Young Pianist Wows

Jonathan Bass, a 13-year-old pianist from Washington Island, is attending the Birch Creek Music Performance Center’s Symphony session.

Bass started playing piano at age three and performed in his teacher’s semi-annual recitals. He says, “I was an assisting Young Artist at the Washington Island Music Festival, performing J.S. Bach’s Two Part Invention in C, Scott Joplin’s Strenuous Life Rag and Thunderstorm, a piece I composed a year earlier.”

His preferred type of music is Christian rock, and he lists Switchfoot and The City Harmonic among his favorite bands. Besides piano, he also plays clarinet, guitar and bass guitar.

The application and auditioning process for students applying to Birch Creek is challenging. Jonathan initially applied in January and was eventually accepted in early March. As required to demonstrate his musical talents, he submitted an audition recording, which was reviewed by Birch Creek faculty. Birch Creek’s student-to-instructor ratio is 2:1, providing Bass an opportunity to work with piano teacher Jodie DeSalvo during the two-week session. For more information visit birchcreek.org.