STEP invites you our
32nd ANNUAL SUZUKI STRING SERENADE
AND 20TH YEAR CELEBRATION!!!
SATURDAY, MAY 21ST at 6:30pm with a
FREE Twinkle Prelude at 6:15pm
Ticketed concert at 6:30 PM
to benefit STEP’s Scholarship and Instrument Fund
Suggested donation – $12 in advance, $15 at the door
at
SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
45 MAPLE ST. SPRINGFIELD 01105
Pictured above are two of the student soloists who were chosen by audition to perform.
This family-friendly concert is STEP’s first live concert open to the public since the start of the pandemic. With COVID numbers rising once again, we do ask that all patrons wear masks to protect our youngest audience members who can’t be immunized. The concert will include classics, arrangements of John Henry and Simon & Garfunkel’s Scarborough Fair/Canticle, solos by students and director Lani Bortfeld, and birthday songs from around the world in honor of STEP’s 20th year.
You can also watch STEP’s 2021 Fall Open House on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8Quxai-tWk
Or watch the video of last year’s livestreamed FALL OPEN HOUSE
on the STEP Suzuki Strings Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/STEP-Suzuki-Strings-136005969797105/videos/689581598359373
LIVESTREAMED THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2020, 5:30-7:30PM
♫ First 1/2 hour – Observe a sample of our beginning and book 1 group classes.
♫ Next 45 minutes (0:31 – 1:15)- observe a working rehearsal of the advanced class working on music inspired by African influences.
♫ (1:16 – 1:48) Watch video clips from concerts & lessons, then hear answers to audience questions through Facebook Live in a Q & A session with Lani & STEP parents.
Also on the STEP Suzuki Strings Facebook page:
STRING MUSIC TO SOOTHE THE SOUL
a concert to benefit Open Pantry
Livestreamed on June 12th 2020
at the Congregational Church of Somersville, CT
In place of the annual Suzuki String Serenade in May, which was cancelled due to the pandemic, STEP livestreamed this concert to benefit Open Pantry of Springfield.
This family-friendly concert featured our middle and high school students along with STEP soloists Kadence Sharpe of Springfield and Kevin Meara of Holyoke, chosen by audition. We performed the first half of what would have been the 31st annual Suzuki String Serenade. Director Lani Bortfeld also performed the Bach-Gounod Ave Maria, hoping to assuage some of the pain over the losses our country suffered from the pandemic and systemic racism. It is our hope that our music, including classics by Bach, Becker, Joplin, Mozart, Pachelbel, Schumann and von Weber, will soothe your soul, lift your sorrow for a time, and inspire you to give back to your community as we rebuild and reform our lives and institutions after the devastating events of the past months. This was our effort to help heal our community from both the stress of the pandemic and the sorrow and anger of ongoing racism in our country.
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STEP students also gave a FREE Solo and Chamber Concert
on WEDNESDAY, February 5th 2020 from 6:30-7:30 pm
at SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 45 Maple St. Springfield 01105
We enjoyed good fellowship with a potluck supper and concert featuring our students aged 7 to adult in the cozy Guild Room of historic South Church. Our students practiced many hours with the encouragement of their families, and are taught using the highest standards. Every student gave a polished performance, from beginners to high school students.
We share Shinichi Suzuki’s belief that all children can learn when families, students and teachers work together.
A student expressing the beauty of music through her polished performance
A young STEP student performs her solo with pride!
Above, Lani Bortfeld leads STEP beginning students in a demonstration of how we learn Suzuki violin. Dr. Suzuki believed that all children can learn, and so do we!
STEP gave a free interfaith sing-along in December 2019 at the Springfield Central Library’s Rotunda. Opening with “Happy Holidays” Twinkle and Feliz Navidad, the audience then joined in the sing-along with music of the holidays of Chanukah, Christmas and Reyes.
STEP thanks South Congregational Church, the Springfield Suzuki Partnership (SSP), STEP’s parent/teacher organization, and friends and alumni for making STEP’s 17th year of music ministry possible!
Visit our Facebook page to hear some of our holiday performances: https://www.facebook.com/STEP-Suzuki-Strings-136005969797105/
We’re also on Youtube:
https://youtu.be/3kIwU0caNpI – Las Navidades
https://youtu.be/FHAppbuLEBo – Jingle Bells
https://youtu.be/vBa3Q4ZsF7M – Dreydl & Days of Chanukah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ymf4osCxyxU – O Jerusalem
STEP presented its 30th Annual Suzuki String Serenade in the beautiful and historic sanctuary of South Congregational Church, Springfield on May 11, 2019. The concert benefited the STEP Scholarship & Instrument Fund, which provides need-based financial aid and the loan of instruments to low-income families STEP students in Greater Springfield and Northern CT.
The concert featured folk music from Africa, Europe and the Americas; classics by Bach, Brahms, Sarasate and Schumann; and movie music from Fiddler on the Roof and The Return of the King (from the LOTR trilogy).
The STEP Suzuki Strings perform Shinichi Suzuki’s Allegro.
A member of the first violin section performs Howard Shore and Annie Lennox’s Into the West with the STEP Suzuki Strings.
We appreciate all the community support for our efforts to make high-quality string music accessible to the Greater Springfield community!
Below, Director Lani Bortfeld performs Corelli’s La Follia with friends on the 2018 Suzuki String Serenade. 
Lani and students singing along to the 2018 concert finale, De Colores, below.