Brevard Music Center, From Then to Now
Every summer, the Brevard Music Center’s Summer Institute & Festival brings musicians and listeners alike to the small mountain town of Brevard. The Music Center came to town by chance in 1944 when James Christian Pfohl, who founded the Davidson Band Camp for Boys, came across the future site. According to President & CEO Jason Posnock, “Pfohl happened upon an abandoned camp on the outskirts of Brevard, and he knew he had found his new home.”
The Davidson Band Camp for Boys eventually became the Brevard Music Center, featuring musical lessons and performances. This decision to relocate to Brevard was monumental, both for the Music Center and for the town.
Nearby community members have long been the Music Center’s fiercest champions, attending concerts, donating to scholarship funds, and volunteering with the organization. The town, too, has influenced the music itself. “Brevard’s love of bluegrass and folk music has encouraged us to expand our concert offerings,” Jason explains. The Brevard Music Center, which once solely taught and performed classical music, now features music of all genres, such as jazz, bluegrass, and opera.
Just as Brevard has shaped the Music Center, so too has the Music Center shaped the town. Thousands flock to Brevard every year to attend the Summer Institute & Festival concerts, not to mention all the musicians who travel there to teach, learn, and play their music. “We help attract active and interesting people to Brevard to vacation and move here, make it possible for some wonderful restaurants to serve our town year-round, and are a huge part of the exciting live music scene that has emerged here over the past decade,” Jason says.
While most wouldn’t think a music center of this magnitude would flourish far from a big city, this location and community has led the Brevard Music Center to thrive. “A world-class classical music teaching and performing institution tucked into a town of 8,000 people in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The odds were probably not in our favor,” Jason acknowledges. “But our community has embraced us overthe decades and welcomed classical music, along with all the other genres we offer, into their hearts.”
To see this summer’s concert lineup, visit brevardmusic.org.
