Image credit: Erich Lessing|Art Resource, NY

"We all lead busy lives in Oberlin," says Assistant Professor of Cello Darrett Adkins. "It is too rare that we can come together and make music with and for each other." All the more reason, then, to applaud the spring edition of Oberlin's Faculty Chamber Series, when Adkins and his colleagues present a program of works that celebrate the cello. The free concert begins at 4 p.m. on Sunday, February 24, in Warner Concert Hall.

Adkins believes that cellists tend to create a community of mutual support and admiration, a philosophy clearly evidenced by the program: Beethoven's Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 102, for Cello and Piano, performed by Adkins (OC '91) and Associate Professor of Piano Angela Cheng ; Schubert's String Quintet in C Major; and two of Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras: No. 1 for an Orchestra of Cellos, and No. 5 for Voice and Eight Cellos. Adkins says he considers the Schubert work "by many accounts, the best piece of music that there is." Assistant Professor of Violin David Bowlin (OC '00), Professor of Violin Marilyn McDonald , Associate Professor of Viola Karen Ritscher , and Assistant Professor of Cello Amir Eldan will join him in forming the quintet.

All of the afternoon's cellists, including Associate Professor of Viola da Gamba and Cello Catharina Meints ; Dmitry Kouzov, who is teaching at Oberlin this spring while Adkins is on sabbatical; and several outstanding students from Oberlin's cello studios – Gabrielle Athayde '08, Rachel Desoer '08, Gwendolyn Krosnick '08, and Catherine Smith '08 – will fill the stage for the first Bachianas. Special guest Tony Arnold (OC '90) will add her acclaimed soprano to the mix for the Bachianas No. 5. She was a classmate of Adkins' at Oberlin, and teaches at SUNY Buffalo.

"I selected these works because I wanted to create a real chamber music concert that was all about the cello," Adkins says. "The Villa-Lobos pieces are very special to cellists and audiences, and I'm honored to be able to invite all of my colleagues, including my sabbatical replacement, the remarkable artist Dmitry Kouzov, to join me in these amazing sounding pieces. Even more important to me is the chance to have the graduating students from my first admitted class joining me on the stage. These are four remarkable young women with such powerful and distinct musical voices, and it will be a privilege to have them play with us." Adkins joined the Oberlin faculty in 2003.

"I'm thankful that all of these great artists have agreed to spend so much of their time – which is already spoken for in so many ways – with me and these pieces," says Adkins. Oberlin's Faculty Chamber Series presents two concerts each year highlighting the talents of the Conservatory's artist/educators.