“Baroque to the Future” Music Festival
Guidelines and Requirements
Current season: 2026–2027
Time: Recitals will be held throughout the day. You will be notified of your recital time no less than one week before.
***Please read these guidelines thoroughly before registering. The registration link is at the bottom of this page.***
The MTAC Sacramento County Branch Baroque Festival will consist of evaluated student recitals. MTAC Sacramento County Branch invites participation from MTAC teachers in Sacramento and surrounding branches. The Festival is open to students of all ages including college students and adults, and to all solo and ensemble instrumentalists, including singers.
The purpose of this Festival is to give students an opportunity to perform Baroque music and an optional selection from the annual secondary period as well as to acquaint them with a wide range of repertoire, not limited to their own instrument.
Repertoire requirements
Students must select one or more movements from a Baroque work, and may also choose to play an additional movement or piece from the Romantic period (2027). The additional piece is optional. The secondary musical period changes each year; for 2027, it is Romantic.
Time limit for performance is 10 minutes total per student.
Transcriptions are not permitted (e.g. Bach-Liszt).
The repertoire must be Level 3 or higher (refer to the Certificate of Merit Syllabus for reference, although the selection does not need to be from the Certificate of Merit Syllabus). Students do not need to be participating in Certificate of Merit.
Repeats may be taken optionally and only with alterations or ornaments.
Instrumentalists and singers must provide their own accompanist.
Ensembles do not need to memorize their music.
Pianists, singers, and solo instrumentalists are required to perform from memory in order to be evaluated.
Students must provide one original score to the evaluators. No photocopies, no exceptions.
Should questions arise regarding repertoire, the Festival Chair reserves the right to make the final decision.
Method of Evaluation
Each performance will receive written comments as well as rating numbers from 1 or 2 adjudicators. The rating will be from 1-10 with 10 being the highest mark from. All participants will receive a certificate of participation. Students receiving a score of 9-10 will receive a special honors certificate (or 18-20 in the event that there are more than one adjudicator).
All ratings given by the adjudicators are final.
Day of the Festival
Varied instrumentalists and works with varied difficulty will be featured in each recital to give maximum variety and experience to the participants. The number of recitals and final times will be determined by the number of entries, but will most likely be as follows:
Morning recitals: 9:30AM*, 10:45AM
Afternoon recitals: 1:00PM, 2:15PM
Additional recitals will be added if needed. You will be notified of your recital time no less than 1 week before the event. Because of the scale of the event, we cannot offer or guarantee schedule requests or changes.
*In the event that more recitals are needed, the first recital will begin at 9:00am.
Dress Code
Follow the branch performance dress code. Students who do not adhere to the dress code will not be allowed to perform.
Deadline and Fee
See the current festival date, registration deadline and venue in the branch calendar. Adult performers complete, sign and pay for their own applications. For performers under 18, a parent or legal guardian completes, signs and pays. Applications filled out or paid by teachers will not be accepted. Each student pays the current participant fee, regardless of ensemble or solo participation. Payment will be collected as part of the registration process. Please fill out one form per individual student.
Questions
Parents, please direct questions to your teachers.
Teachers only, please direct questions to recital chair Ashley Arroyo, musicjoylaughter@gmail.com
Teachers: Please visit the teacher information page for additional details on teacher volunteer requirements, etc.