Brigham Young University will showcase the talents of the Ben and Meg Ferry family during the second Geraldine Swensen Watkins Endowment Concert Saturday, Aug. 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the Madsen Recital Hall.
Admission is free, but tickets are required. Tickets will be available at the Fine Arts Center Ticket Office at (801) 422-4322 beginning Aug. 1, and will then be available for pickup on Aug. 11.
The Ferry children will perform a variety of works for strings accompanied by Joanna Oshida on the piano.
The Ferry family embarked on its musical path in 1987, when the oldest daughter, Laura, took her first violin lesson. Her six siblings have since joined her: Michelle, Deborah, Ben, Douglas, Chase and Karen.
Over the past 10 years the Ferry children have been featured as guest soloists with the Utah Symphony, the Utah Valley, American Fork and Murray Symphonies, and the Nacht Musika, Westminster and Lyceum Chamber Orchestras.
They have been winners in the Utah State Fair Classical Music Competition, the Utah Symphony Youth Guild Competition, the Kingsville and Lennox International String Competitions, and the Music Teachers National Association Performance Competitions.
The Ferrys have been featured at the Utah State Centennial Wagon Train Celebration, the annual Interfaith Easter Cantata in the Box Elder Tabernacle and on the Temple Square Concert Series, "Families Making Music."
During the 2002 Winter Olympics the Ferrys provided entertainment at a reception for dignitaries such as Vice President Dick Cheney and New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.
The Ferry children have participated in the Intermountain Suzuki Institute and in many music festivals across the country and in Europe.
Every January, the Ferry family provides musical entertainment for the Utah State Senate and House of Representatives.
The Watkins Endowment, created by the BYU School of Music in honor of Geraldine Swensen Watkins, assists families in a variety of ways, including Internet resources, music workshops and seminars on the BYU campus, research grants and creative projects to support music and the family and broadcasts of courses and appropriate family music.
For more information regarding this event, contact Ken Crossley at (801) 422-9348.
Writer: James McCoy
