by Bailey Basham, Messenger Staff Writer

Beginning this weekend, music returns to the Mountain — and with it, more than 200 student musicians from around the country.

The season of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival (SSMF) will commence on Saturday, June 19, with performances by both the Cumberland Orchestra and the Sewanee Symphony Orchestra.

Different from previous years is the performance schedule. This year, the Cumberland Orchestra will perform weekly on Friday evenings at 7:30 p.m., followed by the Sewanee Symphony on Sunday afternoons at 3:30 p.m.

“The change in schedule was something I had been thinking about for a while based on the level of musicians we now have coming to SSMF. Those marathon Sunday concerts were getting to be too much for both our faculty, students and patrons. Having the Cumberland Orchestra present their own concert on Friday night also gives that orchestra their own identity — they are no longer sort of the opening act for the Sewanee Symphony Orchestra concerts,” said executive and artistic director John Kilkenny.

In addition to the change in schedule, this year’s festival performances were organized around a theme — one that will be particularly meaningful to the student musicians, faculty, staff and Mountain residents alike.

“This year, our theme is ‘Welcome Home,’ as there are so many people that attend festival performances who consider Sewanee home. So many of our participants make lifelong connections at the festival, and this theme is a way to honor our being able to come back together,” he said. “After such a difficult year, we cannot think of a better way to welcome everyone back.”

Welcoming folks back to the Mountain, Assistant Conductor of the Memphis Symphony Orchestra Kalena Bovell will lead the Sewanee Symphony Orchestra through a repertoire peppered with Dvorak, Coleridge Taylor, Walker and Schuman. Following Bovell’s Sewanee debut, JoAnn Falletta, Robert Moody, Janna Hymes and Chris Cicconi will conduct throughout the season.

“This is Kalena’s first time in Sewanee, and we are thrilled to welcome her to the Sewanee Summer Music Festival family,” Kilkenny said. “Nothing beats a live, in-person performance, both for our students and the wider community. The arts truly have the power to create community. They bring people together in a way that nothing else can do. Music unites us in a common purpose and cause, and to be back this season is such a delight.”

Tickets for in-person and streaming performances are on sale now. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit <https://ssmf.sewanee.edu/>;.