This summer, Marvin Krislov became the 14th President of Oberlin College. To mark the historic occasion of his inauguration, Oberlin will host a weekend of symposia, concerts, and, of course, a ceremony beginning Friday, November 2, 2007.

The inaugural concert that will take place on Friday, November 2, at 8:30 p.m. in Finney Chapel will feature performances by some of the most exciting established and rising stars of the classical music world; nearly all of them graduated from, or currently attend, the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. The concert is free and open to the public, and will be broadcast live on 104.9-FM WCLV, Cleveland’s classical station. The live broadcast, with a simulcast on www.wclv.com, is sponsored by the Riverside Company, a leading private equity firm specializing in premier companies.

The inaugural concert is presented by the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Office of Public Programs.

Violinist Jennifer Koh (OC ’97), with pianist Shai Wosner, will perform Maurice Ravel’s Violin Sonata in G Major. Pianist Spencer Myer (OC ’00) will perform J.S. Bach’s aria Sheep May Safely Graze, from his Hunting Cantata, BWV 208; two préludes by Claude Debussy—Les tierces alternées and Feux d’artifice—from Book II of his Préludes; and Igor Stravinsky’s Four Études, Op. 7. The songs performed by baritone Robert Sims (OC ’88) and pianist Cliff Jackson (OC ’77) will include Lena McLin’s Great Day, Aaron Copland’s Ching a-Ring Chaw, Jerome Kern’s Ol’ Man River, and Sims’ arrangement of Vera Hall and Dock Reed’s I’m Goin’ Home on the Mornin’ Train. The Prima Trio—clarinetist Boris Allakhverdyan (OC ’08), pianist Anastasia Dedik (OC ’06), and violinist Farhad Hudiyev (OC ’08)—will perform Peter Schickele’s Serenade for Three and Fleeting Miniatures, an original composition by Mr. Hudiyev. Finney Chapel is located at 90 North Professor Street, across from Tappan Square, on the Oberlin College campus. It is wheelchair accessible, and free parking is available throughout the campus. For more information about the inaugural concert, please call 440-775-6933, or visit www.oberlin.edu. A complete listing of inaugural activities can be found at http://cms.oberlin.edu/inauguration/.

President Marvin Krislov

Marvin Krislov, Oberlin College’s 14th President, came to Oberlin from the University of Michigan, where he had been vice president and general counsel since 1998. Mr. Krislov led the University of Michigan’s legal defense of its admission policies, resulting in the 2003 Supreme Court decision recognizing the importance of student body diversity. A Rhodes Scholar, he earned a doctor of laws degree from Yale Law School, a master’s degree in modern history from Oxford University’s Magdalen College, and a bachelor’s degree from Yale University.

About the Performers

Jennifer Koh

photo credit: Janette Beckman

Violinist Jennifer Koh continues to dazzle audiences with her ability to fuse intensity of temperament with a classical poise and elegance. In the words of the New York Times she is a “fearless soloist,” who has a formidable capacity for “living through” the music she performs on stage. As a virtuoso whose natural flair is combined with a probing intellectual acuity, Ms. Koh is committed to exploring connections between the pieces she plays, searching for similarities of voice between different composers, as well as within the works of a single composer. Accordingly, her programs often present rare and revealing juxtapositions, offering works by composers as divergent as Mozart and Ornette Coleman, Schubert and Wuorinen. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature at Oberlin College and a Performance Diploma from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1997, and she maintains a lively interest in writing and literature. She is also an alumna of the Curtis Institute, where she worked extensively with Jaime Laredo and Felix Galimir. A broad educational background enriches Ms. Koh’s innovative ideas about outreach and her approach to the study of composers.

Since the 1994-95 season, when she won the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, the Concert Artists Guild Competition, and the Avery Fisher Career Grant—all while a student at Oberlin—Ms. Koh has been heard with leading orchestras and conductors around the world, including the Cleveland Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony, the Cincinnati Symphony (under Yakov Kreizberg,) the National Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit symphony, the New World Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Tulsa Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, the Kyushu Orchestra of Japan, the Dortmund Philharmonic of Germany, Houston Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Chicago Sinfonietta, Iceland Symphony, Helsinki Symphony, the Polish Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Radio Symphony, the Moscow State Academy Symphony Orchestra, and the Brandenburg Ensemble. In December 1999, Ms. Koh made her Carnegie Hall debut performing Mozart’s Concerto in A Major (the “Turkish”) with the New York String Orchestra under Jaime Laredo, a performance during which “Ms. Koh drew a lustrous tone from her fine Stradivari, yet kept her sound clear and focused,” according to Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times.

A prolific recitalist, Ms. Koh appears frequently at major concert halls and festivals, including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Mostly Mozart, Marlboro, and Wolf Trap, and with Christoph Eschenbach at Ravinia and Schleswig-Holstein. She is heard annually at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, where she recorded Menotti's Violin Concerto live in concert with the Spoleto Festival Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox.

A committed educator, Ms. Koh has won high praise for her performances in classrooms around the country under her innovative Music Messenger outreach program. Now in its third year, the program continues to form an important part of her musical activities. “The majority of children in this country have not been given the opportunity to learn music as a form of self-expression,” she asserts, “and I want to share this experience of making and listening to music with them.” Ms. Koh’s outreach efforts have taken her to classrooms all over the country to perform challenging music — whether it be Bach, Paganini, or Bartók — for thousands of students who have little opportunity to hear classical music in their daily lives. “Music is a positive outlet for emotions and is much more creative and constructive than spending hours in a shopping mall,” she says. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the National Foundation for the Advancement for the Arts, a scholarship program for high school students in the arts.

Ms. Koh is grateful to her private sponsor for the generous loan of the 1727 Ex Grumiaux Ex General DuPont Stradivari she uses in performance.

Shai Wosner

Pianist Shai Wosner has been dubbed by the Financial Times as “an artist to follow keenly.” With a diverse repertoire ranging from Bach to Ligeti, he enjoys a growing reputation with audiences and critics alike. Recently named a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, his upcoming engagements include performances with several BBC orchestras, the Houston Symphony, and at the Kennedy Center and the Konzerthaus in Berlin. Recent highlights include appearances with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, San Francisco, as well as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Barcelona Symphony, Berlin Staatskapelle and London’s Proms. He made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Chicago Civic Orchestra under Daniel Barenboim as well as his acclaimed New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. An active chamber musician, Mr. Wosner was a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two and has performed at such festivals as the Ravinia Festival, Hollywood Bowl, Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival, and Casals Festival, among others. For many years he was an annual participant of the West-Eastern Divan workshop organized by Daniel Barenboim. He is the recipient of a 2005 Avery Fisher Career Grant. As an inherent part of his repertoire, he has performed works by renowned contemporary composers such as György Ligeti, John Adams, and Bright Sheng. Mr. Wosner studied with Emanuel Krasovsky before moving to New York to complete his studies with Emanuel Ax. He resides in New York City.

Spencer Myer

photo: courtesy of S. Myer

Garnering stellar audience and critical acclaim from around the globe, Spencer Myer is rapidly establishing himself as one of the most outstanding pianists of his generation. In 2004, he captured first prize in the 10th UNISA International Piano Competition in Pretoria, South Africa, as well as special prizes for the best performances of Bach, the commissioned work, the semifinal round recital and both concerto prizes in the final round. He is also a laureate in the 2007 William Kapell, 2005 Cleveland, 2005 Busoni (where he was also awarded the Audience Prize), 2004 Montréal, and 2003 New Orleans International Piano Competitions. Winner of the 2006 Christel DeHaan Classical Fellowship from the American Pianists Association, Mr. Myer was awarded both of the competition’s special prizes in Chamber Music and Lieder Accompanying. He is also the winner of the 2000 Marilyn Horne Foundation Competition, and subsequently enjoys a growing reputation as a vocal collaborator. Mr. Myer’s orchestral, recital, and chamber music performances have been heard throughout North America, Canada, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He has been soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra and Beijing’s China National Symphony Orchestra, and has collaborated with, among others, conductors Nicholas Cleobury, Jacques Lacombe, Jahja Ling, Maurice Peress, Klauspeter Seibel, Arjan Tien and Victor Yampolsky. In May 2005, his recital/orchestral tour of South Africa included a performance of the five piano concerti of Beethoven with the Chamber Orchestra of South Africa. Mr. Myer made his debut at the famed festival of the Blossom Music Center during the summer of 2007. His recital appearances have been presented in New York City’s Weill Recital Hall, 92nd Street Y and Steinway Hall, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, and London’s Wigmore Hall, as well as in Chicago, Cincinnati, Fort Worth, and China, while many of his performances have been broadcast on WQXR (New York City), WHYY (Philadelphia), WCLV (Cleveland), and WFMT (Chicago). An avid chamber musician, he has also performed with the Blair and Pacifica string quartets. In January 2007, Mr. Myer performed Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at the Inaugural Festivities of Ohio’s Governor Ted Strickland and Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher. An enthusiastic supporter of the education of young musicians, Spencer Myer has been a frequent guest artist at workshops for students and teachers, including Indiana’s Goshen College Piano Workshop and the Texas Conservatory for Young Artists in Dallas, and has served on the faculty of the Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music. He is also an advocate of contemporary music and inter-arts collaboration, and has worked with the Chicago- and New York-based ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble), Indianapolis’ Dance Kaleidoscope, Ohio Dance Theatre and New York City’s New Triad for Collaborative Arts and The Juilliard School’s “Composers and Choreographers” series. Spencer Myer is a graduate of the Juilliard School, where he studied with Julian Martin. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Peter Takács and Joseph Schwartz. He has also studied with Christina Dahl, and he spent two summers at the Music Academy of the West, studying with Jerome Lowenthal and, later, vocal accompanying with Warren Jones and Marilyn Horne. During the course of his undergraduate studies at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, he was the recipient of numerous awards from that institution, while, in 2000, he was named a recipient of a four-year Jacob K. Javits Memorial Fellowship from the United States Department of Education. He earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Stony Brook University in 2005. Mr. Myer can be heard on the Dimension Records label, performing music of the late Cleveland composer Frederick Koch and on a composer-conducted Naxos CD in performances of three concerti from Huang Ruo’s Chamber Concerto Cycle. His debut CD for harmonia mundi usa — music of Busoni, Copland, Debussy, and Kohs — was released in the fall of 2007.

Robert Sims

photo: courtesy of R. Sims

The lyric baritone Robert Sims has been highly praised for his moving interpretations of African American spirituals, and critics have hailed his rich luxuriant tone, his energetic performances, and his convincing stage presence. The gold medal winner of the Enmark American Traditions Competition, the Friedrich Schorr Opera Award, and the National Opera America Award, Mr. Sims has given numerous recitals throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.He recently made his recital debut at Carnegie Hall, and has performed in concert at Lincoln Center in New York, the Smithsonian Institution, the Los Angeles African American Museum, Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, the Chicago Historical Society, the Latour de France International Music Festival in France, and the celebrated American Church in Paris. Under the auspices of the Community Concerts and Live On Stage Series, Mr. Sims performed more than 150 recitals throughout the United States. He has appeared several times in performance on the Hour of Power from the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California, which is broadcast internationally, and he was the focus of a Public Broadcasting Service special Artbeat Chicago.Included among the summer festivals that he has sung for are Chautauqua, Yachats, Grant Park, Big Arts, and the Ravinia Music Festival. He also toured nationally in the ensemble Three Generations, a celebration of American spirituals and folk songs with renowned artists George Shirley, the late William Warfield, and Benjamin Matthews.He has performed in duo recital with folk legend Odetta and recently debuted with Simon Estes and Jubilant Sykes in the trio Simon, Sykes & Sims, singing spirituals and American songs.

Mr. Sims earned a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1988. He is also an alumnus of SUNY Binghamton, Northwestern University, and the American Conservatory of Music.

Cliff Jackson

Pianist Cliff Jackson earned a Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1977, and pursued graduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music. Cited for his sensitive accompaniments and insightful musicianship, Mr. Jackson has been the pianist for many internationally renowned artists, including Kathleen Battle, Renata Scotto, Simon Estes, Edda Moser, Felicia Weathers, and Gwendolyn Bradley. His work as a highly sought-after collaborative artist has brought him to the stages of Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Wiener Musikverein, the Teatro Colon, the Teatro Municipal in São Paulo, and the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden. Having studied with such esteemed pianists as Leon Bates, Frances Walker, Martin Katz, and Warren George Wilson, Mr. Jackson has not only been recognized as a leading pianist, but he has also gained a wide reputation as an outstanding coach of vocal repertoire, ranging in scope from Baroque through 20th-century opera, and song literature encompassing the vastly divergent stylistic periods. Mr. Jackson was awarded a coaching fellowship by the American Opera Center at the Juilliard School, where he was a coach for two years, and was a member of the musical staffs of Miami Opera, Tulsa Opera, and the Mobile Opera. He was the recipient of the Gramma Fisher Scholarship by the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, and he has performed as piano soloist for the Dance Theatre of Harlem. In 1992, Mr. Jackson joined the faculty of the University of Kentucky’s School of Music, where he is currently an Associate Professor serving as Vocal Coach for the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre and Voice Curriculum.

The Prima Trio

photo credit: Janet Graham, courtesy of the Fischoff Competition

The Prima Trio, which features violinist Farhad Hudiyev, clarinetist Boris Allakhverdyan, and pianist Anastasia Dedik, was formed in 2004 at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. The Prima Trio’s performances throughout the United States including appearances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Oakton Chamber Music Series in Washington D.C., and in Virginia, Indiana, Oregon, and California, among other states. In June 2006 the ensemble participated in the Hampden-Sydney Chamber Music Festival (Hampden-Sydney, Virginia). As grand-prize winners of the prestigious 2007 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, their future engagements include appearances at the Emilia Romagna Music Festival in Modena, Italy, in 2008, and concerts in Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan in October 2007. In February 2008, they will present a recital in Cleveland, Ohio, under the auspices of the Cleveland Chamber Music Society.

Boris Allakhverdyan, clarinet

Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, and of Armenian descent, Boris Allakhverdyan started taking clarinet lessons from his father at the age of 9, shortly after his family moved to Russia. He entered the Moscow Conservatory Pre-College Division at the age of 13. Upon his graduation in 2001, he was accepted to the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he studied with Professor Raphael Bagdasarian and earned a Bachelor of Music degree with honors in 2006. He is currently enrolled in the Artist Diploma program at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where he studies with Associate Professor of Clarinet Richard Hawkins. Mr. Allakhverdyan is a winner of numerous competitions, including the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition (as a member of the Prima Trio, 2007, Grand Prize and Gold Medal), Hellam Young Artist’s Competition 2007, 1st place), the Rozanov International Clarinet Competition (2000, 2nd place), and the Rimsky-Korsakov International Clarinet Competition (2000, 2nd place). Festivals he has taken part in include theLucerne Festival Academy under the direction ofPierre Boulezin2007, the 2007Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the 2006Hampden-Sydney Chamber Music Festival, and the 1999 International Music Festival in Offenbach, Germany. Since March 2007, he has held the second clarinet position with Ohio’s Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Allakhverdyan has performed as a soloist and with orchestras in Russia, Germany, Denmark, Venezuela, Switzerland, and the United States. He is a winner of Oberlin’s 2007 Concerto Competition.

Anastasia Dedik, piano

Anastasia Dedik was born in 1981 in St. Petersburg, Russia, to a family of musicians, and started taking piano lessons from her mother at the age of 5. In 1999 she graduated from the pre-conservatory division of the St. Petersburg Conservatory (under the instruction of Asya Rubina) and was accepted to the Conservatory without any exams, studying at first with Professor Elena Shishko and then Professor Valery Vishnevsky, under whom she earned a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music degree in 2004. She has participated in the master classes and studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky, Natalia Trull, Andrey Diev, Lev Naumov, Vladimir Krainev, Edith Fisher, Russell Sherman, Vladimir Viardo, and Mario Delli Ponti. In 2006 Ms. Dedik earned an Artist Diploma at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, following studies — on a full talent scholarship — with Professor of Piano Sedmara Z. Rutstein. Ms. Dedik has won top prizes in numerous international piano competitions dating back to 1994, when she took second prize in the Music de France International Piano Competition in Paris. Her first prize awards include those from the Frederic Chopin Piano Competition (St. Petersburg, Russia, 2000); the Maria Judina International Piano Competition (St. Petersburg, Russia, 2002); the Oberlin Concerto Competition (Oberlin, Ohio, 2004); the Russian International Piano Competition (San Jose, California, 2005); the Lee Biennial Piano Competition (Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 2006); the Rovero d’Oro International Piano Competition (San Bartolomeo, Italy, 2006); and the Buono and Bradshaw International Piano Competition (New York, New York, 2007). With the Prima Trio, she won the Grand Prize and Gold Medal at the 2007 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Her 2006 performances include concerts in Portland, Oregon; San Francisco; and Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, representing the Oberlin Conservatory of Music under the auspices of the center’s Conservatory Project Series. In April 2006, she was featured on the Steinway Society of the Bay Area’s Young Artists Concert in San Jose, California. David Beech, a critic for Peninsula Reviews, wrote that her playing “brought tears to the eyes. … This was highly accomplished and authentically Russian pianism.” Ms. Dedik has performed as soloist and featured pianist with orchestras in Russia, Germany, Italy, Greece, Slovakia, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Holland, and the United States. Her 2007-08 concert season will include an October 2007 performance at Carnegie Hall (as part of her first prize award at the Buono and Bradshaw competition), and other venues throughout the U.S. as well as concerts in Italy, Germany, and Russia. She will be participating in the Van Cliburn Piano Festival in Fort Worth, Texas in June 2007.

She taught at the Casalmaggiore Music Festival in Italy in July 2007, and presented a master class and recital at the University of South Dakota and at Augustana College (Sioux Falls) in October 2007.

Ms. Dedik was accepted with full tuition scholarships to Yale University’s School of Music, the Mannes School of Music, and the Juilliard School. She is continuing her education at Juilliard, pursuing an Artist Diploma under the tutelage of Professors Matti Raekallio and Yoheved Kaplinsky.

Farhad Hudiyev, violin

Farhad Hudiyev, a native of Ashgabad, Turkmenistan, studied violin and composition with Vera Abaeva at the Special Music School. He distinguished himself at the age of 10 as the youngest performer ever selected to play with the National Violin Ensemble of Turkmenistan, and at 12 he won a scholarship to attend the New Names Festival in Suzdal, Russia, which was sponsored by the Moscow Conservatory. He was named the most promising young musician at the festival, and earned the top award, the Golden Apple. Mr. Hudiyev has performed in Ashgabad, Suzdal, Moscow, and Odessa (Ukraine) as both a soloist and as a member of the violin ensemble of Turkmenistan. He came to the United States in 2001 under a full scholarship with the Interlochen Arts Academy, where he studied with Paul Sonner and Michael Albaugh. Currently in his third year of study with Professor of Violin Milan Vitek at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Mr. Hudiyev won an honorable mention in the 2004 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer awards, held in May 2004 at Lincoln Center in New York, for his symphonic work Turkmenistan. In June 2006, he won third prize and a $1,000 scholarship at the 30th Annual Glenn Miller Competition, held in Clarinda, Iowa, the legendary musician’s birthplace. With the Prima Trio, he won the Grand Prize and Gold Medal at the 2007 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. His other awards include the Neil Rabaut Composition Prize from the Interlochen Arts Academy. He is a member of the Oberlin Orchestra.