The air in Finney Chapel crackled with intensity and virtuosity on Saturday, Oct. 8, when 23 finalists gave their all at the 2005 Oberlin Concerto Competition. The judges selected four winners, each of whom will have the honor of performing with either the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra or the Oberlin Orchestra this season. They are:

• Nolan Pearson ’06, pianist, is a fifth-year double degree student from Bedford, Texas, and a student of Professor of Piano Robert Shannon. He performed Witold Lutoslawski’s Piano Concerto with Music Director Bridget-Michaele Reischl conducting the Oberlin Chamber Orchestra on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2005.

• Shama Cash-Goldwasser’06, cellist, is a fifth-year double degree student from Morgantown, West Virginia, and a student of Assistant Professor of Cello Darrett Adkins. She will perform Ernest Bloch’s Schelomo with Bridget-Michaele Reischl conducting the Oberlin Orchestra on Wednesday, Dec.  14, 2005.

• Megan Glover ’06, is a senior piano performance major from Eureka, Missouri, and a student of Associate Professor of Piano Alvin Chow. She will perform Samuel Barber’s Piano Concerto with Bridget-Michaele Reischl conducting the Oberlin Orchestra on Friday, March 3, 2006.

• J Freivogel ‘06, violinist, is a fifth-year double degree student from Kirkwood, Missouri, and studies with Professor of Violin Marilyn McDonald. He will perform Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 with Per Brevig guest-conducting the Oberlin Orchestra on Friday, April 7, 2006.

“I am very honored and excited to have the opportunity to play one of my favorite pieces in front of my friends and colleagues,” says pianist and laureate Megan Glover. “It’s all about my teacher, Alvin Chow. It’s been amazing how much he helped me during the last two months as I prepared for this competition. I’m grateful to have such a wonderful and dedicated mentor.”

“What was truly exciting to me about this competition,” says Director of Choral Ensembles Hugh Ferguson Floyd, who coordinated the judging, “was the breadth of talent represented by such a wide variety of instruments and voices. The performing was of a very high quality, and the wide repertoire was interesting and beautiful. I loved that.”

Glover agreed with Floyd about how high the performance bar was set: “The level of playing was extremely high this year,” she adds. “That’s why winning this honor means so much to me. I know how hard everyone else worked to get ready for this. I think that anyone else might have won it on a different day; I was just lucky.”

With the exception of Floyd, who served in a non-voting capacity, none of the adjudicators were members of the Oberlin faculty. They included:

• Michael Christie ’96, recently named music director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic and Virginia G. Piper music director of the Phoenix Symphony;

• Freda Herseth, chair of the voice department and associate professor of voice at the University of Michigan;

• Spencer Myer ’00, first prize winner of the 2004 UNISA International Piano Competition and a laureate of the 2005 Cleveland International Piano Competition;

• David Perry, a violinist and member of the ProArte Quartet, who serves on the faculty at the University of Wisconsin’s School of Music; and

• Joshua Smith, principal flutist of the Cleveland Orchestra and head of the flute department at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

 “One of the treats of being involved in this competition,” says Floyd, “is experiencing the essence of young people who possess incredible maturity and commitment. It’s inspiring. These individuals, along with many of our Conservatory students, are poised to enter the professional world.”