Musicians at the Eastern Festival of Music in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In Tuesday’s (3/3) Musical America, Susan Elliott writes, “The Eastern Festival of Music (EFM), the reincarnated and refreshed version of the defunct Eastern Music Festival (EMF), is solidifying its place on the annual summer calendar by signing a new five-year contract with Gerard Schwarz, longtime music director of the EMF…. The new festival, under new board leadership, will continue the work of its predecessor, founded in 1961, on the same campus of Guilford College in Greensboro, NC. All 61 members of the EMF faculty will return; one of the issues that led to the demise of EMF was the planned trimming of faculty, which led its members to join the AFM. No word yet as to whether the union will be involved in the new event. John Shaw, representing the artist-faculty … noted that musicians have been involved in planning the new event and that three of them are on the new board of directors … The 2026 festival and school, the latter for musicians between age 14 and 24, will take place from June 27 to August 1, with orchestral and chamber music concerts by faculty and students, masterclasses, and special events.”
