Andrew Bahle, son of Bob and Joyce Bahle of Suttons Bay, is the first winner of the Carol M. Thomas Memorial Music Scholarship awarded by the Village Voices of Leelanau Township.

Andrew Bahle

Bahle, a sophomore at Traverse City West High School, has been accepted at the highly respected Julliard Percussion Seminar in New York City. He will be studying with percussion masters from around the world, including Julliard’s faculty, Broadway musicians and members of the Metropolitan Operate and New York Philharmonic.

“Andrew is an extremely talented and highly motivated young man and Carol Thomas would be delighted with this selection,” said Ann Bloomquist, scholarship committee member and director of the Village Voices.

The scholarship was created in the name of Carol M. Thomas, who died in July. She began her musical career as a child with piano lessons and playing the violin in the Kalamazoo Junior Symphony in the 1940s. Although she enjoyed her career as a librarian, her life-long hobby and passion was music. She instilled that passion in her children and grandchildren.

Thomas played the violin in the Nairobi Symphony Orchestra when she lived in Kenya during the
1980s and after she and her husband retired to Northport, she combined her interest in singing and the Village Voices to become their first librarian, a position she held for a decade, up until her final illness.

Contributions to the memorial fund were received from all over the world. As they accumulated, the Village Voices decided to create the annual scholarship to encourage talented young people to pursue their musical studies, and possibly to enter a musical career.

The award will be presented to Bahle at the Village Voices & Northport Community Band Concert on June 7 at the Northport Community Arts Center.