Savannah VOICE Festival (SVF) announces a schedule of special holiday performances throughout December. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, donors and partners, the VOICExperience Foundation and Savannah VOICE Festival produced their first ever online Festival in August and continued the music this fall with “An All Hallow’s Night of Streams.” SVF will close out 2020 with streaming even more spectacular events and performances for the holiday season that are sure to delight the whole family! For Savannah based fans of the vocal arts, SVF singers will undertake a series of free socially distanced outdoor performances for audiences to walk or drive by and enjoy the music. This 25-minute concert will take place in three different locations on Saturday, Dec. 5, from 4-7 p.m. ‘VOICES on the Squares’ will feature Jessica Fishenfeld and Scott Joiner performing holiday favorites. The first concert will take place at 4 p.m. on Johnson Square, on the front steps of Christ Church Episcopal. This concert will be repeated at 5 p.m. on Chippewa Square and once again at 6:30 p.m. outside the Davenport House Museum on Savannah’s Columbia Square.  

 In partnership with Hospice Savannah, Savannah VOICE Festival will provide the musical entertainment in Hospice Savannah’s 29^th Annual Tree of Light Memorial Gathering, set to live stream at 5 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 6. The Tree of Light is a long-standing tradition that offers families and friends a meaningful way to remember and honor the loved ones they have lost. Because of the pandemic, many people have been denied attending traditional funerals or family and memorial gatherings. Mayor Van Johnson will speak at the virtual gathering, inspirational music will be performed by SVF professional singers from across the globe, with a special message from SVF directors Maria Zouves and Sherrill Milnes. A moment of prayer will be provided by leaders from various faith groups in a collective grief response to the terrible effects of COVID-19.

 This year’s Tree of Light will be followed up with an additional collaboration between the Savannah VOICE Festival and Hospice Savannah on Tuesday, Dec. 15. Chad Sonka, baritone and Education and Outreach Coordinator for Savannah VOICE Festival and VOICExperience will join Sara Breyfogle, Music Therapist from Hospice Savannah to analyze songs and talk about ways they apply to our lives. 

This program is designed to center, relax, and open people's minds and this hour-long listening lab entitled “Voices That Heal: Music in a Times of Transition” will offer music as a source of comfort and healing. It will stream at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. at HospiceSavannah.org/VoicesthatHeal. This new VOICES That Heal resource webpage will feature information about therapeutic music to aid people who are grieving or need assistance. 

On Sunday, Dec. 13 Savannah VOICE Festival will present its spectacular VOICE Holiday Concert special, Home for the Holidays, featuring two virtual performances at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. There will also be a Matinee Replay on Monday, Dec. 14 at 11 a.m. Sponsored by Critz Auto Group, audiences are invited to celebrate the Holidays with SVF artists, as they perform a virtual greeting card from all around the world during this FREE event!

“The Savannah VOICE Festival is thrilled to present a beautiful evening of holiday traditions for you to relax and enjoy in the comfort of your own home,” says Maria Zouves, Executive Director of The Milnes VOICE Programs, VOICExperience & Savannah VOICE Festival. “We encourage everyone to sit by the fire, sip on your favorite holiday beverage and sing along with our extraordinary singers as they perform many of your holiday favorites!” 

Following this celebration, Monday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m. is the next in the series of SVF’s Masters in VOICE series with renowned opera director, Fabrizio Melano, and respected psychotherapist, Laura Melano Flanagan. In SVF’s Master Class series, VOICExperience faculty and special guests offer the next generation of artists tools with which they may improve their performance. During this virtual session, artists will learn more about vocal music, technique and about the “masters” themselves. Masters in VOICE is sponsored by the Georgia Council for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.