The Bear Valley Music Festival is a yearly summer event in Bear Valley, California, located about 180 miles east of San Francisco at just above 7000 feet elevation in the Sierra Nevada. The festival currently begins on the second-to-last Friday in July and ends three Sundays later, drawing a total audience of roughly four thousand attendees. Under the direction of internationally recognized conductor Michael Morgan since 2012, the festival strives to appeal to a wide demographic by presenting a variety of artists and styles of music including classical, rock, country and jazz. The concerts are held in a tent erected to serve as a concert hall, equipped with a stage large enough to hold a symphony orchestra.