Birch Creek Hits a Milestone

For the past 30 years, Birch Creek Music Performance Center has been helping young musicians develop their skills by working alongside a distinguished performing faculty. In honor of this noteworthy milestone, Birch Creek is offering a few exceptional extras for their summer season. There will be three special guest musicians for this year’s concert line-up. Chris Brubeck will be performing on trombone on June 24th and 25th; Cliff Alexis will be lecturing and performing on steel pan on July 7th; and Terell Stafford will be the featured trumpet soloist with the faculty big band on August 10th. In addition, each artist will conduct a master class which will be open to the public.

Birch Creek will also commemorate their 30th year by offering Three Miles East, a CD featuring recordings of the faculty big band made during the 2004 season. The CD will be available throughout Door County at select retailers, at Birch Creek and on their website. Also for sale this summer is Birch Creek Delights, a cookbook created with recipes from volunteers, faculty and staff. The cookbook is a project initiated by The Associates, the dedicated group of volunteers who help Birch Creek thrive.

All the exciting developments are overseen by Kaye Wagner, who has been the executive director for eight years. “We have experienced phenomenal growth over the past 30 years. Our student enrollment exceeds capacity, we have completed many capital improvements throughout the campus, and recently our volunteers have grown in number from 120 to 180,” says Wagner. “Birch Creek has really increased its national reputation with regard to the quality of students, the quality of the educational experience provided, and the quality of the public performances.” This helps account for the impressive faculty return rate of more than 95 percent.

Birch Creek also shows its commitment to the surrounding communities by participating in twenty-five events each summer. Students perform at festivals and weekly concert series in Sister Bay, Fish Creek and Egg Harbor. Wagner is also proud of the outreach extended to the local schools through Birch Creek’s “Artist in the Schools” workshops.

Be sure to be a part of this momentous summer season at Birch Creek by witnessing first-hand what gifted mentors can do for promising young performers. For concert details and information, please call the ticket office at (920) 868-3763 or go to www.birchcreek.org.