Concerto-Aria to Feature Nine Students with Orchestra Feb. 18

February 13, 2018

Oklahoma Baptist University will host its 44th annual Concerto-Aria Concert Sunday, Feb. 18, at 7:30 p.m. The performance will take place in Raley Chapel’s Potter Auditorium on OBU’s campus in Shawnee. The concert is free and open to the public.

The Concerto-Aria features student performers who auditioned for a place in the program in late 2017. This year’s program consists of seven vocalists, one instrumentalist and one pianist. Dr. Benjamin Shute, assistant professor of music and director of the preparatory department at OBU, will conduct the program. The student performers will be joined by a full orchestra.

The program will open with Handel’s “Overture to Music for the Royal Fireworks” and “Tutta Raccolta Ancor” from “Scipione” performed by Samuel Melton, countertenor. Emily Wright, soprano, will then perform “Deh Vieni, Non Tardar” from “Le Nozze di Figaro” by Mozart. She will be followed by Carl Stamitz’s “Clarinet Concerto No. 3 in B-Flat Major” performed by Leo Chavez on clarinet.

From Bellini’s opera “I Capuleti e i Montecchi,” the aria “Oh! Quante Volte” will be performed by soprano Olivia Jones. The first half of the program will conclude with Jules Massenet’s “Il Est Doux, Il Est Bon” from “Herodiade,” performed by Paige Shelton, soprano.

Following intermission, Mitchell Manlapig, pianist, will perform “Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58” by Ludwig Van Beethoven. “Steal Me, Sweet Thief” from “The Old Maid and the Thief” by Menotti will be performed by Julie Welch, soprano.

Carlisle Floyd’s “The Trees on the Mountains” from “Susannah” will then be performed by soprano Cassidy Hopkins. The Concerto-Aria Concert will conclude with a performance of Donizetti’s “Chacun le Sait” from “La Fille du Regiment” by McKenzie Reece, soprano.