The first Bulawayo Music Festival took place in April 1997 when it was conceived as a one-off, week-long multiple celebration of anniversaries but it was so successful that a second festival was immediately planned for two years later with the intention of its becoming a biennial event. which has largely been the case.

There was an interruption after 2002 given the political and economic state of the country but since 2006 festivals have been held every two years, jointly organized and staged by the Zimbabwe Academy of Music. The Festival is centred on a series of classical concerts featuring international musicians but also embraces other types of music in a parallel series of concerts. The 2012 event is at the advanced planning stage and there is an intention for smaller-scale weekend festivals to take place in the alternate years from 2013.