Southern California Junior Bach Festival
The 2025 Bach Branch Festival (SCJBF-Keyboard Division) will be held on Saturday, March 15, 2025 at Steinway Gallery, Pasadena. Parents and family members are welcome to attend; please keep in mind that seating space is limited.
Registration is by online application only using the SCJBF.org website. The new Branch Registration portal was up and running on January 20, 2025. Student registration for all instruments began at that time. Teachers can search the Home Page and click on “Teacher Login”, using your personal password. Or, if you are new to the Bach Festival, please click on “New Teachers” to set up a password. Once you are logged on, follow the links to the student application form.
Before you can register students, you will be asked each year for a $25 website usage fee. This fee may be paid online using a credit card, and helps to defray some of the cost of maintaining the SCJBF website.
The deadline to apply for the Bach Branch Keyboard Festival is February 15th at 11:59 p.m. The registration fee is $55 per student. As a part of the revised registration, parents can make online payments using credit cards or Stripe. (Birth certificates no longer necessary.)
Please go online to:
SCJBF.org
Branch Festival Rules: Keyboard repertoire time limit for all pieces is 5 minutes. There is also an Anna Magdalena category to encourage younger students to study the music of Bach. Please note: After the February 15th deadline repertoire may not be changed. Any questions about the application procedures may be directed to klobitz@sbcglobal.net
Regional Festival: If selected, students have the option to play in the second round, at the Regionals. Students move forward to the Regionals based on scores received at the Branch Festival level. This year the Regional Festival will be held on Saturday, May 10, 2025 at Pasadena City College, Westerbeck Recital Hall. Students must play the same repertoire as at the Branch level and continue to observe the 5-minute time limit.
Complete Works Audition: This “third” round is offered for keyboard students who desire to study multiple movements from a Bach work, i.e. a prelude and fugue from The Well-Tempered Clavier, or several movements from a suite or partita (with no time limit). Please see the SCJBF online website for an exact listing of works that have been approved for the 2025 Complete Works festival. In order to be considered for CWA teachers must have checked the “Complete Works” box on the original online application.
At the Branch Bach Festival, only one movement or one prelude or one fugue needs to be performed (although multiple movements are welcome). However, at the Complete Works Audition, held in October 2025, a student must be prepared to perform all movements on the required list for a particular work. (Please check the online listing.) In order to be eligible to play at this round, a student must be a winner at both the Branch and Regional Festivals. There is no time limit at CWA.
The SCJBF All-Branch Regional String Festival will take place on Sunday, April 27, 2025 at Westside Music Conservatory, in West Los Angeles (Brentwood). Please continue to check scjbf.org for updates under Special Announcement. You may also email questions to Cheryl Scheidemantle, chair at cscheidemantle@polytechnic.org
The SCJBF All-Branch Regional Wind & Voice Festival will take place in May 2025 (date and venue TBA). Please direct any questions to Emily An, chair, at lianmusic@yahoo.com
The SCJBF All-Branch Regional Organ Festival will take place on May 3, 2025 with venue still being scheduled. Please see SCJBF.org and follow the link to “Organ Regional Festival” with more information forthcoming. The festival will be chaired by David Ball and Emma Whitten.
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MTAC Teachers may enter any student who is interested in playing the music of J. S. Bach — whether winds, strings, keyboard, or pipe organ. This annual festival offers an outstanding listening experience for the audience as well as a chance to hear a wide array of Bach pieces performed by talented students. We hope you will encourage your students to participate in the Festival to become more familiar with the music of this legendary composer.
Kristi Lobitz and Cathy Chen, Branch Chairs
Past Events
