February 28, 2003

SUZUKI STRING FESTIVAL BRINGS 125 STUDENTS TO VITERBO STAGE

LA CROSSE, Wis.—Combining the Suzuki style with the philosophy of creating beautiful, noble human beings through music is the main idea behind this year’s Suzuki String Festival Concert on Saturday, March 15, at 3 p.m. in the Viterbo Fine Arts Center Main Theatre.

The Suzuki style performances will begin with the most difficult pieces by advanced students and there will be a "play down" in which more and more students will participate until, eventually, all of the students are on stage. Many of the students are studying through Viterbo's Preparatory School of Arts. The remainder of the students will be guest performers from Holmen, Arcadia, Sparta, LaValle, Wisconsin Dells, Viroqua, LaCrescent Minn., and other surrounding areas. There are 125 students in all. The cellists will be led by Marcella Steffes, FSPA, string instructor for the Viterbo Preparatory School of Arts. The violinists will be led by Janelle Filtz-Severson, Suzuki clinician from Eau Claire, and by Busya Lugovier and Paula Wegner, instructors in Viterbo’s Preparatory School of Arts. Lugovier will also lead the violists.

"The students participating in this event have been taught with the idea that they will focus on one issue at a time. Most of them started out with the ‘mother tongue method,’ where they were taught to play songs by listening to a CD or record.  After, the teachers and the parents would work together to help the child understand and appreciate music while learning to play their own instrument," said Sr. Marcella Steffes, the Preparatory School of Arts string instructor.

The concert is free and open to the public but donations will be accepted to fund scholarships for Viterbo Preparatory School of Art’s students. A reception will follow the concert. For more information, contact Sr. Marcella Steffes at 796-3772.