Oberlin Portrait: Felix Petit Violinist, Concerto Competition Winner Story by Michael Chipman
	back to the main story News and features about the Conservatory Preview CD's released by faculty, staff & students Past articles from the Oberlin Portrait		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. Competition winners included Eric Lamb, a senior flutist from Detriot, Michigan; Erika Tolano, a second year Artist Diploma soprano from Canberra, Australia; Wei Wei Le, a senior violinist from Shanghai, China; David Bowlin, a senior violinist from Moline, Illinois; Liz Freivogel, a double degree junior violist from Kirkwood, Maryland; Cathryn Lai, a senior pianist from Greensboro, North Carolina; and Felix Petit, a junior violinist from Caracas, Venezuela. 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."