March 10, 2004—Two students at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music swept the prizes in the collegiate division of the Ohio Viola Society Competition, which was held at the Conservatory on Sunday, March 7, 2004.

Molly Gebrian, of West Hartford, Connecticut, performed Bartok's Viola Concerto and Hindemith's Solo Sonata, op. 41, no. 4 to capture the first prize, a cash award and a masterclass appearance. A double-degree student in her fifth year at Oberlin, she majors in viola performance in the Conservatory, studying with Professor of Viola Peter Slowik, and in biopsychology in the College of Arts and Sciences.

Hannah Shaw, a sophomore from Greenville, South Carolina, won second prize. A student of Associate Professor of Viola Roger Chase, she also performed the Bartok Viola Concerto along with J.S. Bach's Partita No. 3, scored for viola.

Alan De Veritch, professor of viola at Indiana University, and Deborah Price, artistic director of the Chamber Music Connection in Columbus, Ohio, adjudicated the competition, which attracted eight violists from conservatories and music schools throughout Ohio.

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, founded in 1865 and situated within the intellectual vitality of Oberlin College since 1867, is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. It is renowned internationally as a professional music school of the highest caliber.