The Faribault band director and choir director came up with the idea 90 years ago. Now the Big 9 Music Festival is coming back home.
The Big 9 Music Festival in a 13-hour concert performed by the bands, orchestras and choirs of 12 public schools from nine different communities around southern Minnesota. Faribault High School is hosting it on Friday, and Choir Director Ben Beaupre said it’s a massive undertaking.
“It is the longest-running music festival in the United States,” he said. “They were looking for a festival where students could come together to create music without the element of competition. It was just performing for each other and and being able to celebrate music together. So it has withstood the test of time.”
The Big 8 Music Festival — it later became the Big 9 after Northfield joined — was dreamt up by C. E. Purdie, the former band director of Faribault High, according to Daily News archives.
“This is the most important music event that Faribault High School has ever participated in,” reads a Faribault Daily News article published on May 20, 1933.
Some sources claim the first festival was held in Austin. The Daily News article says the first festival was held on May 19, 1933 in Owatonna High School.
The festival has only been cancelled three times: once during World War II and twice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
For this year’s show, Beaupre and the other music directors have been chipping away at a 31-page to-do list since May 2023 in preparation for the festival. This week has been dedicated to tying up any loose ends before the big day.
About 2,000 students will make up the 35 ensembles that perform.
“It’s a full day of music,” Beaupre said. “It’s a really, really unique event. Like I said, it has withstood the test of time and has been a model for other conferences around the entire country.”
The Faribault High School band is helping kick off the performances at 8:15 a.m. in the Nomeland Gymnasium, while a choir from Austin performs in the high school auditorium and an orchestra from Rochester sings at Trinity Lutheran Church.
Every 30 minutes, the ensembles will switch out until 2:15 p.m. The daytime concerts are free for the public to attend.
In a grand finale concert at 7:30 p.m., the top 400 students, give or take, from all 12 schools come together to form the Big 9 Select Band, Big 9 Select Orchestra and Big 9 Select Choir. Professors from St. Olaf College and Bethel University will direct the select groups.
The finale in the gymnasium costs $8 for the public and $6 for students to attend in person. It will also be livestreamed on YouTube, accessible at bit.ly/Big9Concert2024.
“It is a massive undertaking, and we’re excited,” Beaupre said. “We’re excited to have it. We’re excited to showcase Faribault and Faribault High School, our community. We host now once every 12 years because we’ve got 12 schools in the conference. So every opportunity that we have to host, we want to make sure we’re doing it right. And showcasing what a great community and high school we have here.”
To see a full schedule of performances and other information visit FHS.Faribault.k12.MN.US/Big-9-Music-Festival .
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