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David Bowlin, Concerto Competition Winner, to be Showcased in Oberlin Chamber Orchestra Performance on Friday, November 12, 8 P.M., in Finney Chapel
Story by Claire
Chase
Photos by Nicholas
Masterson and Ramon
Owens
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Watch for upcoming performances of the 1999-2000 Oberlin Concert Winners Oberlin Orchestra Oberlin Orchestra Oberlin Orchestra Chamber Orchestra Chamber Orchestra |
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The
Oberlin Chamber Orchestra, under the direction of Paul
Polivnick, will present its second performance of the
semester on Friday, November 12, 8 p.m., in Finney Chapel.
The program will offer Igor Stravinsky's Jeu de Cartes,
Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No.1, and Haydn's
Symphony No. 99. The concert will also showcase the work of
violinist David Bowlin, who was selected one of seven
winners from a field of 22 finalists of the 1999-2000
Oberlin Concerto Competition. The concert is free and open
to the public.
Bowlin will be featured as soloist in Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1. Bowlin, a senior from Moline, IL, is a student of Roland and Almita Vamos. He currently serves as concertmaster of the Oberlin Orchestra. An avid orchestral and chamber musician, Bowlin has also served as assistant concertmaster of the Pacific Music Festival Orchestra in Japan, under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach.
"I'm excited about playing this piece with the Chamber Orchestra," remarks Bowlin, "especially since Prokofiev stressed that he intended for this work to be a sonata, of sorts, with the orchestra playing an essential and soloistic role, rather than a violin concerto with orchestral accompaniment.
"The first movement begins with a slow, beautiful opening that seems to say 'once upon a time' musically. The second and central movement is a fast scherzo, with extremely virtuosic and colorful writing for the violin as well as for soloists in the orchestra. The third movement creates a gorgeous, almost other-worldly atmosphere."
"David is a great violinist," says Polivnick. "It has been a pleasure working with him as concertmaster of the Oberlin Orchestra, and I am very much looking forward to working with him in the solo capacity."
The Program
Stravinsky's Jeu de Cartes was written on a commission from Lincoln Kirsten and Edward Warburg in 1935-36 for celebrated choreographer George Balanchine and the American Ballet. The ballet's action centers around a game of cards, and consists of three continuous "donnes," or "deals," each introduced with a march-like prelude representing the shuffling of the deck.
"This
ballet in three 'deals' depicts a charming chain of events
in which the dancers, all dressed up like cards, engage in
games, duel with one another, and eventually conquer the
malicious Joker, who is constantly gumming up the works
throughout the story," explains Oberlin Chamber Orchestra
Music Director Paul Polivnick. "Aside from being a striking
ballet, this piece is well suited to the concert hall.
Stravinsky, unlike many other composers of ballet music,
intended for the work to stand alone in an abstract setting,
without dancers and choreography. It's a fantastic piece,
full of fire and virtuosity for all instruments. And it's
quite a challenge to play!"
The final work of the evening will be Haydn's Symphony No. 99. "This music is very challenging to play well, and I have given much attention in rehearsals to issues of stylistic interpretation, applying different bow strokes and aiming&emdash;through much experimentation as well as study&emdash;to achieve lightness of style without emasculating and affecting the sound," describes Polivnick.
"I have always enjoyed programming the classical style in conjunction with the twentieth-century style, especially in the case of Stravinsky and Prokofiev, two Russian composers who were constantly quoting and looking back to earlier composers such as Haydn. The pieces on this program all require a light, controlled style suited to a small orchestra."
About the Oberlin Concerto Competition
Each fall, Conservatory students compete for a few hotly-contested spots on the Oberlin Orchestra's concert roster. For the 1999-2000 competition, seven winners were selected from 22 finalists. In addition to David Bowlin, winners included Wei-Wei Le, a senior from Shanghai, China; Liz Freivogel, a double degree junior from Kirkwood, Maryland; Cathryn Lai, a senior from Greensboro, North Carolina; Eric Lamb, a senior from Detroit, Michigan; Erika Tolano, an Artist Diploma student of Oberlin; and Felix Petit, a junior of Oberlin.
Judges for the competition included faculty members Ryan Anthony, David Boe, James Caldwell, Alvin Chow, Gerald Crawford, Stephen Moore, Paul Polivnick, Peter Rejto and Michael Haber. The jury represented one faculty member from each performance division, one faculty member from a non-performance division, and an outside adjudicator.
"The overall performance level was extraordinarily high," says David Boe, jurist and professor of organ and harpsichord. "My perception of this competition is that the quality, which has always been impressive, has grown even more compelling over the past number of years. Selecting a small group of winners from an outstanding field makes the work of the judges very difficult. I'm sure the judges agree that many more of our finalists would have been fully deserving of performing as soloists with the orchestra."
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