Eight to Perform in Concerto Aria

A group of seasoned student performers will grace Oklahoma Baptist University's Yarborough Auditorium stage for the Concerto Aria concert, Feb 18, at 8:30 p.m. Seven seniors and one junior will perform with full orchestra at the 28th annual recital, which focuses on up-and-coming student performers.

A pre-concert lecture, led by Dr. Kristen Stauffer Todd, will be at 7:30 p.m. in Raley Chapel 203. A reception will follow the concert in OBU's Geiger Center.

Concerto Aria originated as a piano concerto performance, and was eventually expanded to include instrumentalists, and later vocalists. Dr. Ron Lewis, OBU professor of piano, created the event and continues to oversee the production each year.

The program will feature four sopranos, a tenor, two instrumentalists and a pianist.

Soprano Michelle Thompson-Gilbreath will perform "Ach, ich liebte ... Durch Zartlichkeit und Schmeichin" from Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. From Forth Worth, Texas, Thompson-Gilbreath is a senior vocal performance major with an emphasis in musical theater. She is a student of Rhetta Hudson, OBU associate professor of music.

Thompson-Gilbreath has studied at the Aspen Music Festival and School with Suzanne Mentzer. She has had recent roles in the OBU Opera Theatre production of Le Nozze di Figaro and Sweet Betsy from Pike, the OBU/Shawnee Little Theater production of Gershwin's Crazy For You, and the SLT production of Of Mice and Men.

Tenor Lloyd Ray Holt, a senior vocal performance major, will sing "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini. He studies voice under Hudson.

Holt attended Pensacola Christian College, graduating with a B.M. in vocal performance in 1998. He has performed with renowned bass Jerome Hines and soprano Stephanie Blythe. He is minister of music at Wallace Avenue Baptist Church in Shawnee.

Soprano Amy Powell will sing "C'est des contrebandiers le refuge ordinaire ... Je dis que rien ne m'epouvante" from Carmen by Georges Bizet. Powell, a senior vocal performance major from Borger, Texas, is a student of Hudson's.

She was a soloist in Handel's Messiah at OBU and performed for the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association state convention in 2000. She was a regional and state finalist in National Association of Teachers of Singing auditions and won the Collegiate-Group A category at the1999 OMTA competition.

Powell studied with Ms. Beverley Rinaldi of the Cleveland Institute at the Interlochen Arts Camp during the summer of 2001.

Flutist Jennifer Raelene Peck will perform "Fantasie" by Georges Hue. From Oklahoma City, Peck is a junior instrumental music education major and studies with Nancy Stizza-Ortega, OBU adjunct music instructor.

Peck is a member of the Alpha Eta chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, the University Symphonic Band, and the Oklahoma Intercollegiate Honor Band. She also is a member of Phi Eta Sigma and Omicron Delta Kappa.

Soprano Erin Marie Cain, a senior musical arts major, will sing "Saper vorreste" from Un Ballo in Maschera by Giuseppe Verdi. A native of Tucson, Ariz., Cain studies with Dr. Don Clark, OBU associate professor of music.

She is a member of the University Chorale and the Alpha Eta chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota. She recently performed excerpts from Trouble in Tahiti in the 2001 "Chorale Capers" and was Patricia Fodor in the OBU/SLT production of Crazy for You.

Soprano Aubrey Noel Billingsley will perform "Divinites du Styx" from Alceste by Christoph Willibald von Gluck. The senior vocal performance major from Norman, studies with Hudson.

Billingsley has appeared in OBU Opera Theater productions and as Irene in the OBU/SLT production of Crazy For You. She serves as president of OBU's University Chorale, social chair of the Alpha Eta chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, president of the OBU French Club, and secretary of Omicron Delta Kappa.

Alto saxophonist Nathan Madsen will play "Tablaeux de Provence -- IV. Dis Alys -- Camps L'Ama Souspire" by Paule Maurice. Madsen is a senior music education major from Fort Worth, Texas. He is a student of Dr. Chris Bade, OBU professor of music.

Madsen is a member of the University Symphonic Band, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the University Chorale, and the Bison Jazz Orchestra. He studies with Lewis.

Pianist Caleb Harris will play "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43" by Sergei Rachmaninoff. From Gruver, Texas, Harris is a senior piano performance major.

Harris was a Tanglewood Piano Fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center during the summer of 2001. While there, he was rehearsal pianist for Robert Spano of the Atlanta Symphony. Harris also was staff accompanist at the Interlochen Center for the Arts during the summer of 2000.