Rogue Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (RVUUF) Ashland, OR

Fri, Oct 29, 7:30pm. Chas Bernard will be performing a benefit cello concert for the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation. Admission is free, but donations to the Foundation will be gratefully accepted. All donations will go to help support efforts to give young people the opportunity to experience the benefits inherent in learning to play music.

If you attended church on Sept 19th, you enjoyed the wonderful musical offerings of Chas Barnard, cellist. Now sixteen years of age, he has been a member of the cello section in the Rogue Valley Symphony since the 2008-2009 season. He served as the principal cellist at the 2010 Symphony Orchestra Academy of the Pacific in British Columbia, a member of the 2010 Oregon All-State Orchestra, 2009 Interlochen Philharmonic, and the 2009 World Youth Symphony. His performance of the Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 at the 2010 Oregon Solo Music Competition won first place, the gold medal, and earned rave reviews from the judges.

Chas is a Junior at Ashland High School where he plays in the school and youth orchestras, and is also an early admittance student at Southern Oregon University. He is a passionate advocate for the Mr. Holland’s Opus Foundation, an organization that donates both new and refurbished instruments to school and after-school music programs that lack the resources to maintain existing instruments, and to provide instruments for students on waiting lists because instruments are unavailable.

Treat yourself to an evening of exquisite cello music performed by this extraordinary young man. The concert is being sponsored by the Music Committee. A reception will follow the concert so that you may have an opportunity to talk with Chas about his budding musical career, and his commitment to this very worthy cause.