Buies Creek, N.C.—World class violinists Joanne and Charles Bath were among the first musicians in the United States to teach the famous Suzuki method of violin instruction. Together with daughter Pamela Bath Kelly and granddaughter Catherine Kelly, of Dunn, three generations of this distinguished musical family will perform a violin concert on Thursday, Feb. 24, at 8 p.m. in Scott Concert Hall of the Taylor Bott Rogers Fine Arts Center. Admission is free and open to the public.
Performing since 1957, Joanne and Charles Bath met while in graduate school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. They began performing together immediately and have become internationally renowned for their music. Joanne is the 1996 recipient of the North Carolina Award in Fine Arts. She maintains a private violin studio in Greenville, N.C. Dr. Charles Bath is Professor Emeritus of East Carolina University. He is a former faculty member of the National Music Camp at Interlochen, Michigan, a well-known piano clinician and soloist and travels extensively as a Suzuki accompanist.
Daughter Pamela Bath Kelly received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in violin performance at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she attended as a Morehead Scholar. She performs regularly with professional groups like the North Carolina Symphony, the North Carolina Opera, the Carolina Ballet and the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle. She is the director of the Strings program at Campbell University and directs the Suzuki Strings program at Cape Fear Christian Academy in Erwin. She is also the founder and director of the Cape Fear Valley School of Violin in Dunn, where she teaches violin, viola and cello students.
Soprano Catherine Kelly is currently a junior comprehensive music major at Campbell University. She is a member of the Campbell Voices and will travel with the Campbell University Choir to perform in Ireland this spring. In 2010, she won the state-level competition in Musical Theatre for the National Association of Teachers of Singing and recently qualified for the association’s regional competition in the classical division. In 2010, Kelly won a national opera competition in association with the American Singers of Opera Project. She continues to play, perform and teach violin, which she studied with her mother Pam. Kelly is a 2008 graduate of Cape Fear Christian Academy.
Titled “A Recital of Three Generations,” the concert program features a variety of musical styles from Brahms and Mozart to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jerome Kern.
Photo Copy: From left, Joanne Bath,Dr. Charles Bath, Catherine Kelly and Pamela Bath Kelly