ELORA – Having not been able to offer live festivals for two summers, Elora Festival organizers are excited to announce the return to a live summer festival this year.
The festival, which would normally lend itself to around 7,000 viewers in a pre-pandemic year, will run July 8 to 24.
“It has been a very long time since we’ve had a festival in the village and we are so excited about it,” said Laura Adlers, executive director of the Elora Festival.
“Early response has been very positive,” she added. “We can see that people are really excited to hear about our lineup.”
With concert halls largely silent for most of the last two years, artistic director Mark Vuorinen also voiced his excitement for the return to live performances this summer.
“We have many exciting concerts planned, both featuring the home team, the Elora Singers, and plenty of wonderful guests from across the country and around the world,” he said.
This year’s festival has over 30 concerts booked throughout the village, and organizers have invited back many of the artists that were booked for the 2020 festival that didn’t see the stage.
This year’s lineup will feature solo concerts performed by the Elora Singers, in addition to collaborations with a series of diverse guest artists on several mainstage programs.
“We’re very excited about the lineup that we have of guest artists,” Adlers said. “So we have everything from mainstage to small ensemble, chamber music, and some really innovative new work that we’ll be presenting to our audience.
“It’ll be something for everyone.”
The majority of this year’s concerts will be held at the Gambrel Barn and St. John’s Anglican Church in Elora.
Board chair Peter Barr said he’s thrilled to return to live performances.
“Bringing our loyal patrons back to town and all the energy that brings will be a great reward for all those who struggled through the lockdowns,” Barr said.
“Opening night is always my favourite performance because it is the culmination of so much effort and is always full of anticipation for the festival.”
The full line up of programming and guest artists will be announced on March 23 in a Zoom event.
Visit @elorafestival on Facebook and elorafestival.ca/ for more information on the festival, volunteer recruitment and the festival’s updated COVID-19 policy.
