Last modified: Thursday, February 18, 2010
IU Jacobs School senior wins School Woodwind Concerto Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 18, 2010
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Indiana University Bloomington undergraduate student Briana Tarby is the winner of the Jacobs School of Music's annual Woodwind Concerto Competition. A student of Jacobs Professor Linda Strommen and Associate Professor Roger Roe, Tarby will perform Richard Strauss's Oboe Concerto with the University Orchestra under the baton of Professor Uriel Segal on Sunday, April 18, at 3 p.m. in the Musical Arts Center (101 N. Jordan Ave.). She will also receive the Namita Pal Commemorative Award, which is offered annually to the competition winner.
Each year, the Woodwind Concerto Competition features one performer on each of the five woodwind instruments (oboe, flute, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone) who have been selected through preliminary competitions. This year's competition finalists were Jessica Banks, piccolo; Laura Bennett Cameron, bassoon; John Leszczynski, saxophone; Gideon Alon, clarinet; and Briana Tarby, oboe. Saxophonist John Leszczynski was chosen runner-up in this year's final round.
Thomas Walsh, chair of the Woodwinds Department, said this year's finalists were all outstanding -- which made the judge's task of picking a winner difficult. "Briana played beautifully -- a nice, clear tone and graceful phrasing," said Walsh. "It will be a real treat for the audience to hear her perform the Strauss concerto with orchestra. It is a gorgeous piece."
New Jersey-native Tarby, a senior in the Jacobs School's Bachelor of Music program, said she's excited to complete her time at IU with a successful competition and performance with a Jacobs School orchestra. "When I was a younger student here, I dreamed of winning this very competition," she said. "It made all of the hours I spent sitting over my reed desk worth it. I owe so much of my success to my oboe teachers and to my parents. I have loved my education here, especially my private lessons and the incredible orchestral and opera performances that I was able to participate in."
Tarby has studied with Andrew Adelson and was a recipient of the New Jersey Governor's Award in Arts Education. As an orchestral musican, Tarby has served as the principal oboist of several IU orchestras. Over the past three years, she has spent summers studying at Interlochen and Brevard.
