Eastern Music Festival Cancels 2025 Festival Season Amid Ongoing Labor Negotiations
Greensboro, N.C. (February 27, 2025) – Eastern Music Festival (EMF) announced today that it has cancelled its 2025 Festival season, which was scheduled to take place in Greensboro from June 28 through August 2.
Other than during the coronavirus pandemic, this is the first season cancellation in the Festival’s history. The pause will be used by EMF to work on plans for bringing the Festival back in 2026 with its focus remaining on educating students to the highest musical standards.
The announcement follows the inability so far to reach a mutually acceptable first-ever collective bargaining agreement between the nonprofit organization and faculty members represented by Local 342 of the American Federation of Musicians.
At issue remains the union’s demand that EMF faculty must always perform in a fully professional orchestra.
“EMF is first and foremost an educational institution,” said EMF executive director Chris Williams. “We strongly believe the best way for EMF to fulfill this core educational mandate is to increase and expand the learning and performance opportunities for our students, while also providing competitive compensation to our remarkable faculty, so that we can work hand in hand to create an unforgettable summer experience. By asking us to set in stone the requirement that we will always maintain a fully professional orchestra, the union is asking EMF to severely limit its ability to innovate and bring these new student opportunities and experiences.”
“EMF’s latest proposal would maintain this critical flexibility and also offer the faculty an increase in pay that exceeds the average pay for orchestra musicians in our region,” said Williams. ”We are disappointed that it was rejected by the faculty.”
Since January 2024, EMF has met more than two dozen times with union representatives to discuss a labor contract that fairly and competitively compensates faculty but also is sustainable for the Festival and upholds the student-centered mission of the organization. Despite a number of conciliatory proposals made by EMF’s board and mediation by the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, the two sides have yet to agree on key terms.
Without an agreed-upon contract at this time, the EMF board determined it impossible to host the 2025 Festival as usual and offer the festival experience that student musicians and the community deserve.
“The EMF board’s unanimous decision to suspend this year’s Festival did not come lightly,” added Williams. “For more than six decades, Eastern Music Festival has made summer in Greensboro a place of beautiful music and memories. We want that tradition to continue and look forward to the time when our shared love of music and support for the rising generation of classical musicians brings us together again, better than ever.”
EMF says it remains open and available to continue negotiating with the union partners and is optimistic an agreement can eventually be reached. Prospective students who submitted applications for the 2025 Festival will receive full application fee refunds.
Updates on EMF’s plans for the Festival going forward and on the status of union negotiations can be found by visiting easternmusicfestival.org.
About Eastern Music Festival
Eastern Music Festival is a nationally recognized summer educational program for gifted young musicians between the ages of 14 and 23 who are studying instrumental music (including orchestral instruments, piano, classical guitar, conducting) and who are or may be exploring careers in music. Each summer, the festival has been hosted on the campus of Guilford College, with free and ticketed performances for the public at Guilford’s Dana Auditorium and other venues throughout the Greensboro, NC area. EMF is distinguished by its exhilarating repertoire and world-renowned visiting artists. More than 10,000 young musicians from 40 countries have participated in the festival since it was founded in 1962. A sizable percentage of festival alumni have continued professional careers in music and the performing arts. Among them are Grammy award-winning trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra’s Concertmaster Stephanie Collins Matsuo, and cello sensation Sterling Elliott.
For more information, visit easternmusicfestival.org. Follow EMF on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
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For press inquiries, contact:
Erika Frazier, Media and Communications Director
Eastern Music Festival
(336) 333-7450 x226
efrazier@easternmusicfestival.org