The Sewanee Summer Music Festival provides four weeks of intensive study for talented young musicians ages 12 through graduate school. More than 200 advanced student performers take part each year.To say that the Sewanee Summer Music Festival is “all about the music” would be mostly right. This year’s 60th anniversary celebration at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tenn., offers more than 30 concerts and what organizers call “a spectacular array of instrumental repertoire.”
But as is tradition, there are field trips off campus for concerts in nearby communities, and there’s always one performance that summons attendees on an adventure. Usually, concertgoers hike or bike to reach the site. This year, they have the option of flying in.
Also new this year are Sunday Diversions, which include guided tours of Sewanee’s hidden treasures, and SSMF for Kids, in which the student performers introduce young listeners to orchestral instruments.
More than 200 advanced student performers gather each summer for the four-week training program in orchestra, chamber music and piano. Their ages range from 12 to graduate school.
Concerts range from chamber ensembles comprising artist faculty to 100-member student orchestras.