About The Festival
Pride.
Sacrifice.
Service.
Pride. Sacrifice. Service. These words embody the values of America’s veterans. Music Celebrations is pleased to be associated with those heroes across the United States who exemplify these words and what they mean.
Conceived in 2008 as a joint venture by the American Veterans Center and Music Celebrations International to attract greater attention to the true meaning of the Memorial Day holiday, Washington, D.C.’s annual Memorial Day Choral Festival honors those veterans past and present who have sacrificed so much for the liberties we currently enjoy in our country – as well as around the world. Americans choose to recognize this holiday in differing ways: some choose to visit memorials and burial sites of our veterans. Others gather with family and friends for a hearty barbeque and to hail the coming summer weather. We choose to remember our heroes through song in our Nation’s Capital. Choirs from across the United States will join in this commemoration historically held in the Concert Hall of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts over Memorial Day Weekend.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is America’s living memorial to President John F. Kennedy, attracting millions of visitors each year to more than 2,000 performances, events, and exhibits. With its artistic affiliates, the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, the Center is one of the nation’s busiest performing arts centers dedicated to providing world-class art, powerful education, and outstanding memorial experiences to the broadest possible constituency. On September 7, 2019, the Kennedy Center inaugurated the REACH, its first-ever major expansion, providing visitors with new opportunities to interact and engage with the Center as the nation’s premier nexus of arts, learning, and culture.
Not merely an event for Washington, the National Memorial Day Choral Festival is an event for the entire country – an opportunity to draw the attention of Americans to the real meaning of the holiday: Honoring the men and women who have served, and died, to preserve our liberties.
