| Bach comes to the ‘Boro |
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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, mwillard@murfreesboropost.com
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Posted: Sunday, March 20, 2011 5:35 am
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Bach makes a special appearance in Murfreesboro Saturday and Sunday at Holy Cross Episcopal Church.
BachFest, a two-day music competition and performance, pits the county’s best junior high through college students against each other in a Baroque-filled musical weekend with public performances Sunday afternoon and evening.
“This is a big deal for this community because there are only one or two Bach festivals held annually in the Southeast U.S.,” explained Terri Sterling, a Holy Cross parishioner.
Bach comes to the ‘Boro thanks to a grant from the William H. Scheide Foundation, based in Princeton, N.J.
Parishioner Elaine Winters said the church wanted to provide an arts outreach program to youth in the community when it formed nine years ago.
“This seemed like the perfect way to marry the two,” Winters said about the classical music comptetion. “They seemed to be a perfect match.”
Thanks to Father Bill Dalglish’s family relationship with William Scheide, the church has been able to bring classical music performance and competition to Rutherford County’s youth for the past three years. Scheide is one of the nation’s premier Bach scholars and has a reputation for philanthropy.
Winters said the church recently received a $50,000 grant from Scheide to continue the competition into the foreseeable future.
MTSU Junior Cremaine Booker for one is very happy about being to compete right here in town.
Booker has competed in the competition since it began a
“Last year, I actually won the William H. Scheide Scholarship, from the people who fund the competition,” he said, explaining Scheide saw a video of him playing at BachFest and hand selected Booker for a $5,000 scholarship.
Booker is no stranger to accolades.
In 2008, the cellist received a master class from world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who was in the mid-state playing with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra.
When Booker was looking to colleges, he was torn about staying at MTSU, but was swayed by an offer he couldn’t refuse. MTSU gave him a full scholarship and a new cello to come to the university.
“I don’t think there’s a better place for me to have gone,” Booker said, adding he would’ve missed out on opportunities like having a master class with Ma and participating in BachFest. “It’s been a great place to be.”
Winters said inspiring students to love classical music and perform better has been a main part of BachFest.
“Being able to further his (Booker’s) career the way we have makes me proud,” Winters said.
Inspiring students seems to be working out, with BachFest seeing a record number of entries this year, Winters said.
“Events like these are even more vital today because of cutbacks in education due to decreased tax dollars,” Sterling said. “Often music and the arts are the first to go.”
BachFest
Competition for junior high, high school and college students will be held Saturday
Free Public Concerts Sunday, March 27
3:30 p.m. - Winners from collegiate division
6:30 p.m. - Winners from high school and junior high divisions
Holy Cross Episcopal Church is located at 1140 East Cason Lane in Murfreesboro. |
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