For the past decade, Van Wert has celebrated the Fourth of July weekend with the Lima Symphony \u201cPops\u201d Orchestra under the flamboyant baton of Maestro Crafton Beck.\u00a0 This Friday, Van Wert once again kicks off its Holiday at Home Fourth of July celebration with the Lima Pops, but with a different conductor.<\/p>\n
Maestro Beck recently underwent shoulder surgery, which has knocked him out of the summer Pop concerts this season.\u00a0A healthy shoulder is as important to a professional conductor as it is to a quarterback of a football team.<\/p>\n
Step in Maestro Brian Eads.\u00a0 Eads has been selected to lead the Lima Pops Orchestra this summer in place of Crafton Beck.\u00a0 I would like to introduce him to you before he steps on the podium this Friday evening in Fountain Park.<\/p>\n
Brian began his music studies the same as many have, with piano lessons at the age of eight in Grenada, Miss.\u00a0 His aptitude, work and musical accomplishments led him to various church accompanist positions.\u00a0 After graduating valedictorian from Grenada High School in 1997 (Yes- he is young!), he attended Delta State University and began studies in orchestral conducting as well as continuing his piano studies.\u00a0 Quite interestingly, some of the biggest names in conducting have been pianists.\u00a0 A few who come to mind are Leonard Bernstein, George Szell, and Daniel Barenboim.<\/p>\n
In the summer of 2001, Brian attended the Aspen School of Music, where he studied piano with Herbert Stessin of The Juilliard School.\u00a0 He then received his Master of Music in Orchestral Conducting from Florida State University.\u00a0 He has conducted the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra and has studied conducting with Alex Jimenez, Phillip Spurgeon and Crafton Beck.\u00a0 He has even studied choral conducting with Andre Thomas.\u00a0 He currently lives in Tupelo, MS and proudly serves as the Minister of Worship at West Jackson Street Baptist Church.<\/p>\n
I have talked with Maestro Eads and he is looking forward to sharing the Lima Pops Orchestra with everyone in Fountain Park this Friday night.\u00a0 He told me he really enjoys conducting pop music and interacting with audiences.\u00a0 The program includes some new and exciting pieces he is sure the audience will enjoy.\u00a0 Some of the program includes movie themes from \u201cThe Summer of \u201842\u201d, \u201cForrest Gump\u201d, \u201cApollo 13\u201d, and \u201cRocky.\u201d\u00a0 Other show selections are from \u201cShowboat\u201d, \u201cMichael Jackson Spectacular\u201d, and a \u201cBeach Boys Medley.\u201d\u00a0 American marches and Patriotic selections of course, highlight the show throughout.<\/p>\n
It will be a true celebration of America this Friday night as we kick off a Fourth of July celebration that will include all the favorite Holiday at Home activities, including the big parade on Monday, right down Main Street beginning at 11:00 a.m.<\/p>\n
Come to Fountain Park this Friday at 7 p.m. and help celebrate our birthday as a nation with the Lima Symphony \u201cPops\u201d Orchestra, this time with guest conductor Brian Eads.\u00a0 The music\u2019s all free, compliments of The Van Wert County Foundation.\u00a0 And don\u2019t forget to get some delicious food served up by the Van Wert Council on Aging.\u00a0You are also serving a great cause!<\/p>\n
FIN\u00c9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For the past decade, Van Wert has celebrated the Fourth of July weekend with the Lima Symphony \u201cPops\u201d Orchestra under the flamboyant baton of Maestro Crafton Beck.\u00a0 This Friday, Van Wert once again kicks off its Holiday at Home Fourth of July celebration with the Lima Pops, but with a different conductor. Maestro Beck recently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-09 10:11:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9995\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}