This weekend the youth of Pennsylvania will bring State College back to the 17^th century with music and dance.

As part of the Pennsylvania Junior Baroque Music Festival, more than 100 musicians from across the Centre Region will gather for two days of workshops and individual evaluations to celebrate the musical artistry of baroque composers from 1600 to 1760.

The final concert, the Best of Baroque, will be held at The State Theatre this Saturday evening.

"This program is a festival in the real term of the word. It's a party," Carol Motta, festival coordinator, said.

Students 18 years old and younger will be gathering to participate in different workshops and ensembles about music and dance. All of the material is from the Baroque period -- the time of composers Bach and Vivaldi.

"The festival is designed for everyone to participate," Motta said. "It's not meant to be a competition. Instead, it's meant for students to come together to study how to play Baroque music, something most have never been exposed to before."

The final concert opens with Handel's masterpiece, the Water Music, with all the participants.

Then the program will turn the stage's theatrical setting over to a selection of student musicians.

The students will be performing vocally and instrumentally in the form of numerous solos, ensembles and concerti, side by side with the Penn State Baroque Ensemble.

"The stage will be transformed into a theatrical set of Handel composing his oratorio," Motta said.

"The students will get to practice once on the stage before the final performance in the evening. The Penn State Baroque Ensemble will be playing a piece by Biver. It's a sort of battle of strings about the Thirty Years War."

Joe Apfelbaum, program manager for The State Theatre, said the show is very well presented.

He said that the festival coordinators were looking for a good stage with the potential for good acoustics.

"They will also be using our stage for workshops, which gives them more options for educational work, which is very important to them and us," Apfelbaum said.

Apfelbaum said he expects to see more than parents and friends at the show this weekend.

"The show is being marketed to the community beyond just the parents. Also, these kinds of shows featuring adolescents don't come around all the time so we hope to do more," Apfelbaum said.

Although this is a festival for young students, Motta encourages and hopes to see college students at the performance.

"A Penn State ensemble will be present and performing, which hopefully is an encouragement to Penn State students to attend.

But the festival is geared towards college and high school students. And many of the participants are those who have been winning awards across the state in music. It should be fun to watch," Motta said.