History

In January of 1976, the late John Ellison created Bermuda history as the chairman of the first Bermuda Festival; a showcase of music virtuosos. Ellison later revealed that even he had his doubts when he was summoned to Government House by Sir Edwin Leather and asked to put on a festival of the arts. Despite his initial doubts and whisperings of previous failures of similar projects, Ellison, assisted by his co-founders; Sir Edwin Leather and Lord Yehudi Menuhin, successfully built the foundation of The Bermuda Festival you know today.

At the time of The Bermuda Festival’s inception, Bermuda was riddled with racial tension, and the performing arts community was fragmented. Musical instruments were expensive and difficult to obtain, which created an imbalance in access to music. The Festival’s mission was multifaceted; to provide an enticing array of entertainment to lure tourists to Bermuda during the off-season, to expose Bermuda’s youth to musical talent, and to create a more unified arts community in Bermuda.

Sir Edwin Leather is quoted stating “No matter how hard one struggles to learn; one’s capabilities and inspirations are inevitably limited by the best one can experience.” To this end, we have continued bringing world-class artists and working with talented local musicians to provide free outreach opportunities to the Bermuda community.

Highly respected artists such as Voces8, Yo-Yo Ma, Pentatonix, and others have loved visiting and enjoying Bermuda’s warm hospitality and beautiful views. Festival volunteers and community partners continue being a necessary part of The Bermuda Festival experience by hosting dinners, showing artists around the island, and giving them pieces of Bermuda to take back with them!

The Festival has evolved in the past 4 decades! We now have Festival performances throughout the year and we’ve expanded from being a music festival to showcasing all performing arts. Despite these changes, our goal has remained the same: Entertain, Educate and Inspire!