The 20th Moravian Music Festival and Seminar was held June 19-26, 1999, on the campus of Millersville University in Millersville, Pennsylvania, with additional programs at Lancaster and Lititz Moravian Churches. Dr. John V. Sinclair was Festival conductor, with Dr. N. Keith Wiley, concert band director, and Robert K. Rausch, youth band director.
Public programs included..
- Sunday, June 20, opening lovefeast at Lancaster Moravian
- Monday, June 21, afternoon mini-concert by Lititz Bronze and Brass
- Monday, June 21, evening, Moravian Anthem Sing
- Tuesday, June 22, afternoon mini-concert by the Rev. Henry Harrison and Dan Wolgemuth
- Tuesday, June 22, evening concert featuring the Festival soloists and orchestra
- Wednesday, June 23, evening concert at Lititz Moravian Church featuring the Unitas Chorale, in a reconstruction of the lovefeast ode for the dedication of the Lititz Moravian sanctuary, August 13, 1787
- Thursday, June 24, evening concert by the Festival chorus, soloists, and orchestra, featuring the premiere of Brian Henkelmann’s This I Certainly Believe, a cantata on texts of Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf
- Friday, June 25, evening concert by the Festival bands, featuring the premiere of the newly-commissioned Fantasia on Moravian Hymns by Dr. Sy Brandon
- Saturday, June 26, afternoon concert by the Festival chorus, soloists, orchestra, and band
Festival soloists were Andrea Folan, soprano; Mary Ann Hart, mezzo soprano; Christyan Seay, tenor, and Thomas Goerz, bass-baritone. Keith Davis served as Festival organist, and Maria Prochnau was rehearsal pianist. The Rev. Dr. Albert H. Frank served as Festival chaplain, presiding over the opening lovefeast and all the devotional services of the week.
Workshops and seminars included …
- So You Want to Start a Bell Choir, and Literature and Technique for Bell Choir, by Phyllis Hentz
- Moving Music from Archives to Performance, by Nola Reed Knouse and John V. Sinclair
- Zinzendorf: His Theology and Music, by C. Daniel Crews
- Stories of Favorite Hymns, by Mark V. Herr
- The Moravian Music Foundation Into the 21st Century, by Nola Reed Knouse
- Songs for Congregational Singing, and Sisters Covenanting Together, by Carolyn McDade
- Hymnody of Pennsylvania Mennonites, by John L. Ruth
- Moravian Organ Music, by Richard Strattan
- Pennsylvania German Architecture, by James Lewars
- The Song of the Turtledove, by Lucy Carroll and Michael Showalter
- Pennsylvania German Organs, by Ray Brunner
- The Music of George Rapp’s Harmony Society, by Richard Wetzel
- Shape-Note Singing in Pennsylvania, by Betty Hanf and Ruth Shaffer
This Festival took note of the passing of two who had been faithful supporters of Moravian Music Festivals – former Moravian Music Foundation assistant director and researcher Marilyn Purnell Gombosi, and former Festival conductor David Lewis Crosby.
This Festival was chaired by Jan Stein and Marian Shatto, with a large and active committee including representatives from all the area Moravian churches.
