Music Festival Rooted in Valley History
The Shenandoah Valley Music Festival has been bringing great music to the Valley since 1963. It all began as an outgrowth of the American Symphony Orchestra League’s conductors’ workshops at Orkney Springs Hotel, now the Festival’s concert venue and home to Shrine Mont Retreat and Conference Center.
In the early 1960s, Helen M. Thompson, the league’s executive secretary, and Col. Robert Benchoff, headmaster of Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, Va., noticed the absence of live symphonic music in Shenandoah County. The duo, along with a committee of local music lovers who shared their mission, worked together to present SVMF’s first concert — The Symphony League Philharmonic Orchestra — at Massanutten Military Academy in 1963.
SVMF grew over time, with concerts taking place in Woodstock and Orkney Springs. In 1976, SVMF moved to the outdoor pavilion to the Orkney Springs Hotel. The hotel property was purchased by Shrine Mont in 1979 and SVMF has continued to use the pavilion for its concerts each summer.
Before the 1980s, SVMF was purely symphonic. Then it began adding big band, and eventually, other genres of music, including Americana/roots, pop/rock, country, folk and bluegrass, were added to the concert lineup.
Today the festival presents concerts over four weekends from mid-July through Labor Day weekend, featuring many famous, award-winning artists from across the spectrum. With concerts featuring artists, such as The Temptations, Mary Chapin Carpenter, the Beach Boys, Ricky Skaggs, KANSAS, Travis Tritt, Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Hornsby, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and LeAnn Rimes, SVMF has created a strong tradition of providing a “wow” experience for concert-goers just a short-drive away from the nation’s capital.
SVMF has also supported music education locally throughout the years. Most recently it has been sponsoring hands-on, instructional workshops in partnership with the Shannon Music Heritage Fund and the Shenandoah Community Foundation. The workshops are led by artists who perform at SVMF and are accomplished players with expertise one or more acoustic, stringed-instruments.
As one of the longest-running outdoor concert series in Virginia, SVMF’s rich history is a testament to the public’s love of great music that it continues to bring to the Valley each summer and to the magic of its special setting in the beautiful village of Orkney Springs. One visit and you’ll want to come back, time and time again, to become part of that history
2023 Summer Schedule
7/21/23 – Three Dog Night with special guest Jay Psaros
7/22/23 – Don McLean with special guest Meisha Herron
7/28/23 – The Doo-Wop Project
7/29/23 – 1964 The Tribute (Beatles Tribute)
8/18/23 – Forever Motown
8/19/23 – Steep Canyon Rangers
9/2/23 – Legends of Country Rock, featuring Pure Prairie League and Firefall
9/3/23 – Hot Strings & Cool Breezes Americana Minifest, featuring The Steel Wheels, Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley, Wicked Sycamore
2022 Summer Schedule
7/22/22 – Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives
7/23/22 – The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute
7/29/22 – ABBA the Concert: A Tribute to ABBA
7/30/22 – Richmond Symphony, with the Shenandoah Valley Choral Society, performing Beethoven’s Ninth!
8/12/22 – America
8/13/22 – Village People
9/3/22 – The Spinners
9/4/22 – Hot Strings & Cool Breezes Americana Minifest, featuring Bela Fleck – My Bluegrass Heart, with Billy Contreras, Jacob Joliff, Justin Moses, Bryan Sutton and Mark Schatz
2021 Summer Schedule
7/23/21 – The Four Tops
7/24/21 – Classic Albums Live performs Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours
7/30/21 – Aoife O’Donovan with special guest Carsie Blanton
7/31/21 – KANSAS
8/13/21 – Phil Vassar
8/14/21 – Black Violin
9/3/21 – Madeleine Peyroux – Careless Love Forever Tour
9/4/21 – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with special guest Daniel Donato
9/5/21 – Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Americana Minifest, featuring Steep Canyon Rangers, The Gibson Brothers and Chatham Rabbits
2020 Summer Schedule
9/04/20 – The SteelDrivers
9/05/20 – Eileen Ivers and Universal Roots
9/06/20 – Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Minifest, featuring The Seldom Scene and The Gina Furtado Project
9/18/20 – The Travelin’ McCourys
9/19/20 – Sam Bush
2019 Summer Schedule
7/19/19 – The Drifters, The Platters and Cornell Gunter’s Coasters
7/20/19 – One Giant Leap — “The Planets” and Beyond, 50th anniversary celebration of the first moon landing
7/26/19 – The Beach Boys
7/27/19 – PSO Rocks! “Still Stardust, Still Golden, Woodstock at 50”
8/9/19 – The Oak Ridge Boys
8/10/19 – Home Free
8/31/19 – Judy Collins
9/1/19 – Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Americana Minifest, featuring The Travelin’ McCourys, Sierra Hull & Justin Moses, and The Becky Buller Band
2018 Summer Schedule
7/20/18 – Home Free – Timeless World Tour
7/21/18 – Piedmont Symphony Orchestra – The Music of Pink Floyd
7/27/18 – The Temptations
7/28/18 – Piedmont Symphony Orchestra – “Oh, Shenandoah! Music for Your Eyes”
8/10/18 – Mary Chapin Carpenter with special guest Emily Barker
8/11/18 – Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes with special guest James Maddock
9/1/18 – Kenny G
9/2/18 – Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Bluegrass Minifest, featuring Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen and Circus No. 9
2017 Summer Schedule
7/21/17 – An Evening with Arlo Guthrie
7/22/17 – Piedmont Symphony Orchestra – “Sgt. Pepper and the Summer of Love”
7/28/17 – Pure Prairie League and Poco
7/29/17 – Piedmont Symphony Orchestra – “PSO in Tinseltown”
8/11/17 – The HillBenders and Seldom Scene
8/12/17 – The Midtown Men
9/02/17 – Emmylou Harris with special guests Erice Brace, Peter Cooper and Thomm Jutz
9/03/17 – Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Bluegrass Minifest, featuring Balsam Range, Band of Ruhks and After Jack
2016 Summer Schedule
7/15/16 – The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
7/22/16 – The Hunts and The Band Concord
7/23/16 – The Piedmont Symphony Orchestra – Pops: “The Beatles and Friends”
7/29/16 – Eileen Ivers
7/30/16 – The Piedmont Symphony Orchestra – Classical: “Tcheck Out Tchaikovsky”
8/12/16 – The SteelDrivers
8/13/16 – LeAnn Rimes
9/3/16 – Bruce Hornsby
9/4/16 – Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Bluegrass Minifest, featuring The Grascals with Flatt Lonesome and the Barefoot Movement
2015 Summer Schedule
7/17/15- Smash Mouth and Toad the Wet Sprocket
7/18/15- Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Roots MiniFest featuring Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn
7/24/15- “She Did It Her Way” with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra featuring soloists Mary Michael Patterson and Hilary Morrow
7/25/15- Jackie Evancho
8/7/15- The Lettermen
8/8/15- Gimme Abbey
9/5/15- The Oak Ridge Boys
9/6/15- Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Bluegrass MiniFest featuring Seldom Scene
2014 Summer Schedule
7/18/14- Straight No Chaser
7/19/14- Rosanne Cash with John Leventhal
7/25/14- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—”I’ll Be Seeing You”
7/26/14- Silly Bus
7/26/14- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—”A Civil War Portrait”
7/27/14- US Airforce Strings
8/1/14- Arrival from Sweeden
8/2/14- Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Bluegrass Minifest, featuring Rhonda Vincent
8/30/14- Gustafer Yellowgold
8/30/14- The Oak Ridge Boys
8/31/14- Eddie From Ohio
2013 Summer Schedule
7/19/13- An Intimate Evening with Dave Mason with special guest, Chatham Street
7/20/13- Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Bluegrass Mini-fest, featuring Nothin’ Fancy, Circa Blue, and Me and Martha
7/26/13- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—Classical Masterworks
7/27/13- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—”An Enchanted Evening”
8/3/13- Kris Kristofferson
8/9/13- Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives
8/31/13- Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul
9/1/13- “1964” …The Tribute
2012 Summer Schedule
7/20/12- The Blind Boys of Alabama
7/21/12- Shawn Colvin with special guest Kat Edmonson
7/27/12- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—”Satchmo, Fats and the Duke!” with special guest Byron Stripling
7/28/12- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—”Classical Masterworks” with special guest Anton Miller
8/10/12- Railroad Earth with special guest The Hackensaw Boys
8/11/12- SVMF’s Trop Rock Festival featuring Jim Morris and the Big Bamboo Band
Special guests: Coral Reefer Doyle Grisham and John Frinzi; Latitude
9/1/12- Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra
9/1/12- SVMF’s Bluegrass Minifest featuring The Seldom Scene, Nothin’ Fancy, Drymill Road and the Gold Top County Ramblers
9/2/12- Asleep at the Wheel
SVMF Timeline
1960: The American Symphony Orchestra League (ASOL) moved its Eastern Institute of Orchestral Studies to Shrine Mont with Dr. Richard Lert as conductor and artistic director.
1963: The Shenandoah Valley Music Festival Committee was formed by a group of area residents to present classical music concerts to the public.
Aug. 11, 1963: A chamber music concert was presented on the front lawn of the Orkney Springs Hotel (attendance 200).
Aug. 16, 1963: The premier public performance in the Shenandoah Valley by the Symphony League Philharmonic Orchestra was presented at Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, Va. by the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival Committee and the ASOL.
1966: The Shenandoah Valley Music Festival Committee and the ASOL helped to establish the first string program in the Shenandoah County Public Schools from a federal youth education grant. Fifteen students participated in the first workshop.
1970: A Festival chorus, which was later permanently established as the Shenandoah Valley Choral Society, was formed to perform Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Festival Orchestra.
1975: Musicianship awards — later to be known as the Katharine Benchoff Awards — were established to recognize outstanding band, chorus and orchestra students in Shenandoah Valley high schools.
1976: All Shenandoah Valley Music Festival summer concerts were moved to the Outdoor Pavilion on the grounds of the Orkney Springs Hotel.
1978: Dr. Richard Lert retired and the ASOL Orchestral Workshops at Orkney Springs were dissolved. More than 2,100 people attend one of the final concerts.
1979: The Fairfax Symphony Orchestra played at the Festival for the first time.
1981: The Festival Arts & Crafts Shows were added.
1984: The Festival format was expanded to include big band music, and later jazz, folk and other types of music in addition to symphonic.
1985: The Katharine Benchoff Performance Awards were established to recognize outstanding skill and accomplishments by Shenandoah Valley high school students.
1987: The Festival’s MusicMakers Family Programs were established to reinstate children’s programming and educational activities. The first annual Benefit Ball was held as part of the Festival’s 25th Anniversary season.
1988: The Festival began an annual Community Messiah Sing.
1991 – 1992: The Festival was named one of the Top 20 July events by the Southeastern Tourism Society.
1992: The Shenandoah Valley Music Festival Guild is formed to raise money for the Festival.
1994: Attendance for the Festival’s Symphony Weekends topped 5,000. A College Concerto Competition was established. The Festival receives the Shenandoah Bowl, the SVTA’s highest award for contributions to the Valley’s tourism industry.
1995: The first Christmas Brunch was held.
1997: The Festival hits the information super highway with www.musicfest.org. Political “odd couple” James Carville and Mary Matalin narrated Aaron Copeland’s “Lincoln Portrait” with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra.
1998: Another record year for total attendance, the third in a row. Internationally known folk legend Tom Paxton headlined the Folk Festival.
1999: The first Festival of Latino Music is presented. Janis Ian is the first Grammy Award winner to perform at the Festival.
The New Century
2001: The Festival begins selling tickets on-line. Emmy award winner Tom Chapin performs.
2002: A new program, SVMF’s ArtReach, is launched. This program was designed to give children and their parents the opportunity to interact with performing arts professionals.
2004 – 2005: Tony award winner, Don Pippin guest conducts the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra.
2007: First bluegrass concert at the Festival. Festival presents 10 evening concerts — the most ever.
2008: Second largest Festival crowd ever. More than 1,800 people see Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder.
2009: Béla Fleck, Travis Tritt among the Festival’s summer performers. Orkney Springs pavilion transformed into movie house for “Charlie Chaplin at the Symphony.”
2010: The Festival’s most ambitious season to date brought multiple Grammy award winners Ronnie Milsap, Mary Chapin Carpenter and the Temptations to the Orkney stage.
2011: Béla Fleck and the original Flecktones make SVMF part of their first full tour in more than 20 years.
2012: Bluegrass legends The Seldom Scene draw a huge Labor Day weekend crowd to the Festival.
2013: The 50th Anniversary of the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival. American Icon Kris Kristofferson highlights the season, which also included Dave Mason, the first Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame member to perform at the Festival.
2014: The Oak Ridge Boys played to a packed venue, proving their popularity has not waned. Other big names of the season were Rhonda Vincent and Rosanne Cash.
2016: SVMF enters into a new partnership with the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra. The PSO performs two concerts during the season and co-sponsors a summer strings camp in Shenandoah County Public Schools with the SVMF. The Festival also drew more than 1,300 patrons to see Bruce Hornsby and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and more than 1,000 people came out to see LeAnn Rimes.
2017: This concert season featured our Wayback Weekend Celebration July 21 and 22, featuring Arlo Guthrie and a 50th anniversary celebration of the Summer of Love with the Piedmont Symphony Orchestra and its rock band, performing all the songs made famous by the Beatles and many other legendary rock icons associated the historic 1967 gathering of hippies in San Francisco. Also performing to a crowd of more than 1,500 on Sept. 2 was 13-time Grammy Award winner Emmylou Harris.
2018: SVMF started using a video screen on stage to highlight festival sponsors, media partners, volunteers, and supporting organizations and to promote upcoming concerts before the start of the shows and during intermission. The Festival also implemented ticket scanning from patrons’ cell phones, so they no longer have to print their tickets out before coming to a concert. Artists who drew the largest audiences were The Temptations, Kenny G, and Mary Chapin Carpenter.
2019: Highlights of our 2019 summer season include The Beach Boys concert, which drew nearly 1,900 people, packing the venue almost to capacity. This season also featured an Evening with Judy Collins, plus the return of the Oak Ridge Boys for a third season and the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra, after a three year hiatus from SVMF. The FSO performed “The Planets” for a special 50th celebration of the first moon landing. The event featured video of fascinating space imagery produced by NASA, specifically for “The Planets,” and stargazing with telescopes provided by the Shenandoah Astronomical Society.
The Shannon Musical Heritage Fund under the auspices of the Shenandoah Community Foundation partnered with SVMF to offer a hands-on workshop for learning to play musical instruments. Sierra Hull and Justin Moses, both bluegrass musicians, led the workshop, demonstrating mandolin techniques shortly before their performance during the Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Minifest. Going forward the workshop is offered every concert season before the Minifest and is typically led by one of the artists scheduled to perform that evening.
After the close of the concert season, SVMF moved out of the offices it had called home for 45 years, at the corner of North Main and Court streets in Woodstock, and relocated just a block away to a house-turned-office building at 238 N. Main St., which SVMF received as an anonymous donation.
2020: SVMF was reduced to five concerts over two weekends in September because of the COVID-19 pandemic. To comply with state requirements for holding outdoor events, audience members were spaced 6 feet apart under the pavilion and on the lawn, and masks were required. Another instrument workshop
2021: As COVID-19 vaccines were developed and became widely available early 2021, SVMF was able to get back on track with a full concert season. Highlights of the season were KANSAS, the return of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for a second time, Black Violin, and Steep Canyon Rangers.
2022: Highlights of the concert season included the America concert and the return of Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives. Some concerts that were sidelined in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic took place including the Village People, The Spinners and the Richmond Symphony’s performance of Beethoven’s 9th.
2023: SVMF celebrates its 60th anniversary. Tickets go fast for Three Dog Night, with the pavilion selling out in less than three weeks. Other highlights include Don McLean, The Steel Wheels, headlining the Hot Strings and Cool Breezes Minifest, and the return of Pure Prairie League and Steep Canyon Rangers.
Concert Schedules From the Early Years
2011 Summer Schedule
7/9/11- The Fabulous Hubcaps
7/22/11- Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder
7/23/11- 1964… The Tribute
7/29/11- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—Broadway Pops International presents “Oh What a Night!”
7/30/11- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra with violin soloist Karina Canellakis
8/12/11- Dailey & Vincent
8/13/11- Terrance Simian and the Zydeco Experience
9/3/11- SVMF’s Folk Mini-Fest
9/4/11- Béla Fleck & The Flecktones
2010 Summer Schedule
7/23/10- Ronnie Milsap
7/24/10- Celtic Crossroads
7/30/10- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra with Alon Goldstein, pianist
7/31/10- The Temptations with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
8/13/10- Mary Chapin Carpenter
8/14/10- The Saw Doctors
9/4/10- Cherryholmes with special guest Drymill Road
9/5/10- The Tom Cunningham Orchestra
2009 Summer Schedule
7/17/09- Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul
7/18/09- The Dixie Hummingbirds
7/24/09- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—”Charlie Chaplin at the Symphony” featuring special guest Dan Kamin
7/25/09- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—”Romantic Passions” featuring Valentina Lisitsa
8/7/09- Béla Fleck and Toumani Diabaté
8/8/09- Preservation Hall Jazz Band
9/4/09- Roger Day
9/5/09- An Acoustic Evening with Travis Tritt with very special guest Jerry Douglas
9/6/09- Cherry Holmes
2008 Summer Schedule
7/18/08- Kathy Mattea
7/19/08- Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Ensemble
7/25/08- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—”Gypsy Nights”
7/26/08- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—”Dance Mix”
8/8/08- Edwin McCain
8/9/08- Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder with special guests The Dixie Bee-Liners
8/30/08- Eddie From Ohio
8/31/08- Cherish the Ladies
2007 Summer Schedule
7/20/07- Suzy Bogguss
7/21/07- Folk Mini-fest featuring Susan Werner with special guests The Arrogant Worms and Trout Fishing in America
7/27/07- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—”A Cole Porter Celebration”
7/28/07- Fairfax Symphony Orchestra—”A Tribute to George Gershwin”
8/3/07- Jeff Little
8/4/07- The World Famous Count Basie Orchestra
8/10/07- Arlo Guthrie “The Solo Reunion Tour—Together At Last”
8/11/07- The Blind Boys of Alabama
9/1/07- Sam Bush with special guest Nothin’ Fancy
9/2/07- Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience
