More than 50 stringed instrument students from around Minnesota – including Marshall High School student Mark Rabaey – took part in the first MinnSWest String Fest at SMSU this weekend. The event brought music students together with faculty from the St. Paul Conservatory of Music and the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra.

MARSHALL — It was stringed instruments’ turn in the spotlight this weekend. The young musicians gathered on stage at the Southwest Minnesota State University theatre on Saturday morning were busy tuning up violins, violas, and cellos.

Getting to perform together with lots of other string players was a big part of the excitement.

“It’s just fun with everyone around,” said Benjamin Potts, a seventh grade student from Worthington. Potts was getting ready to play bass during a rehearsal session at the first-ever MinnSWest String Fest. The string festival drew more than 50 youth musicians from across Minnesota.

“This is the first time we’ve ever done this, and we are so thrilled,” said Southwest Minnesota Orchestra musical director Daniel Rieppel. Organizers hoped to make the event a good experience for young musicians, he said.

The string festival was made possible through a partnership between the St. Paul Conservatory of Music and the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra, said Amy Schendel, coordinator for the Music Across Minnesota program at SPCM.

“This is part of a grant program,” Schendel said. Music Across Minnesota is about improving students’ social and emotional health through music, she said. In addition to special events like the string festival, Music Across Minnesota also offers free online music lessons to students in rural communities and Title 1 schools.

Schendel said MinnSW String Fest had been almost a year in planning. While there were a variety of band festivals and workshops in southwest Minnesota, there hadn’t been similar events for stringed instruments. Music teachers and students in the region were interested in having a string festival, she said.

Some students taking part in the festival traveled a long way to be in Marshall for the event. Cello player Violet McConn said she came to the string festival from Fergus Falls.

“I’m so excited. I love orchestra,” McConn said.

“I think it’s very cool that we’re going to pull in lots of people, and step up the quality of our music a little,” said violinist Mark Rabaey. Rabaey was one of a few Marshall High School Students checking in to the festival on Saturday morning.

Students had a full day of performing and instruction at the campus of SMSU. Sections of violin, viola, cello and bass players were broken up into small group workshops. Guest artists, including violinist Risa Schuchter of Salzburg, Austria, and SPCM music group Son de Cuerdas, gave special presentations for students.

By the end of the day, students got the chance to perform alongside SPCM faculty and members of the Southwest Minnesota Orchestra, in a free concert for the public. Rieppel said organizers wanted to make the music for the concert “challenging, but doable” for younger students.

MHS students said they had prepared for the string festival in different ways.

“I listened to the music online,” said violinist and Marshall student Foster Moore. Moore said he tends to play by ear, so it helped to hear what they would be performing.

The pieces of music students were going to play at Saturday’s concert included “St. Paul’s Suite,” by the composer Gustav Holst, said Marshall student and cello player Xavier Rabaey.

“That’s a fun one,” Mark Rabaey said.

Students said they were looking forward to learning from the guest musicians and instructors. Mark Rabaey said it could help them refine their style, and how they portrayed the music.

“It’s awesome to be able to come and do something like this,” Schendel said of the festival. “We really hope we can keep this going year after year.”