UTC Fiddle Fest debuts with clinic, concert

Two champion fiddlers will help lead the Department of Performing Arts at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga into a new venture into American folk music on Saturday, Oct. 29. For the UTC Fiddle Fest, Jim Wood and John Boulware will be joined by Wood’s wife, Inge Wood, on guitar.

The daylong festival will have the clinicians teaching about and playing American fiddle tunes and folk music in an informal orchestra setting, using Jim Wood’s arrangements of the tunes.

The Fiddle Fest Orchestra will be made up of violin, viola, cello and guitar players, students in grades 9-12 and adults, who are considered to be at intermediate to advanced levels and are fluent at reading music. Online registration to participate is open through today, Oct. 27.

Jim Wood will teach the orchestra about playing fiddle music and will share solo spots with Boulware, his pupil. Sandy Morris, conductor of UTC’s Cadek Community Orchestra, will conduct the Fiddle Fest Orchestra.

If you go

What: UTC Fiddle Fest with champion fiddlers Jim Wood and John Boulware.

When: 10 a. m.- 4: 30 p. m. Saturday, Oct. 29; finale concert at 5 p. m.

Where: Roland Hayes Concert Hall, UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St.

Admission: Free (workshop and concert). Phone: 423- 425- 4601. Website: www.utcmusic.org.

Participants will gather at 9:30 a.m. in the UTC Fine Arts Center and begin rehearsal on the fiddle music at 10 a.m. Following a lunch break, Jim Wood will lead a clinic on an interesting aspect of folk music, then there’ll be more rehearsal. The festival will conclude with free concert at 5 p.m. in Roland Hayes Concert Hall.

Jim Wood has won more than 60 first prizes in folk music competitions, including at least seven f iddle championships. Boulware is also a Tennessee state champion in fiddling.