the festival; nonprofits selling ice cream, couples on their first date, musical education programs, “If just 2,000 of these people give $50 or add $50 to what they have contributed — there’s $100,000 right there,” he said.
With these donations, organizers hope to make the event a yearlong celebration and branch into other communities.
Queue The Music
The summer of 1963 marked the start of the festival.
The Orkney Springs Hotel, now the Virginia House, was used for multi-year conductors workshops to train upcoming conductors. “The best way to create a new conductor was to create an orchestra,” according to Lynch.
A Likely Story
The origin of the festival, Lynch says, may be “too entertaining to be true.” Lore holds that the hotel would get so hot in the summer, that the orchestra would open the giant floor-to-ceiling windows for a breeze.
“People in the community would gather around the outside of the hotel and listen to them play — and, legend has it, that a man stuck his head in the window and said, ‘Hey, can you play one from beginning to end without stopping?’ ”
The original chamber concert was held in the gymnasium of Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, quickly outgrown due to popularity.
In the mid-1970s, enough money was raised to build a series of platforms to use for a stage, which were set up in a cornfield, now the grounds of the venue.
Moving the festival location made the summer heat more tolerable, but added the risk of the elements.
A Growth Crescendo
Organizers hope to reflect growth in the musical notes as well.
“Music tastes are changing. … Not a lot of people listen to symphonic music anymore,” says Lynch. The festival branched out into various musical categories in the early 1980s, beginning with Big Band.
Categories now include singer/songwriter, bluegrass, folk, jazz and country.
The music used to be “clear-cut, with clean definition,” says Lynch, but the mix of categories gives the public a chance to discover something new.
The festival is open to the public and organizers are accepting ideas, opinions and suggestions.
For more information, contact svmfads@shentel.net, call (540) 459-3396 or visit musicfest.org.
In celebration of 50 years, music festival execs have established the Future Fifty Fund, with hopes of raising $100,000 by the end of the year.
“We are a little more than 20 percent of the way there,” said Executive Director Dennis Lynch.
“The festival has always been funded by the people, and people come from all over to attend.”
Lynch mentioned the thousands touched by the festival; nonprofits selling ice cream, couples on their first date, musical education programs, “If just 2,000 of these people give $50 or add $50 to what they have contributed — there’s $100,000 right there,” he said.
With these donations, organizers hope to make the event a yearlong celebration and branch into other communities.
Queue The Music
The summer of 1963 marked the start of the festival.
The Orkney Springs Hotel, now the Virginia House, was used for multi-year conductors workshops to train upcoming conductors. “The best way to create a new conductor was to create an orchestra,” according to Lynch.
A Likely Story
The origin of the festival, Lynch says, may be “too entertaining to be true.” Lore holds that the hotel would get so hot in the summer, that the orchestra would open the giant floor-to-ceiling windows for a breeze.
“People in the community would gather around the outside of the hotel and listen to them play — and, legend has it, that a man stuck his head in the window and said, ‘Hey, can you play one from beginning to end without stopping?’ ”
The original chamber concert was held in the gymnasium of Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, quickly outgrown due to popularity.
In the mid-1970s, enough money was raised to build a series of platforms to use for a stage, which were set up in a cornfield, now the grounds of the venue.
Moving the festival location made the summer heat more tolerable, but added the risk of the elements.
A Growth Crescendo
Organizers hope to reflect growth in the musical notes as well.
“Music tastes are changing. … Not a lot of people listen to symphonic music anymore,” says Lynch. The festival branched out into various musical categories in the early 1980s, beginning with Big Band.
Categories now include singer/songwriter, bluegrass, folk, jazz and country.
The music used to be “clear-cut, with clean definition,” says Lynch, but the mix of categories gives the public a chance to discover something new.
The festival is open to the public and organizers are accepting ideas, opinions and suggestions.
For more information, contact svmfads@shentel.net, call (540) 459-3396 or visit musicfest.org.
Contact Aimee George at (540) 574-6292 or ageorge@dnronline.com.