Southern Illinois Music Festival

The 20th annual Southern Illinois Music Festival runs May 23rd through June 9, 2024.

The 2024 Festival will remain under the artistic direction of SIU School of Music Professor Edward Benyas. Professional singers and instrumentalists from across the United States and Europe converge in Southern Illinois to perform orchestral and chamber music, opera, jazz and educational programs, along with select SIU faculty and students. The Festival promotes our region’s reputation for cultural activity on a national scale. Symphony magazine listed it as the only professional music festival in Illinois south of I-80, AAA magazine described it as a Midwest Travel Treasure, and the Chicago Tribune cited it as one of 24 top summer activities (musical and otherwise) in an eight-state region.

Music Festival audiences will enjoy beautiful melodies as a recurring motif. Two highlights of SIFest 2024 are lesser-known operas by well-known composers. Two fully staged performances close out the Festival on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

Alongside these beautiful operas, we will present four orchestral programs in Carterville and Marion and a free admission all-American patriotic concert at Marion High School on Saturday afternoon. Interspersed amongst these large-scale programs will be a wealth of chamber music, including under-represented composers. An admission free recital kicks off the Festival on Thursday with suggested donations that night to support a local charity. Other Festival venues include ArtSpace304, First United Methodist Church of Carbondale, Lutes Gallery in the University Museum, Anna Arts Center and the Harold Jones Fine Arts Center in Cairo. We will also present our popular free admission Jive with Jazz and Klassics for Kids events at venues around the region. All in just three weeks! Complete details on the artists and performances are at www.SIFest.com.