Birch Creek Begins 41st Season

Birch Creek Music Performance Center is thrilled to host a record-breaking number of Wisconsin students this summer. As of June 1, Birch Creek accepted 51 Wisconsin students into its summer programs, making up 29 percent of its current enrollment. This number is up from 33 in 2015, and is the most Wisconsin students accepted to the Academy since 1998 when data was systematically recorded.

This year’s success of Wisconsin recruiting is due in large part to generous donations from the Dwight & Linda Davis Foundation, and from an anonymous family foundation.

“It is important for Birch Creek to have solid representation from Wisconsin student musicians not only for the visibility and recognition of the great music programs across our state, but for Wisconsin students to have this incredible experience closer to home,” commented Mona Christensen, Birch Creek’s executive director.

The applicants include three Door County students: Maddy Parenteau, trumpeter, from Sturgeon Bay; Emily Kolpein, percussionist, from Brussels; and Jonathan Bass, pianist, from Washington Island.

Birch Creek will celebrate the opening night of its 41st season on June 23 with “Percussive Panoply: A Percussion & Steel Band Faculty Showcase.” The event will commence Birch Creek’s four-session concert season, starting with seven concerts of Percussion & Steel Band over the course of two weeks. Dan Moore, Professor of Percussion at University of Iowa, is the program director for this session.

“The Percussive Panoply is a unique opportunity to hear our Birch Creek percussion faculty performing the music that is most meaningful to them,” Professor Moore commented. “It gives them the chance to highlight their individual areas of expertise in an eclectic program of music inspired by everything from the tangos of Argentina to the Rocket ships of Ray Bradbury, and even the art of taxidermy.”

Birch Creek students and faculty will both be featured as performers. All regular Percussion & Steel Band concerts, including opening night, start at 7:30 pm in the Dutton Concert Barn, with 7 pm student prelude music in the gazebo.

Tickets are available for purchase online at birchcreek.org/tickets or by phone at 920.868.3763. Prices are $29 for adults, $10 for students, and $6 for children (11 and under). Premium seating is also available in the front-center section of the barn, priced at $34.