2010 began with a bang for Dr. Kenneth Sarch. He received an invitation to travel to Panama as Guest Conductor of the 25th Anniversary Panama National Youth Orchestra Music Camp and Festival. He conducted two orchestras and presented five concerts in Panama City, Coronado, El Valle, and Ciudad de Saber. Returning to the U.S., Dr. Sarch fulfilled a second invitation as Guest Conductor of the 2010 PMEA WESTERN REGIONAL STATE ORCHESTRA FESTIVAL held at DuBois area High School.
Kenneth Sarch enjoys a distinguished career and an international reputation as conductor, performer and master teacher. His conducting career began with his appointment as Associate Conductor of Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. A frequent international Guest-conductor, the U.S. State Department has invited Dr. Sarch five times to guest conduct the Panama National Youth Orchestra, and to conduct the Symphony Orchestra of the Jordan Armed Forces in Amman, as well as the Belo Horizonte Youth Orchestra in Brazil. He has also served as Conductor of the Shenandoah Festival Strings and the Mansfield University Symphony Orchestra. He has been invited to conduct District, Regional and State orchestra festivals in Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Dr. Sarch was awarded a Fulbright to Santa Cruz, Bolivia where he founded and was the first conductor of the Orquesta Juvenil, the city’s first symphony. Currently, Dr. Sarch conducts the Mansfield University String Chamber Orchestra and is Professor of Violin and Viola.
Kenneth Sarch’s orchestral experience as violinist encompasses a host of ensembles under many of the world’s great conductors. He played in the American Symphony under Leopold Stokowski, the Hartford Symphony under Arthur Winograd, and the Berkshire Tanglewood Orchestra under conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Erich Leinsdorf and Michael Tilson Thomas. He served as Concertmaster of the Williamsport Symphony for fourteen years, as well as the Maryland Symphony and the New York Orchestral Society.
Kenneth Sarch was awarded the 2003 Citation of Excellence in Music Education from the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA). He has been awarded two Fulbright Scholar Grants to Brazil and Bolivia, four USIA Arts America Grants to Panama, Brazil and Jordan and two Fromm Foundation Grants for performance at Tanglewood. He served as President and Editor of the Pennsylvania String Teachers Association (PADESTA) and is co-author of the American String Teachers Association Dictionary of Bowing and Pizzicato Terms. His compositions for string orchestra are published by KJOS Music Co. and LUDWIG Masters Series. In 2003, Dr. Sarch was invited to Cuba as a member of a United States Delegation of String Teachers sponsored by People To People Ambassador Program, an organization started by President Eisenhower.
