JIM TURNER HIGH SCHOOL CHORAL FESTIVAL

A “MASTER CLASS FOR CHOIRS”

Guest Clinician: Dr. Chris Ludwa

FEBRUARY 21 and 22, 2018; 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Come and hear how beautiful choral music is created during the Kalamazoo Bach Festival Society’s 20th annual Jim Turner High School Choral Festival on Wednesday and Thursday, February 21 and 22, in Kalamazoo College’s Light Fine Arts Building.  Clinician Dr. Chris Ludwa, Bach Festival Music Director, Kalamazoo College Assistant Professor of Music, and Artistic Director of the Bay View Music Festival in Petoskey, Michigan will coach ten school choirs from across southwest and mid- Michigan during the two-day event.

The Choral Festival begins with a welcome, followed by 23-minute segments for each choir to perform two pieces for Dr. Ludwa, the other choirs, their conductors, and any area music lovers and guests who would like to attend.  Dr. Ludwa will work with each choir to improve and perfect their performances.  The festival is non-adjudicated and provides high school choirs an opportunity for education and growth in a non-competitive setting.  All singers remain in the auditorium so that they may hear the others and learn from the clinician’s comments.  The Choral Festival is open to the public.

Choirs participating on Wednesday, February 21, are from West Michigan Homeschool (Grand Rapids), Marshall, Kalamazoo Central, Vicksburg, and Rockford high schools.  On Thursday, February 22, the Loy Norrix, Otsego, Portage Central, Three Rivers, and Grand Haven high school choirs will perform.

The Festival runs from 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. both days.  Dr. Ludwa will prepare and conduct all students in a performance of “Unclouded Day”, arranged by Shawn Kirchner, from 11:14 a.m. to 12:10 p.m. each day with all choirs singing together.

Dr. Chris Ludwa is a visionary leader, both on stage and off.  Dr. Ludwa received his DMA and Master’s in conducting with minors in business from Indiana University in 2012 and 1999 respectively. Before joining the Kalamazoo Bach Festival and Kalamazoo College, Dr. Ludwa was a conductor and/or director for many organizations in Indianapolis and Cleveland. He is the Principal Conductor and the Artistic Director of Bay View Music Festival in Petoskey, MI where he has successfully rebuilt the program into the successful organization that it is today. He has been heavily involved in numerous artistic collaborations throughout his career and is well respected for his creativity, his leadership, and ability to work with many kinds of arts and non-arts organizations.

The Jim Turner High School Choral Festival was renamed last year in honor of retiring Bach Festival Music Director Jim Turner who founded the event in 1999.  Past clinicians have included nationally and internationally recognized choral music experts, composers, and conductors: Dr. Ann Howard Jones (1999), Brazeal Dennard (2001), Dr. Andre Thomas (2003), Timothy Takach (2009), and Dr. Z. Randall Stroope (2014), among others.

The High School Choral Festival in February is a free event open to the public.  For further information regarding any of the Bach Festival’s educational outreach events or concerts, visit their web site at http://www.kalamazoobachfestival.org/.