HARRISONBURG, VA (Rocktown Now) – On the theme of “Journeys,” the 2025 Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival (June 9–15, 2025) is a week of  music and community, with performances held on the campus of Eastern Mennonite University and in downtown Harrisonburg.

According to a press release, at 20-years-old, Johann Sebastian Bach walked more than 200 miles from his hometown just to hear master organist Dietrich Buxtehude play. This is the “journey” that inspired this year’s SVBF theme, but festival musicians and audiences, for 33 years, have also made their own journeys, from near and far, to participate in this annual week described by the Virginia Commission for the Arts as “a jewel in Harrisonburg’s crown.”

The week includes concerts featuring full orchestra, chamber musicians, a 50-voice choir, soloists, recitals, and more in Harrisonburg venues that include a college campus auditorium, a historic downtown church, and a brewery. Apart from concerts, there are hours and hours of rehearsals, some pre-concert talks, and musicians getting together to talk or play.

Festival Concerts

Two festival concerts with full orchestra, choir, and soloists are held at Eastern Mennonite University’s Lehman Auditorium.

The first (Friday, June 13, 7:30 p.m.) includes Gustav Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrdenden Gesellen (Songs of a Wayfarer), sung by Harrisonburg baritone David Newman with orchestra. Also on the program: Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Claude Debussy’s Prelude à l’après-midi d’un faune (Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun), Suite from Appalachian Spring by Aaron Copland, and Starburst by contemporary composer Jessie Montgomery.

The next night (Saturday, June 14, 7:30 p.m.) features Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 1 and Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem) by Johannes Brahms. The requiem soloists are Newman and soprano Christine Glick Fairfield.

SVBF Principal Conductor Daniel Myssyk leads the orchestra and choir.

Tickets to festival concerts are priced at “pay what you will”—a choice of $10, $25, or $40 for any seat—and are available online and at the door.

Noon Concerts

Concerts are held Monday through Friday (June 9–13) at Asbury United Methodist Church in downtown Harrisonburg at noon each day. These free concerts feature smaller groups of musicians presenting musical variations on the “Journeys” theme. Individual noon concert themes in order by day are “Beginning the Journey”, “On the ‘Organ’ Trail”, “New Paths”, “Familiar Roads”, and “My Favorite Things”.

On Monday, Newman sings the Schubert song cycle Winterreise (Winter Journey). Tuesday’s concert honors Bach’s journey to hear Buxtehude with organ music and chamber music with organ. Wednesday’s focus is new music, including a new sonata for viola and piano performed by its composer, Scott Wheeler, and Celia Daggy, the SVBF principal violist; and Three American Songs performed by a trio that includes its composer, Stephen Key, SVBF principal oboist. Thursday’s edition features Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat major, with David Berry, pianist and the Bach Festival’s artistic director [bio]. Friday includes chamber music and a performance by “rising star” Hillary Arimoto, a sophomore at Redeemer Classical School in Keezletown, Virginia, who won the 2025 Eastern Mennonite University High School Music Competition

SVBF noon concerts are free to attend, no tickets required.

Leipzig Service

A worship service modeled on the Lutheran liturgy from Bach’s time (1723 until his death in 1750) as director of church music in Leipzig, Germany, concludes the festival (June 15, 10 a.m., Eastern Mennonite University’s Lehman Auditorium). The service includes a Bach cantata—Du Hirte Israel, höre (BWV 104) this year— congregational singing, organ music from nationally renowned organist Marvin Mills, soloists Jordan Davidson (tenor) and Shannon Kiser (bass), Appalachian hymns sung by old-time music trio After Jack, readings, and a homily by Rev. Cara Ellen Modisett. The service is led by Benjamin Bergey, SVBF assistant conductor. The service is open to the public.

Special Events

A new event this year: Rock Bach @ Pale Fire (Tuesday, June 10, 7–9 p.m. at Pale Fire Brewing Co. in downtown Harrisonburg). This event, inspired by little known vignettes from Bach’s life about his fun-loving side, will be headlined by local “alt-country” band Dogwood Tales. Attendees will receive a complimentary Rock Bach pint glass on a first come, first serve basis. Free admission, buy your own beer.

Less casual, but equally worthy: The Virginia Baroque Academy Faculty Concert (Thursday, June 12, 7:30 p.m., at Asbury United Methodist Church, free), which features performances from instructors of the week-long early music study. The academy, held the same week as the Bach Festival, provides participants with experience in Baroque technique and interpretation through masterclasses and ensemble sessions with internationally acclaimed faculty. Tickets are priced at “pay what you will”—a choice of $10, $25, or $40 for any seat—and are available online and at the door.

The students of the academy will also perform at the Baroque Workshop Final Concert (Saturday, June 14, 11:00 a.m., at Martin Chapel on Eastern Mennonite University’s campus), where they will showcase chamber works from 17th- and 18th century instrumental and vocal repertoire, including The Judgement of Paris. Free admission, no tickets required.

Conductors

Daniel Myssyk led the SVBF orchestra and choir in 2023 as a guest conductor after the retirement, after thirty years, of festival founder Ken Nafziger. He returns this year, without the “guest” designation, as principal conductor of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival. Myssyk has been director of orchestral activities at Virginia Commonwealth University since 2007. The Canadian-American maestro was music director for Montreal-based Orchestre de chambre Appassionata from 2000 to 2016 and served as assistant conductor of the Richmond Symphony from 2018 to 2024.

Assistant Conductor Benjamin Bergey is an assistant professor at Eastern Mennonite University, where he directs the orchestra, Chamber Singers, and University Choir. He conducts the Rapidan Orchestra in Orange, Virginia. Bergey was the music editor for Voices Together, the newest hymnal for Mennonite Church USA and Mennonite Church Canada.

Orchestra

The approximately 65 members of the SVBF Orchestra come from all over the United States, but many are local to the Shenandoah Valley or once called the valley home. Many return to the Bach Festival year after year. The orchestra is made up of professional musicians from colleges/universities and professional orchestras throughout the Shenandoah Valley such as the Virginia Symphony, Richmond Symphony, and Roanoke Symphony.

Choir

The Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Choir is made up of about 50 mostly local or locally-connected singers who volunteer for a full week of intensive, nightly rehearsals, a glorious performance of a masterwork—the Brahms Requiem, this year—and a Bach cantata and other music at the annual Leipzig service. Choir rehearsals are led by Assistant Conductor Benjamin Bergey.