the recipients of The 2024 Mark Berry Scholarship

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Reinhardt Piano Festival

 “At the Reinhardt Piano Festival, I received fantastic instruction and made great connections with the talented faculty and my peers. It was both super fun and very inspiring, from watching concertos on YouTube and playing Mario with my friends, to watching virtuoso concerts performed by professionals in the Flint Performance Hall. I am truly grateful that I was able to attend and connect with the nerdiest of pianists like myself. The work done here by Bach Ascending is extraordinary. Thank you!”  

Montana Fiddle Camp

Hello, and thank you for choosing me to be one of the 2024 winners of The Mark Berry Scholarship for Young Artists. As I stated in the application, I used this scholarship for tuition at Montana Fiddle Camp, and I think it was the best year yet.

Along with meeting some of my lifetime heroes and jamming my brains out, I had a special surprise waiting for me in the second week, which I will get to in a minute.

For the first week, I decided to take lessons from Maddie Denton, the 2016 Grand Master Fiddle Champion, the first Tennessee-born contestant ever to win, plus the 2009 National Junior Fiddle Champion.  She currently plays fiddle and sings tenor in the Dan Tyminski Band, in addition to East Nash Grass and Theo & Brenna Band. Maddie is a huge inspiration to me along with being one of my good friends, so it was such a pleasure to be with her in class all week.

Along with hanging with my teacher and my friends, I had the great honor to write and perform a tune with one of, if not the greatest folk/bluegrass mandolinists, John Reischman. Many of John’s signature “melodic mandolin” tunes such as “Salt Spring,” “Little Pine Siskin,” and “Birdland Breakdown,” also have been adopted as bluegrass standards and can be heard at jam sessions across the continent until the wee hours of the dawn. It was truly so amazing to be working with such a smart, kind, and crafted player.

In the second week, I was surprised and so delighted to be asked to help teach the level 2 class with one of the best Texas swing/gypsy jazz players out there, Elana James. Together we took on the large class of 16 pupils by dividing and conquering, coaxing and helping any who fell behind. I worked one-on-one with many kids outside of class time, and I helped others step outside their comfort zone and challenge themselves. I really enjoyed having this opportunity to grow my teaching skills, just in time for another camp I'm teaching at this July. 

As I said earlier, this might have been the best year ever at Montana Fiddle Camp, and I'm so grateful to the Mark Berry Scholarship for Young Artists for making it all possible. THANK YOU!!!

Montana Fiddle Camp

"Hello, and thank you for choosing me to be one of the 2023 winners of the 2023 Mark Berry Scholarship for Young Artists. As I stated in the application, I used this grant for tuition at Montana Fiddle Camp, and boy oh boy, it was an excellent year!

I met some of my musical heroes and played my favorite songs with them, which was life-changing. In addition, I made some great musical connections, not only with people already deeply rooted in today's music scene but also with many like-minded young musicians who have the same passion for music as I do.  Overall, camp this year was as amazing as ever, and I deeply appreciate what this grant has done to help accomplish my goal of becoming a better musician."

Savannah Children's Theatre

 "Hello! This is Ben Templeton. I wanted to say a sincere “thank you” to the people from Bach Ascending. I was able to be a part of The Savannah Children’s Theater’s production of The Phantom of the Opera. I used the scholarship to pay the tuition and was cast as The Phantom. This is my dream role and I got to play it in a production with many of my friends. Not to mention that it was performed at The Historic Savannah Theater. This was a chance of a life time I will never forget. Thank you for your help in making my dream come true!"