Cathryn Lai and Peter Rejto to be Featured Performers in Oberlin Orchestra Concert, Sunday, April 9, 8 P.M. in Finney Chapel Story by Kivie Cahn-Lipman
	THE PROGRAM Concerto for Piano, Op. 38, by Samuel Barber (1910-1981) • Allegro appassionato • Canzone • Allegro molto Cathryn Lai, piano Intermission Don Quixote, Op. 35 Richard Strauss (1864-1949) Peter Rejto, violoncello RELATED Conservatory Senior Pianist Cathryn Lai Wins Second Prize in the 49th Annual International Wideman Piano Competition in Shreveport, Louisiana		Pianist Cat Lai, photo by Michael Chipman Listeners will be treated to two of the great works for solo instrument and orchestra, performed by the Oberlin Orchestra under the baton of Paul Polivnick, on Sunday, April 9, at 8 p.m. in Finney Chapel. The concert will open with the Barber Piano Concerto, Op. 38, featuring senior pianist Cathryn (Cat) Lai of Greensboro, North Carolina, who was selected as one of seven winners from a field of 22 finalists in the 1999-2000 Oberlin Concerto Competition for her performance of the Nielsen Concerto. The concert is free and open to the public. Though almost completely tonal and adherent to traditional concerto strictures, the Barber Piano Concerto, Op. 38 is impassioned and very modern. It is also virtuosic to the extreme. "It's such a badass piece," said Lai, "It's one of the most perfectly written concertos." For Lai, playing with an orchestra is nothing new; she has performed concertos previously with the Charlotte Repertory Orchestra and the South Carolina Symphony, among others. "But playing with your peers is different," she says. "It's very exciting." When asked about her inspiration to learn and perform this work, her response was instantaneous: "I owe everything to professor of pianoforte Robert Shannon. He has given so much time and effort for me, and for that I'm eternally grateful. I've had only amazing experiences with him. He just made it cool." Cellist Peter Rejito, photo by Kivie Cahn-Lipman Following an intermission, the orchestra will perform Richard Strauss' Don Quixote, Op. 35, with professor of violoncello Peter Rejto as soloist. The piece is an unusual hybrid, part splashy symphonic poem, part cello concerto. It is a programmatic work, a musical depiction of the book by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. At one point, several instruments bleat nastily in imitation of sheep. At another, Strauss provides sweeping airborne music complete with wind machine when Quixote is blindfolded and tricked into believing he is astride a flying horse. The cellist takes on the title role, with solo viola featured in several critical passages in the role as Quixote's reluctant, whining sidekick, Sancho Panza. "Senior viola major Michael Fenton is doing a great job," said Rejto. "He makes a fine Panza. It's really fun to play this piece again after so many years. It's unusual to be a featured soloist - normally the principal cellist plays Quixote - so it's a real pleasure to have been asked to do it myself." Rejto related a little anecdote about his first encounter with the piece. His manager called in the early 1980s, asking if he knew the work. When he responded, "Why?" he was informed that renowned cellist Leonard Rose had fallen and broken his arm, and wanted Rejto to sub. "Oh yes, I know it," said Rejto, who went out, bought the part, and learned it in less than a week for the performance. "That was the last time I played it," reflected Rejto. It's nice that it's come up again. This time I'm a bit more prepared." About the Oberlin Concerto Competition Each fall, Conservatory students compete for a few hotly-contested spots on the Oberlin Orchestra and Oberlin Chamber Orchestra's rosters. For the 1999-2000 competition, seven winners were selected from 22 finalists. In addition to Cathryn Lai, winners included David Bowlin, a senior violinist from Moline, Illinois; Liz Freivogel, a double degree junior violist from Kirkwood, Maryland;, a senior pianist from Greensboro, North Carolina; Eric Lamb, a senior flutist from Detroit, Michigan; senior violinist Wei Wei Le from Shanghai, China; Erika Tolano, an Artist Diploma soprano from Australia; and Felix Petit, a junior violinist from Caracas, Venezuela. Judges for the competition included faculty members Ryan Anthony, David Bow, 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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