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The sounds of strings will once again fill the summer air in historic downtown Staunton Virginia, as the Heifetz International Music Institute returns for its 28th season with an ambitious 57-concert lineup for its 2024 Festival of Concerts. This summer marks the Institute’s 13th anniversary in the Queen City, during which Heifetz students, faculty, and patrons will live, study, dine, and perform on the campus of Mary Baldwin University.

The renowned Heifetz summer program, which attracts top young classical musicians from around the world, will present a robust series of concerts from June 19 – July 27 featuring the Institute’s extraordinary students, acclaimed teaching faculty, alumni, and special guests. The Institute is highly competitive, this year enrolling 169 students ranging in age from 8 to 28, hailing from 15 countries internationally. These elite young musicians from across the globe attend the Institute’s summer program to develop their technical skills as well as their own distinct musical personalities. In addition to an instrumental faculty considered among the top ranks of summer programs—with members from such institutions as The Juilliard School, The Curtis Institute, and New England Conservatory—the Heifetz Institute is recognized worldwide for its unique Performance & Communication Training method, which empowers young performers to perfect their artistry by developing their physical, mental, and emotional range through training in Public Speaking, Movement, Drama, Yoga, Freedom of Expression, and Dance.

“Daniel Heifetz founded an institute based upon a generosity of spirit and artistic mastery that aimed not only to give young artists the most expert guidance on their instruments, but also to communicate the magic of music when shared together in this concert setting,” notes Artistic Director Nicholas Kitchen. “The legendary musicians that make up our faculty guide the young artists through lessons and coachings, while the incredible Performance & Communication Training faculty widens the scope of what these young artists are able to discover within themselves through acting, speaking, movement, yoga and more.”

The Institute’s extensive Festival of Concerts serves as the experiential proving ground for both the intense string instruction as well as the Communication Training curriculum, with students performing in nearly daily concert presentations, featuring solo and chamber music masterworks, as well as lesser known repertoire with an emphasis on underrepresented composers. “There is nothing quite like a Heifetz concert, especially when we’re playing in our ‘home arena’ in the Staunton summertime,” notes Heifetz Institute President & CEO Benjamin K. Roe. “The brilliant artistry of our students and faculty, paired with the enthusiastic energy of our audiences, results in unforgettable performances night after night. On top of that, we’ll continue to enhance the concert experience through the use of in-concert digital programs, improved lighting and signage, and the Heifetz Mobile App.

In addition to recurring concerts in venues across Staunton, including MBU’s Francis Auditorium, the Staunton Augusta Art Center, and Grace Christian School, the Institute will also present its annual free Independence Day Concert at James Monroe’s Highland in Charlottesville, VA on Thursday, July 4. The Institute’s young artists will also perform at church services, senior centers, soup kitchens, and health care facilities.

The Heifetz Institute’s Festival of Concerts is part of a broader offering of exceptional artistic programming in the city that is unrivaled in the region. The Institute has partnered with Staunton Music Festival to create Mozart in the Mountains, a new marketing initiative supported by the Virginia Tourism Corporation that will continue to establish Staunton as a destination for stellar classical music programming all summer long, with world class concerts presented nearly daily from June 19 through August 25. “VTC’s marketing and sponsorship programs are powerful incentives creating tourism partnerships across Virginia that are a robust part of Virginia’s economic ecosystem,” said Governor Glenn Youngkin. “Across the Commonwealth, the tourism industry recognizes the importance of having inventive strategies to showcase all that Virginia has to offer. These grants will support those efforts and help draw thousands of additional visitors to the Commonwealth to experience everything that makes Virginia so special.”