Big-Name Musicians Line Up For MA High School Band Institute

WORCESTER, MA — An Anna Maria College instructor has gathered an array of top-level musicians together for a summer music workshop aimed at high school band students.

The Anna Maria Summer Music Institute will offer students access to virtual classes and performances for four days in August. The classes being held online due to coronavirus is actually an advantage, said organizer Jeff Conner — it would be almost impossible to bring so many musicians together for an in-person seminar.

"There's no way any of this would happen on the ground," said Connor, who also teaches at Worcester's Burncoat High School. "It's just too cost prohibitive."

Connor organized the event as a way to give Massachusetts students access to musicians who typically are only seen at summer seminars held at Tanglewood in Lenox or the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan.

The Anna Maria institute will feature artists like composer Frank Ticheli, trumpeter Winston Scott (also a former NASA astronaut), and Broadway trombonist Alexander Iles — plus more than a dozen other musicians and faculty from colleges across the country.

As a high school student in Holliston years ago, Connor, a trumpet player with the Boston Brass ensemble, attended the Tanglewood summer workshop. The world-renowned program helped him decide to become a professional musician.

"This could be a life-changing experience for many of the students, whether it's hearing some of these musicians play or hearing what they have to say can really be an 'a-ha' moment," Connor said.

The Anna Maria College Summer Music Institute runs Aug. 10 to 14, and scholarships are available for some students. The registration deadline is July 15, but the program will be accepting students after that date.

Find out more about the institute on the Anna Maria College website.