Belvedere Chamber Music Festival Goes Digital This Year

For several years, the Belvedere Chamber Music Festival has brought its celebration of contemporary music to Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Last year, it had six hour-long concerts over four days, and all were free, as is the festival’s custom.

Luna Nova Music

Performance at the Belvedere Chamber Music Festival.

This year, the 14th annual festival will be held June 17-20 in digital form. Four concerts will be performed on Facebook, YouTube, and Belvedere’s website.

The regular musicians are mostly from Memphis but some are from out of town. The programming is typically 20th and 21st century music, although the festival always starts off with a single work by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The festival also has held an annual composition contest since 2007. The 2020 winners announced this month are Alice Hong of the University of Toronto (1st prize) for “l’oiseau qui entend l’appel du vide” and Daniel Cho of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music (2nd prize) for “Anticipation.”

The festival is sponsored by Luna Nova Music, which will post details on its website. Future Luna Nova concerts are scheduled for October 18th at Sanctuary on the Square in Collierville, November 1st at All Saints Episcopal Church in Memphis, and December 7th at Grace-St. Luke’s Episcopal Church.

Jon W. Sparks