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From the Studio: MusicFest Northwest Retrospective (Part 1)

Spokane Public Radio

MusicFest Northwest is an adjudicated classical music program that encourages and aids young people to study music and the arts. There have been over 47,000 entrants in the last 73 years, participating in eight divisions: piano, flute, organ, ballet, voice, string, reed and brass. They range in age from first grade through post-graduate work.

Three of the past piano participants—Archie Chen, Greg Presley  and Cheryl Carney—stopped by the studio on Tuesday to reminisce with Verne about MusicFest Northwest. The upcoming entry deadline has been extended to March 25. 

Verne Windham got his start at Spokane Public Radio 20 years ago. “I came in to complain and they hired me.” He’s now the Program Director, as well as the host of Morning Classical and Concert of the Week. When choosing music for Morning Classical, Verne likes to keep the agenda as broadly defined as possible. For Concert of the Week, he focuses on the best of recent local performances, mostly classical in nature. For many years, Verne was also the conductor of the Spokane Youth Orchestra. He enjoys gardening, his vintage car and playing French horn.
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