Saturday, February 7, 2026
11:00 AM – 6:30 PM
NSU Campus
Cost: FREE (lunch and dinner provided)
SCHOOL OF CREATIVE AND PERFORMING ARTS
String Day 2026
Join us for a day of music-making!
NSU’s School of Creative and Performing Arts invites high school string players to spend a day on campus with our students and faculty.
You’ll rehearse together, attend technique classes, and perform in a side-by-side concert with the Natchitoches-Northwestern String Orchestra.
Helpful Resources
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Registration
Light snacks will be provided in the orchestra room. Check in and meet fellow participants!
12:00 PM | Welcome & Introductions
Meet the NSU string faculty and student mentors
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM | Rehearsal 1
Orchestra rehearsal of Holst’s Brook Green Suite with NSU string students and faculty
1:45 PM – 3:15 PM | Sectionals & Technique Classes
Small group instruction with NSU string faculty focusing on technique and musicianship
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM | Rehearsal 2
Final preparation of Holst’s Brook Green Suite
4:45 PM | Dinner
Pizza and drinks will be provided for all participants
5:30 PM | Concert
Program:
- NSU Chamber Orchestra
- Performing works by Husa, Dvořák, Handel, and Haydn
- String Day Orchestra
- Brook Green Suite by Gustav Holst
Registration is required. Please complete the registration and permission form by February 4, 2026.
Space is limited, so early registration is encouraged!
All participants will perform Holst’s Brook Green Suite as part of the side-by-side concert.
Download the music:
Please practice your part before arriving so you can make the most of the rehearsal time with our students and faculty!
- All participants under 18 must have a signed permission form.
- Please bring your completed form with you to registration on February 7.
- Your instrument and all necessary accessories (rosin, extra strings, etc.)
- Music stand (if possible)
- Completed permission form
- Pencil for marking music
- Water bottle
For NSU music scholarships and information
Dr. Douglas Bakenhus
Director of Orchestral Activities
NSU School of Creative and Performing Arts
Email: bakenhusd@nsula.edu
Phone: 318-357-5792
Dr. Douglas Bakenhus is music director and conductor of the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, where he also teaches bassoon, aural skills, and conducting. He holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University–Commerce, has led ensembles including the Northeast Texas Symphony and Austin Philharmonic, and remains active as a guest conductor and bassoonist, performing internationally with the NSU Faculty Woodwind Trio and with regional and baroque ensembles across the region.
Internationally acclaimed violinist Andrej Kurti, born in Belgrade, Serbia, studied with Djula Tesenji and at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory before earning his doctorate at the University of Georgia. A winner of multiple competitions and a 1998 MTNA finalist, he became a Blue Griffin Recording artist in 2000, receiving high praise for his Ysaÿe solo sonatas. Since 2004 he has been professor of violin at Northwestern State University of Louisiana, performing widely as a soloist and chamber musician, contributing to more than forty albums, and appearing at international festivals, including a recent Carnegie Hall debut.
Mrs. Sofiko Tchetchelashvili, a violist from Tbilisi, Georgia, has distinguished herself as a performer and educator. She studied at the Tbilisi State Conservatory and later completed graduate studies at Baylor University, where she served as concertmaster of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra. A winner of four National Competitions in Georgia and two-time recipient of the President’s Award for Excellence in Music, she has taught viola at Northwestern State University of Louisiana since 2016. She is regularly invited to music festivals across Europe and the United States, including in Spain, Italy, and Montenegro, where she teaches and performs as a soloist and chamber musician.
l Christopher earned degrees from the New England Conservatory and the University of Memphis, began teaching strings in public schools, and later performed with the Memphis and Charlotte symphonies before serving as principal cello of the Shreveport Symphony and Shreveport Opera. A faculty member at Northwestern State University of Louisiana since 2005, he has taught low strings and theory, appeared widely as a clinician, recorded extensively with the Nashville String Machine, collaborated with major artists, and continues his multi-CD project of Offenbach’s cello duos.
