15th annual Charles Templeton Ragtime and Jazz Festival goes virtual next weekend
Mississippi State University’s 15th annual Charles H. Templeton Ragtime and Jazz Festival will take place in a virtual format next weekend.
The jazz festival is annually put on by the MSU Library and the Charles Templeton Sr. Music Museum as a means of enhancing the research in the area of ragtime music, increasing the awareness of the Templeton collection housed in the MSU Library and introducing people to the sounds of ragtime being performed by world-renowned ragtime musicians.
On March 26 and 27, the free online event will be split up into two shows with one on each day. Both shows will be streamed live at 7 p.m. on Facebook, Youtube, Vimeo, and MSTV for Cspire Fiber and Maxxsouth Broadband customers.
Internationally renowned pianist Jeff Barnhart of Mystic, Connecticut said he is thrilled to be served his eighth years as the artistic director of the festival.
“While it is disappointing to not be able to gather in person, we are taking advantage of the opportunities presented by these unprecedented times,” said Barnhart. “It is exciting to present the festival in an online format because it enables us to reach all corners of the globe, giving people who may not be familiar with us a chance to learn about and experience our fantastic annual event for
the first time.”
MSU Libraries Associate Dean Stephen Cunetto said the goal for this year’s festival is to provide an enjoyable experience for viewers by highlighting the best performances from the past ten years.
The Friday program will hold selections from ragtime and jazz musicians featured at the past festivals from 2010-2020. Musicians such as Reginald Robinson, Brian Holland, Adam Swanson, Carl Sonny Leyland, Steve Cheeseborough, Stephanie Trick, Paolo Alderighi, Mimi Blais, Eddie Erickson, Martin Spitznagel, Virginia Tichenor, Richard Dowling and Frederick
Hodges will be featured.
The first half of the Saturday show will feature 2020 festival footage of Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton, Stephanie Trick and Paolo Alderighi, Bill Edwards and Jeff Barnhart. During the show’s second half, viewers can enjoy video performances from this year’s lineup of musicians; Jeff and Anne Barnhart of Ivory&gold, TJ Müller, Brunious-hook Duo, Josh Duffee, and Millennia Musicae, an MSU music faculty trio including Professor and Steinway Artist Rosângela Yazbec Sebba, Instructor Sheri Falcone and Lecturer Denise Rowan.
Also, during the Saturday show, MSU Libraries will present the seventh annual Keyone Docher Student Achievement Award to MSU junior Eli Denson, who will also perform.
Cunetto said this year’s artists also have been invited to perform when deemed safe at a future festival.
“We hope to be back to an inperson event in 2022,” said Cunetto. “We want to thank our Artistic Director Jeff Barnhart and MSU Television Center Director David Garraway for their work in making this festival a reality. They have spent many hours developing this virtual event, and we could not have done this without their dedication.”
Streaming links will be added to festival.library.msstate.edu/schedule prior to each show.
For more information regarding next weekend’s festival, visit festival.library.msstate.edu, call 662325-6634 or email ragtimefestival@library.msstate.edu.