FHU Students, Professor to Participate in Sonata Festival

Two students will represent Freed-Hardeman University at a music competition Nov. 16-17. The Sonata Festival is being hosted by Milligan College, near Elizabethton, Tenn. In addition, Dr. Richard England, FHU music professor, will serve as a clinician at the event.
The two students participating in the competition are sophomore Sara Schneider from Forest Grove, Ore., and freshman Kaytlin Gonzales from Katy, Texas. Gonzales will be performing Mozart’s “15th Sonata” and Bach’s “8th Invention.” Schneider will be playing “Sonatina Op 36, No. 1” by Musio Clementi and a Bach Musette.

England is in his 18th year teaching at FHU. He holds degrees in music from Union University and Memphis State University. He has studied composition with Donald Freund and piano with Herbert Hermann, Theodore Edel and Joan Gilbert. England coordinates the Carnegie Hall Royal Conservatory Achievement Program at FHU, a founding school.

The Sonata Festival is sponsored by the Appalachian Classical Music Association. It offers experience to young musicians of all ages and skill. Students perform a selected piece before a panel of qualified judges. The festival also offers awards, scholarships, classes and concert events.