Seven Students to Perform as Soloists in OBU’s Concerto-Aria Concert Feb. 20

The OBU Division of Music will present the 48th annual Concerto-Aria concert in Raley Chapel’s Potter Auditorium Sunday, Feb. 20, on the OBU campus in Shawnee. Seven students will perform as soloists, all accompanied by a full orchestra. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. and the public is invited to attend the free event.

The first Concerto-Aria concert was organized in 1974 as a way for outstanding musical performers to have the opportunity to appear with a live orchestra and perform repertoire from the great catalogues of piano concertos and opera arias. Some years later, instrumental concertos and other works were added to the performances, including original compositions by student composers.

The Concerto-Aria Orchestra is composed of nearly 40 members, including students, faculty, staff, alumni and members of the public. Dr. Jim Vernon, chair of the Division of Music and Burton H. Patterson Professor of Music, will conduct the orchestra. The concert will open with the orchestra’s performance of “Concert Overture in C” by Robert Volkmann.

Bethany Goepfrich, soprano and sophomore worship studies major from Warsaw, Indiana, will then perform “Ombra mai fu” from “Serse” by Georg Friderich Handel and arranged by Arthur Luck. Cason West, bass and junior music education major from Bushland, Texas, will then perform “The Roadside Fire” from “Songs of Travel” by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Valarie Monteith, soprano and junior musical arts major from Fort Worth, Texas, will then sing “Elle a fui, la tourterelle” from “Les Contes d’Hoffmann” by Jacques Offenbach. Nicholas Stark, tenor and senior musical arts major from Howe, Oklahoma, will follow with a performance of “Vainement, ma bien aimée” from “Le Roi d’Ys” by Edouord Lalo. Laura Stewart, soprano and voice major from Enid, Oklahoma, with a previously earned musical arts degree in violin, will then sing “Chacun le sait” from “La Fille du Régement” by Gaetano Donizetti.

Nathan Henager, baritone and senior vocal performance major from Newcastle, Oklahoma, will perform a piece by Guiseppe Verdi, “Di Provenza il mar, il suol” from “La Traviata.” Abigail Ekrut, junior piano performance major with emphasis in piano pedagogy from Denton, Texas, will conclude the concert with “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin and scored by Ferde Grofe.