In the last days of the summer break before fall semester 1992, there were a number of people gathered around a dinner table. Someone asked me about a similar festival I led in the Pacific Northwest, and soon everyone around that table was listening. One of them was taking notes, EMU’s President Joseph Lapp. Finally, he asked what it would take to make something like that happen here – “money” was the unanimous reply. 

In January, President Lapp gave the word to run with the idea, and in June the first festival happened. Four of us scrambled to plan a program, find players and singers and soloists, advertise, and offer requisite hospitality: Scott Hosfeld, Helen Nafziger, Marcia Kaufman and I worked very hard to make the 1993 debut of the SVBF an event for which there would be a call for years two, seven, twenty-five, and more. Many are owed heartfelt thanks for this continued success: EMU and its past and present administrators who have supported the festival; instrumentalists from all over the country; mostly local and volunteer singers; the large and ever-widening circle of supporters of the festival; and all of our audiences, many of whom have returned year after year. All these good people are cause for an appreciative and thunderous round of communal applause.  

Some years ago, the festival adopted the tag line, Bach is just the beginning, in recognition of the historical importance of Johann Sebastian Bach in the world of music, not only classical but many other musics as well. Just the beginning means that our programming will make clear that many individuals and varied world cultural expressions have continued to make Bach a relevant musical force around the world and across time. We will continue to call attention to this unique gift of the imagination of J. S. Bach to inspire the imaginations of many.  It is the hope of those of us who have worked to make this festival a treasure of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to blossom and grow, and that Johann Sebastian Bach will do what he did and does so well – inspire the best from everyone of us. 

Ken Nafziger
SVBF Founder, Artistic Director and Conductor (1993-2022)