The festival returns on June 16-29, 2024. Details will be announced in April.

The Penn’s Woods Music Festival heats up the summer with performances that will ignite your wonderment and fulfill your passion for live professional orchestral, jazz and chamber music!  Every concert is packed with familiar and new to the festival repertoire. The PWMF musicians are first-rate and are anxious to play for you. Check back in Mid-April to reserve your best seat!

Missed one of our 2023 concerts? View them online.

I imagine that music is a meeting place at which all people can converse about their unique differences and common stories.” – Jessie Montgomery

Reserve the dates June 16-29, 2024, for the Penn’s Woods Festival. We are in the midst of planning an outstanding set of concerts that will delight, surprise, and bring all the joys for which the festival has come to be known. Programs for Music in the Gardens at the Overlook Pavilion of The Arboretum at Penn State, two nights for Jazz, and chamber music will be announced soon. Join our mailing list below! 

Tickets

Online ticket sales: Available Mid April 2024!
In-person ticket sales: 10:00 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Eisenhower Auditorium only.
Recital Hall Box Office: Open at 6 p.m. before each concert.

Be the first to know!

Sign up for the PWMF eNewsletter to stay informed of upcoming news and events! Tickets go on sale in April.

Message from the Maestro

Friends, 

I am preparing another summer of repertoire that I hope will interest and inspire you. 

Be sure to watch our social media pages in Mid-April as our musicians and I will be sharing with you some of their favorite performances of works we are performing this summer!

Don’t miss the opportunity to listen to great live music performed by the best musicians from the area and around the country!

I look forward to seeing you in June if not before at one of the Penn State Philharmonic concerts!

Gerardo

About the Festival

Penn’s Woods Music Festival (PWMF) offers outstanding chamber music and orchestral performances by professional musicians. Supported jointly by Penn State and the surrounding community, the festival seeks to inspire a passion for classical music through innovative concert programming, educational activities, and informal events.

This summer professional orchestral and chamber music festival began in 1986 and has been in its current format since 2008. The festival was created to provide something the community did not have – a professional classical music festival in the summer. PWMF, with a community advisory board, is supported by generous contributions from community volunteers and patrons.

The festival is typically held during June in State College, PA, and features outstanding professional musicians from across the nation performing beside Penn State School of Music faculty, alumni, and graduate students. These extraordinary forces gather for high-intensity music-making that is the highlight of the concert year.

Make a Gift

The Power of Commitment: The Penn’s Woods Music Festival began as little more than a small group of music enthusiasts, united by their vision of bringing top-tier summer performances to the State College community. The idea was ambitious. Penn State had never attempted such a festival, and the national economy struggled to break free of a prolonged recession. How would such an enterprise be funded? The idea took hold, however, and thanks to the passion and generosity of music lovers, donors, and volunteers, the festival has blossomed into an annual, self-sustaining, three-week musical event.

PWMF is made possible by generous donations from people like you. Ticket sales cover only 30 percent of the cost of the festival. The remaining funds are raised by the Penn State School of Music in partnership with our Community Advisory Council. More than 70 percent of the festival budget is used to pay the musicians. The School of Music provides staff support and use of its facilities at no cost. We hope you will support this community-university partnership with your gifts, your presence, and your advocacy for great music at affordable prices.

How to Support the Festival: There are two easy and secure ways to support Penn’s Woods Music Festival right now! You can make a gift online or via text (text PWMF to 41444). Your support keeps this even affordable for everyone.

2023 Festival Sponsors and Donors

Foxdale Village
WPSU logo
Penn State College of Arts and Architecture logo

Festival Donors: Penn’s Woods Music Festival is grateful for the strong community and University support received for this year’s program of excellent and inspirational concerts and outreach music programs. We are proud to honor and acknowledge the generosity of all our annual donors and supporters who are integral to the success of Penn’s Woods Music Festival and to recognize the important partnership between the community and the Penn State School of Music.

We are indebted to our Conductor’s Circle and Principal Circle donors for their individual leadership and unwavering support of the festival orchestra and community programs. Also, we are grateful to our business sponsors and community foundation supporters for their commitment to the arts. Your philanthropy and commitment to our vision enable us to provide a world-class festival program with high-caliber performers for the community.

Would you consider joining this group of individuals who so generously support the festival? Would you consider sponsoring a musician or an event? If you would like to know more, please contact Lindsey Landfried by email at lindsey.landfried@psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-1167.

To express our gratitude for your support, we offer the following recognition:
All donors: Receive recognition in the festival program, an invitation to a donor celebration event with the musicians, and the ability to purchase festival tickets in advance of the public sale.
Principal Circle ($1,850+): Be a named sponsor of one of the festival’s principal musicians, receive an invitation to lunch with your sponsored musician, and visit rehearsals.
Student Ticket Sponsorship ($2,000+): Provide free tickets to Penn State students and local schoolchildren and receive recognition from the stage at every concert.
PW4Kids ($3,500+): Fund educational programs and festival tickets that are free for students pre-K through high school and receive special recognition in the corresponding event program.
*Chamber Concert Sponsor ($2,500+): Receive program recognition as chamber concert sponsor plus six complimentary tickets to the concert you sponsor and an invitation to a private reception with the performers (estimated fair market value is $180.00*).
*Festival Orchestra Concert Sponsor ($5,000+): Receive program recognition, eight complimentary tickets to the festival orchestra concert of your sponsorship, and an invitation to a private reception with the performers. You will also be recognized from the stage and have the opportunity to host guests at an event prior to your sponsored concert (estimated fair market value is $240.00*).

*Please note: You may be entitled to a charitable deduction for federal income tax purposes for your contribution. The amount that may be deductible is limited to your contribution less the fair market value of goods or services provided, which had been determined to be $30 per ticket.

Donor List

2023 Festival Donors

CONDUCTOR CIRCLE $5,000 and up
Festival Sponsor

    Pieter and Lida Ouwehand

Music in the Gardens Sponsor

    Foxdale Village

PRINCIPAL CIRCLE $1,250 to $4,999

      Keith Karako and Janelle Bessette
      Gordon and Caroline De Jong
      Gary and Christina Schell
      Elinor Lewis
      Howard and Judith Bond
      Dan and Eleanor Armstrong

$1,000 to $1,249

    Woskob Development Partnership
    G. N. Associates
    Russell Bloom
    Kerry Whitelock

Up to $1,000

      Josephine Smith
      Mary Kennett and Jovonna Kegley
      Katharina Halperin
      Daniel and Ludmila Sahakian
      Michael Johnson and Maureen Mulderig
      Richard Roush and Robyn Krause-Hale
      Joanne Juhl
      Earl and Susan Graham
      Mary Alice Graetzer
      Blake and Linda Gall
      Arthur Curtze and Jennifer Loveland-Curtze
      J. and Avis Jones
      Todd and Elizabeth King
      Herbert Lipowsky
      Hu Barnes
      Beatrice Mellinger
      Thomas and Phoebe Knepley
      David and Debra Cree
      D. Wayne Osgood
      Rodney Bucks and Terisa Andrews Bucks
      Andrew and Christina Catherine
      Robert and Dottie Gough
      John Collins and Mary Brown
      Susan Klein
      Helen Love
      Lichtig Investment Properties
      Richard and Young Mi Hayes
      Mary Alice and Courtney Burroughs
      Mary Lou Bennett
      Barbara and Stephen Seidman
      Bernard Shockowitz
      Gordon and Falene Hamilton
      Maureen Carr
      Joseph and Christy Clapper
      Wayne and Edna Bicehouse
      Thomas and Fen-Fen Lin
      James and Deena Ultman
      Harry Kropp and Edward Legutko
      George and Susan Henning
      Linda Steffee
      Diana and Leonid Berlyand
      Janis Jones
      Pamela and Tobin Short

Donor List

Donors

  • Hu L. Barnes
  • Fred J Beamer
  • Shirley Berlind
  • Wayne and Edna Bicehouse
  • Russell L. Bloom
  • Howard and Judith Bond
  • Gary A. Bontrager
  • George and Virginia Brown
  • Courtney and Mary Alice Burroughs
  • Maureen A. Carr
  • Mrs. Dorothy E. Cecil
  • Centre Foundation
  • John C. Collins and Mary Brown
  • Kim D. Cook and Peter Hearney
  • Mimi U. Barash Coppersmith
  • Debra and David F. Cree
  • Jennifer and Arthur J. Curtze
  • Caroline and Gordon F. De Jong
  • Connie and John DiNunzio
  • David Frego and James Frego-Bliek
  • N. Associates/Nina and George Woskob
  • Doug Gangler
  • Janelle Bassette and Keith R. Karako
  • Elizabeth and Todd King
  • Robyn Krause – Hale and Rick Roush
  • Gloria Komazin-Meredith
  • Rocky Landers
  • Gretchen A. Leathers
  • Elinor C. Lewis
  • Chris and Benson M. Lichtig
  • Thomas and Fen Fen Lin
  • Trudy and Herbert Lipowsky
  • Helen B. Love
  • Mary Jean MacNeil
  • Helen A. Manfull
  • John and Yihong Mauro
  • Beatrice Berry Mellinger
  • Linda and Blake Gall
  • Edward R. Galus
  • Nancy Saylor Gamble
  • Mary A. Graetzer
  • Susan and Earl K. Graham Jr.
  • Carolee and Anthony L. Grillo
  • Barbara and Donald L. Gross
  • Katharina Halperin
  • Falene and Gordon A. Hamilton
  • Joyce E. Hoffman and Norman Horn
  • Millie and Donald E. Hopkins
  • Robert and Jacki Hunt
  • Bill Jaffe
  • Lynn L. Jaffe
  • Michael P. Johnson and Maureen Mulderig
  • Alfred and Avis Jones
  • Joanne L. Juhl
  • Lyle C. Merriman
  • Mike’s Video Inc.
  • June Miller
  • Grace Ormston
  • Wayne D. Osgood
  • Lida and Pieter W. Ouwehand
  • Nancy F. Parks
  • Lucy-Lee S. Reed
  • Anne C. Rose
  • Suzanne Roy
  • Ludmilla and Daniel D. Sahakian
  • Pamela and Tobin Short
  • Lynn Sidehamer Brown
  • Ellen and Rudy L. Slingerland
  • Josephine Smith
  • Linda M. Steffee
  • Elizabeth T. Taylor
  • The Beth Richards/Sandy Stover Group LLC
  • Debra and George Trudeau
  • Sue and Jim Tumlinson
  • Deidre and William B. Tunney
  • Deena and Jim Ultman
  • Helen Billett Warren
  • Nancy and Steven M. Weinreb
  • Kerry A. Whitelock
  • Woskob Dev. Partnership
  • Carol and Scott Wymer

Know before you go: get important info about parking and health & safety