A new competition will highlight the annual Bach Festival at Bluffton University.

The university's music department will host Bach Festival 2010 on Friday and Sunday, March 26 and 28. The weekend includes the traditional Bach's Lunch on Friday and Sunday's Bach Festival Concert, which will open at 2:30 p.m. in Yoder Recital Hall with the Mosiman Young Artist Competition. The events are free and open to the public.

Eight Bluffton students auditioned for the competition March 1. The three finalists chosen by faculty to perform at the March 28 concert are soprano Kristin Beckman, a sophomore from Ottawa, Ohio; flutist Kristen Shelly, a senior from Penfield, N.Y.; and clarinetist Alycia Althaus, a senior from Findlay, Ohio.

"The competition provides an opportunity for any student taking private lessons to compete for the opportunity to perform on the festival concert," said Dr. Lucia Unrau, professor of music and music department chair. Plaques will be awarded, as will a $100 cash prize to the winner.

Concluding the Bach Festival Concert will be a performance of Schubert's Mass in G by the Bluffton Choral Society, a choir comprising community members and Bluffton students, faculty and staff. Soloists, all Bluffton alumni, include soprano Julie Moyer, band and high school choir director at Continental Local Schools; tenor Jason Wellman, a United Methodist pastor in Findlay, Ohio; and bass Philip Schey. Judy Hall, adjunct professor of music at Bluffton, will conduct the choir, accompanied by the Bach Festival Orchestra and organist Allison Ringold.

Bach's Lunch will be held at noon March 26 in the Gilliom Room of Mosiman Hall, where students will perform in an informal setting. Individuals are welcome to bring their own lunch.