Big 9 Music Festival returns home

Tears welled in the slightly reddened eyes of Ben Beaupre as members of the Faribault High School Concert Choir began to remove pieces of their performance robes.

The choir had just finished its performance in the Big 9 Music Festival, which celebrated its 90th anniversary in the city it was born.

The Big 9 Music Festival is a 13-hour event that brings together students from across the Big 9 Conference, a group of schools in southern Minnesota who compete in athletic events and other activities.

However, the music festival is no competition. In fact, that's antithetical to the reason it was created by former Faribault High School band director C. E. Purdie, according to a Faribault Daily News article published April 1933.

He wanted to create a festival to bring communities together without the weight of competition hanging over their heads. Although the event has been canceled a few times due to war and pandemic, the festival returned Friday for what was billed as the 90th Big 9 Music Festival.

Between choirs, bands and orchestras, the festival featured 35 ensembles and a total of about 2,000 students.

While Faribault high schoolers had the day off from regular classes, many of them performed and many helped set up and take down equipment.

The choir students' final song was "There's Gonna Be a Homecomin."

"They really brought it this week," Beaupre said of his students after the performance. "They just connected to the music so well and understood what they were singing about. It made it more special to them."

After the four songs of the choir's performance, Bethel University associate music professor and choir director Merrin Guice Gill came up to the stage to give advice and tips on how they could improve, and ran them through some vocal exercises.

"She did a phenomenal job," Beaupre said of Guice Gill. "She, our clinician, is so good at getting them to fix things without it feeling critical, right? She's a very talented conductor and I think she showed it."

Before the choir performance, the Faribault High School Philharmonic Orchestra and the Faribault High School Wind Ensemble also performed. The choir performance was at Trinity Lutheran Church and the others were at the high school.

Inside the school, teachers and staff wearing green Faribault Falcons gear were under strict orders to prevent anyone from entering or leaving during a performance, which was meant to avoid noise in the recording of the shows.

When any of the 20-some-minute performances wrapped up, high schoolers sprung into action from behind the curtain. They would grab music stands, reorganize chairs and roll additional instruments on and off the stage.

Michael Sloane, who directed the Faribault orchestra, praised the helpers.

"That stage setup is tough, and they're doing a good job," he said. "I don't know about the other locations but it's just been going really smooth and well-organized."

To view the livestream of the Big 9 Music Festival grand-finale concert, when select performers from all 12 schools come together, visit bit.ly/Big9Concert2024 .