Published: June 28, 2007 08:43 am      

Zach to conduct Foster Camp finales

Dr. George Zach, conductor and music director of the Lexington Philharmonic, will conduct the finale and grand finale concerts of the Foster Music Camps on Friday evening.

The Foster Music Camps, the second oldest summer music program in the nation, has a long tradition of using celebrity conductors for his finale concerts, said Dr. Joe Allison, director of bands at Eastern Kentucky University.

“We are honored to have Dr. Zach conduct for us as we revive that tradition,” Allison said. Zach conducted the finale concerts during Foster Camps 50th anniversary session. The camps, sponsored by EKU’s music department, are in their 71st year.

Zach will be at the Brock Auditorium podium 9 p.m. Friday for the Foster Camps’ symphonic band finale. The overture from Mozart’s “Marriage of Fiargo” will highlight the finale.

Zach will take the podium at 9:45 in VanPeursem Pavilion in the campus ravine for the camps’ combined grand finale concert. The Foster Music Camps chorus and symphonic band will join the orchestra in a performance of Carmen Dragon’s arrangement of “America the Beautiful.”

The concerts are free and open to the public.

Zach will give a lecture/clinic for the Foster campers at 2:45 p.m. Thursday and 2 p.m. Friday.

“Dr. Zach is not only a superb conductor, he has been a tireless promoter of music and music education in Kentucky for more 36 years,” Allison said. “For him to return to the Foster Music Camps to conduct and lecture as his retirement approaches will be a special experience for our students.”

Zach said he has long admired the Foster Camps and the music education programs at EKU.

“A summer music program like the Foster Camps is an experience that can’t be duplicated in the students’ school band or choral programs,” Zach said. “They get to study with students from other counties and other states, receive instruction from college-level teachers and be directed by orchestra conductors.”

While the Foster Camps help recruit music students for EKU, the university’s music faculty take an interest in the campers’ development regardless of whether they take their college studies at Eastern, Zach said.

“I have great respect for the EKU music faculty,” he said, “and try to recruit them as players for the philharmonic whenever I can.”

Both of Zach’s daughters attended the Foster Music Camps. One daughter’s interest in music “really caught fire” with her Foster Camps experience, he said. “I know first-hand that attending the Foster Music Camps keeps students excited about music during their summer vacations.”

Zach said one of his neighbors has a child at the Foster Music Camps this year. “It will be a different experience for him to have me as a conductor rather than a neighbor.”

During his tenure with the philharmonic, Zach has not kept it confined to Lexington. “The philharmonic has performed several times in Richmond and many other places over the years, from Pineville to Prestonsburg to Pikeville,” he said.

Zach’s long-standing relationship with EKU includes his “Enhancement of Music” program broadcast on the university’s radio station, WEKU-FM, on Thursday mornings at 11.

The station broadcasts recordings of Lexington Philharmonic concerts on Sundays at 2 p.m.

The Foster Music Camps, named in honor of Stephen C. Foster, composer of “My Old Kentucky Home,” were started in 1936 by Eastern’s Prof. James E. VanPeursem. About 400 campers were enrolled this year.

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 623-1669, Ext. 267.