The CC Summer Music Festival welcomes Patti Kroth as its new associate director, stepping in to fill the shoes of Virginia Barron, who will stay on with the Festival to take care of its children's programming.
Kroth is currently an instructor of clarinet at Michigan State University Community Music School. She earned her Bachelor of Music from Ithaca College and her Master of Music from the Eastman School of Music. She has been a member of the Sioux City Symphony as well as a guest performer with the Dakota Wind Quintet, the South Dakota Symphony, and the Lansing Symphony Orchestra.
Her music education career spans nearly 40 years as a teacher in public schools in New York, South Dakota and Colorado, plus running a private clarinet studio and teaching as an adjunct professor at two colleges, before she retired in 2023 as a middle school band director in East Lansing, Mich.
She is the founding director of the New Horizons Adult Beginning Band, one of Michigan State's adult community ensembles. Kroth has been a member of the SMF family for years as her husband, Michael, is a member of the SMF Faculty on bassoon.
"Patti has all the qualifications for this job and will be a great asset," said Susan Grace, SMF music director. "With all her experience working with and mentoring students of all ages, playing in symphony orchestras, and as founder and director of the New Horizons, she will bring a great deal of expertise to the Festival. We will all look forward to working with Patti."
Barron is looking forward to quasi-retirement from the Festival while being able to continue working with children's organizations to bring music to Colorado Springs youth in the summer. She has been with the Festival for more than 30 years, first as a member of the viola faculty and then as associate director, and Grace said her friend and longtime colleague helped shape the job description for the role she filled for so long.
"She has pulled the workings of the Festival together in a way that has made everyone’s job easier and more efficient, and her work with the fellows has garnered their trust and respect," Grace said.
