2026 Festival Theme
Our theme for this year’s festival is Creative Inventions. This theme is in part inspired by Bach’s genre of keyboard pieces entitled “Inventions,” but is also inspired by his overall imagination. The colorful idiom “creative inventions of the mind” certainly applies to Bach and his ability to reimagine music in exciting new ways. This appears in his music in ways such as reinventing movements from his sacred choral works into virtuoso instrumental concertos to writing pieces such as concertos for four harpsichords. Bach’s imagination was beautiful indeed!
Finally, the theme Creative Inventions also encapsulates the world through the exploration of physical “inventions” and the genius behind them. For example, around Bach’s time the Newtonian telescope was invented and clockmaking made significant technological advances. In 1977, the Voyager I spacecraft carried “The Golden Record” with recordings demonstrating some of the most interesting and iconic music of all kinds from human civilization. Bach led the way with the most compositions featured on the record. In 2013 the Voyager I left our solar system and entered the far reaches of interstellar space. Bach’s genius is quite literally out of this world!
Event Schedule
Monday, June 8th at 12pm
2026 Season Opening Concert of Creative Inventions ft. pianist Eric Fung
Join us for the opening concert of our Creative Inventions season featuring Johann Sebastian Bach International Competition prize-winning pianist Eric Fung in a concert featuring Bach’s famous Goldberg Variations and Inventions.
Sponsor: Bill Polhill
Location: Asbury United Methodist Church
205 S. Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Price: Free of charge, no tickets required
Tuesday, June 9th at 12pm
Creative (Re)inventions
Join us for this concert featuring works that have been creatively reinvented into new pieces. This concert features faculty and students of the Virginia Baroque Academy. Works include Bach’s Concerto for Two Harpsichords in C minor, BWV 1060 featuring harpsichordists Lynne Mackey (VBA Executive Director) and Arthur Haas (VBA Harpsichord Faculty), and Francesco Geminiani’s Concerto Grosso in D minor, H.143 ‘La Folia’ with the VBA orchestra led by Daniel Lee (VBA Violin Faculty).
Sponsor: Hotel Madison
Location: Asbury United Methodist Church
205 S. Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Price: Free of charge, no tickets required
Tuesday, June 9th at 7pm
Rock Bach Music Night @ Pale Fire
Join us for “Rock Bach Music Night 2 @ Pale Fire.” Inspired by Bach’s fun-loving side, this concert hosted at Pale Fire Brewery is the perfect way to unwind, have some fun, and hear some great music in a casual setting featuring popular bands from the region. This is sure to be an evening not to be missed!
Sponsors: Atlantic Union Bank, MSL Consulting LLC,
Location: Pale Fire Brewing Company
217 S Liberty St #105, Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Price: Free of charge, no tickets required
Wednesday, June 10th at 12pm
Golden Aspirations: Music inspired by the Golden Record
Join us for this concert featuring our SVBF musicians in works inspired by the famous golden record “time capsule” recording from the Voyager space missions of 1977 that featured works of Bach and other sound artifacts of human culture.
Sponsor: Sponsorship opportunities for this event are still available
Location: Asbury United Methodist Church
205 S. Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Price: Free of charge, no tickets required
Thursday, June 11th at 12pm
Imagination, Invention, and Innovation
This concert highlighting imaginative and new music features performances by grammy-nominated cellist and former SVBF executive director Amanda Gookin, award-winning composer and SVBF percussionist Eric Guinivan, and the Bach festival debut of up-and-coming Virginia-based saxophone quartet Øra nØir.
Sponsor: Anonymous
Location: Asbury United Methodist Church
205 S. Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Price: Free of charge, no tickets required
Thursday, June 11th, 7:30pm
Virginia Baroque Academy Faculty Concert
Join us for a performance by the faculty of the Virginia Baroque Academy. Featuring a specialized approach based on period performance practice and performed on instruments of the day, this will be a beautiful evening of early music.
Sponsor: Sponsorship opportunities for this event are still available
Location: Asbury United Methodist Church
205 S. Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Friday, June 12th at 12pm
My Favorite Things
Join us for a concert featuring our SVBF orchestra musicians performing some of their favorite chamber music pieces! This concert will also feature our “rising star” 1st place winner of the 2026 EMU High School Music Competition.
Sponsor: Sponsorship opportunities for this event are still available
Location: Asbury United Methodist Church
205 S. Main Street, Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Price: Free of charge, no tickets required
Friday, June 12th at 6pm
Festival Concert 1
Program
Bach | Orchestral Suite No. 3, BWV 1068
Ginastera | Variaciones concertantes, Op.23
Liszt | Piano Concerto No.1 in E-flat Major, S.124
Boulanger | D’un matin de printemps
Britten | Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op.33
Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Orchestra
Daniel Myssyk, Conductor
Eric Fung, Piano
Time:
6-6:45pm Pre-Concert Talk “Talking Music” featuring Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Artistic Director David Berry, Principal Conductor Daniel Myssyk, and SVBF Musicians
7:30pm Concert
Sponsor: Dr. Ronald King & Dr. Carolyn Grasse
Location: Lehman Auditorium at Eastern Mennonite University
1191 Park Rd. Harrisonburg, VA 22802
Saturday, June 13th at 11am
Virginia Baroque Academy Workshop Final Concert and Reception
Join us for this culminating event of the Virginia Baroque Academy. The concert will feature students of the academy performing early music works with a period performance practice approach on instruments of the day.
Sponsor: Sponsorship opportunities for this event are still available
Location: Martin Chapel at Eastern Mennonite Seminary
1181 Smith Ave Harrisonburg, VA 22802
Price: Free of charge, no tickets required
Saturday, June 13rd at 2pm
Special Lecture featuring Julian Grant, Composer of Sancho’s Dance-Mix: A Suite on Dance Tunes by Ignatius Sancho
Join us for this special presentation featuring composer and author Julian Grant as he talks about the connection between 18th-century Afro-British writer, composer, and abolitionist Ignatius Sancho, the Buskaid Music School in Soweto, and the birth of his composition Sancho’s Dance-Mix: A Suite of Dance Tunes by Ignatius Sancho.
Sponsor: Sponsorship opportunities for this event are still available
Location: Massanutten Regional Library
174 S Main St, Harrisonburg, VA 22801
Price: Free of charge, no tickets required
Saturday, June 13th at 6pm
Festival Concert 2
Program
Grant | Sancho’s Dance Mix: A Suite on Dance Tunes by Ignatius Sancho
Bach | Concerto for Oboe d’Amour in A Major, BWV 1055
Respighi | Trittico botticelliano
Handel | Dixit Dominus, HWV 232
Fauré | Cantique de Jean Racine, Op.11
Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Orchestra and Choir
Daniel Myssyk, Conductor
Stephen Key, Oboe
Penelope Shumate, Soprano
Sheila Dietrich, Soprano
Kristen Dubenion-Smith, Alto
Jordan Davidson, Tenor
David Newman, Bass
Time:
6-6:45pm Pre-Concert Talk “Talking Music” featuring Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival Artistic Director David Berry, Principal Conductor Daniel Myssyk, composer Julian Grant, and SVBF Musicians
7:30pm Concert
Sponsor: Donald Showalter in memory of Marlene Showalter and Carl & Louise Showalter, House of Oak & Sofas, and Dr. Ronald King & Dr. Carolyn Grasse
Location: Lehman Auditorium at Eastern Mennonite University
1191 Park Rd. Harrisonburg, VA 22802
Sunday, June 14th
Leipzig Service
Modeled after the church service of Bach’s time with contemporary updates, this unique service features a wide array of music spanning various styles and traditions. The SVBF Choir will sing cantata Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding, BWV 176 with excellent soloists and conducted by SVBF Assistant Conductor Benjamin Bergey. Organist Larry Taylor will present special solo selections and Eastern Mennonite University Dean of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Rev. Sarah Bixler, will preach the homily in what is sure to be a beautiful service.
Sponsor: Linda Heatwole Bland Endowment and Sidney Bland
Price: Free of charge, no tickets required