Music Students Win in Statewide Contest

January 4, 2001

The Oklahoma Baptist University Warren M. Angell College of Fine Arts was well represented at the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association Collegiate Audition, Dec. 2., with four individual division student winners and five alternate and honorable mentions.

The OMTA Collegiate Audition is an annual contest for statewide college-level music students each fall at the University of Oklahoma. OBU students compete against music students from colleges and universities across the state, including OU, Oklahoma State University, and Tulsa University.

"The students who enter this contest are all quite talented," said Dr. Ron Lewis, OBU professor of music. "I am very proud of our students."

In the freshman -and sophomore piano division, OBU students swept the competition with Seminole freshman Dustin Tims' first place finish, Amarillo, Texas, freshman Stephen King's alternate award, and Eugene, Ore., sophomore Angela Martin's honorable mention.

Caleb Harris, a junior from Gruver, Texas, won the junior and senior piano division, and Kathy Cripps, a senior from Ponca City, received an honorable mention.

OBU students also swept the freshman and sophomore division of the voice competition. Freshman Jonathan Foyil, Owasso, took first place, sophomore Cody Evans, Moore, was named alternate, and freshman Crystal Burns, Tecumseh, received an honorable mention.

Senior Stephanie Moring, Tecumseh, won the junior and senior division of the voice competition.

The winners will perform at the OMTA State Convention in June.

"We've always made a very good showing at the OMTA competition," Lewis said. "It is a good experience for everyone involved. It is good for the students to be judged by someone else to get critiqued on their playing."