First annual Southern Illinois Music festival will be held on campus Thursday, June 30, Sponsored by the university, this festival features a contest during the day and a festival concert in McAndrew Stadium that night at 7:30. University and University high students will be admitted on their activity tickets.

At 1:30 p.m., contestants will vie for top honors in the various divisions of solo vocal music, solo piano, and baton-twirling. Winners in the divisions will be awarded gold medals. As this contest is the preliminary to the Chicagoland Music Festival, winners will be eligible for the semi-finals and finals in Chicago August 20. The outstanding man and woman vocalists and the outstanding piano soloist along with all baton-twirling contestants will appear on the night concert.

Guests at the night concert will be Mrs. Pearl Sherman, pianno and voice teacher of Harrisburg, Mrs. Sherman will be escorted to the stage during the early part of the concert by Miss Rose Marie Holmes, a former pupil of Mrs. Holmes, a pianist, will play the Ballade in G Minor by Chopin.

A concert dance band, under the direction of Erini Limpus will present a short jazz group in the concert. Following the concert, the band will play for a dance in the men’s gymnasium. Simultaneous with this dance, an old-fashioned barn dance will be held on the parking lot near Anthony Hall. A professional square-dance group will be featured both in the dance and in the Festival Concert. This group of dancers and musicians is sponsored by the Anna American Legion post.

Featured also on the program will be a marimba soloist, Miss Lowenn Cook, Sophomore, from Du Quoin.

Another feature of the concert will be a massed accordian banc, from the accordion clinic held in connection with the Egyptian Music Camp at the fairgrounds in Du Quoin. This group has been obtained through the cooperation of A.T. Atwood, director of the camp.

To complete the evening, a massed band and massed chorus will perform. The concert will be closed with a grand finale by the combined band and chorus.

Libero Monachesi will judge the vocal contest in the Little Theatre. Mr. Monachesi is a voice teacher in St. Louis and is in charge of the vocal and choral work at the Southwest high school.

Roger Lee will judge the baton-twirling contest on campus between Wheeler Library and Old Science Building. Mr. Lee is a graduate of Southern and is a nationally-known authority on baton-twirling. He has judged the semi-finals and finals in the Chicagoland Music Festival. He is now associated with the Ludwig Music House in St. Louis.

Mrs. Helen Vogler will judge the piano contest in Shryock auditorium. Mrs. Vogler is well-known in Southern Illinois for her teaching and for the many contests which she has judged.