Brevard Music Center’s 80th Anniversary and 2016 Summer Music Festival

Brevard Music Center will celebrate its 80th anniversary and its 2016 Summer Music Festival with a string of extraordinary performances culminating in July 4th festivities.

The Brevard Summer Music Festival will feature a full schedule of unforgettable performances, including appearances by banjo virtuosos Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn on June 28 and Gillian Welch in concert on August 19 – both in collaboration with Mountain Song Productions. On July 3 at 3:00 PM, The Rance Allen Group and NC A&T Fellowship Gospel Choir will be joined by local community choirs for a rousing A Gospel Celebration performance. And the much loved Pendergrast Family Patriotic Pops will take the stage on July 4 at 2:00 PM at Whittington-Pfohl to celebrate Independence Day with a USO-themed show featuring patriotic favorites and the rousing 1812 Overture with live cannon in the grand finale.

On June 30 and July 2, the world premiere performance of J. Mark Scearce’s Falling Angel will give audiences a first look at this spectacular new opera, based on the classic novel by William Hjortsberg. For BMC Director of Opera Dean Anthony, the opportunity for aspiring students to participate in a world premiere opera is “huge!” Playwright Lucy Thurber has adapted the story for an evening of opera noir with remarkable music, contemporary effects, and a talented young cast that will breathe life into this first-ever partnership between Brevard Music Center and New York City’s Center for Contemporary Opera.

“For eighty years, talented students and distinguished faculty have joined together to perform great musical works at the highest artistic level,” said Brevard Music Center President & CEO Mark Weinstein. “This year, more than any other, we celebrate the thousands of BMC alumni—talented young men and women who have taken the stage here and around the world to raise classical music to new heights. I invite everyone to bring a friend and enjoy a spectacular season of symphony, opera, pops, chamber, and jazz. On the lawn, under the stars, or in an intimate hall…this is the place to witness performances as captivating as the view!”

This summer, over a ten-week period spanning June to August, Brevard Music Center (BMC) will celebrate its historic anniversary with over eighty performances in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina