Moravian Music Festival

Moravian Music Festival

Mid-June for one week in odd-numbered years

When the Moravian Church established its first American communities in the 18th century, the settlers continued to nurture their musical heritage in worship as well as in daily life—virtually interchangeable for the Moravians, for whom music was an essential component of life. As such, singing, playing instruments, and composing music were second nature to most Moravians.
Thor Johnson, the son of a Moravian minister, helped 20th-century America rediscover Moravian music when he conducted the first Early American Moravian Music Festival in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1950. Later that decade, the Moravian Music Foundation was established in North Carolina to preserve and publish the music in the archives of the Moravian Church in America.
What is now known as the Moravian Music Festival is held every two years, in cities within the northern and southern provinces of the Moravian Church in America. The archives managed by the Moravian Music Foundation provide the choral, orchestral, and chamber music performed at the festival. In addition to concerts and recitals, the festival presents seminars and workshops.

CONTACTS:
Moravian Music Foundation
Southern Music Archives, Research Library and Main Office
457 S. Church St.
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
336-725-0651; fax: 336-725-4514
www.moravianmusic.org

SOURCES:
MusFestAmer-1990, p. 119