Savannah Music Festival (SMF), a leading nonprofit performing arts organization presenting world-class musical performances in historic Savannah, Ga., is pleased to announce the official dates and format for the 2021 festival. 

The Savannah Music Festival will take place May 18-30, 2021 and will feature live outdoor performances, socially distanced seating, live-stream options, contact-free entry and heightened safety measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The decision to move back from SMF’s typical March/April time frame was made with the following considerations: to minimize the chances of cancelations and potential rescheduling, to address the concerns of many artists about the possibility of travel restrictions and to allow for patrons to plan attendance with more information about the safety of large-scale gatherings, giving them time to learn about SMF’s safety protocols.

Live performances with limited seating capacity will take place outdoors on a main stage at Trustees’ Garden. In addition, chamber music performances with socially distanced, limited-capacity seating will be held at the Kehoe Iron Works building at Trustees’ Garden, located at 660 E. Broughton St. All events will take place rain or shine. SMF is also exploring additional festival and off-season concerts to take place at outdoor venues, such as the North Garden Assembly Room at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum.

“We look forward to showcasing renowned artists in outdoor and socially distanced settings and to a return to the site of our 2018 festival finale at Trustees’ Garden,” said Savannah Music Festival Artistic Director Ryan McMaken. “Throughout the year, we will also be offering custom digital content in an effort to amplify and elevate the work of artists from across the U.S. and abroad.”

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, Béla Fleck & The Flecktones, David Finckel & Wu Han and many other artists will be announced for the 2021 season. The complete line-up of 2021 Savannah Music Festival artists, dates and times – including a number of highly anticipated rescheduled performances from the 2020 festival, which was canceled due to the pandemic – will be announced on January 11, 2021. 

“We can’t wait to announce our full 2021 Savannah Music Festival schedule, which will include world-class artists in a range of genres, from jazz and blues to classical and American roots music,” McMaken added. “We plan to offer a variety of live music experiences for Savannah-area residents and visitors in safe open-air environments.”

Tickets to the 2021 Savannah Music Festival will be available online at savannahmusicfestival.org, by phone at 912.525.5050 and in person at the Savannah Box Office, located at 216 E. Broughton Street, beginning with a donor pre-sale on January 12, 2021. Ticket sales will open to the public on January 19, 2021.

SMF is made possible with the generous support of individuals, foundations, government and corporate donors and sponsors. In light of the 2020 festival cancellation, the group of patrons who donated their tickets back to the festival, called SMF In Unison, also has kept the organization afloat. Further, the organization has received large resiliency grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and South Arts with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will enable SMF to produce a 2021 festival season.

Hailed by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution as “one of the gleaming musical treasures of the Southeast” and by the Toronto Star as “one of North America’s most distinctive musical events,” the Savannah Music Festival has featured more than 2,000 artists over the past three decades.

For more information, please visit savannahmusicfestival.org.