Festival to Feature GHS Senior's Music Composition

A musical piece composed by local student William Ford will be featured at the Tennessee Valley Music Festival (TVMF) Young Composers Forum in Huntsville, Alabama, in June.

Will, a senior at Granville High School, submitted his piece, "Admiration" for string orchestra, at the urging of his Composition teacher, Dr. Ching-chu Hu, Professor of Music Composition at Denison University, and Susan Larson, his private instructor and the director of the Newark Granville Youth Symphony, of which Will is a member.

Locally, "Admiration" will have its "debut performance" this Sunday, May 10, at the Newark Granville Youth Symphony's final concert of the season at OSU-Newark at 4 p.m.

Will is principal violist in the Granville High School Sinfonia Orchestra, under the direction of Samantha Schnabel, and participated in the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA) All-State Orchestra in February in Cleveland. He is headed to Case Western Reserve University to major in both Engineering and Music Composition.

"Admiration" is dedicated to three very special people: Will's friend and choir mate at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Dr. Fred Karaffa, who passed away last year after a brave battle with cancer, Dr. Hu, his composition teacher and mentor, and his girlfriend, Theresa Schluchter, a cellist with the GHS Sinfonia and Newark Granville Youth Symphony.

Will plans to spend June 6-13 in Huntsville participating in sessions with Composer-in-Residence Robert J. Bradshaw, the Murfreesboro Symphony Orchestra, the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra and the Huntsville Youth Symphony, all under the direction of Joseph Lee. His composition will be featured in a grand finale concert June 13 during a performance by the Tennessee Valley Festival Orchestra.

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