Oberlin College

Oberlin College Community Strings Philip Highfill, conductor Marilyn McDonald, violin Michael Roth, violin

Friday, May 7, 2010 8:00 pm Finney Chapel

Serenade for Strings Edward Elgar Allegro piacevole Larghetto Allegretto

Concerto for Two Violins and Strings Malcolm Arnold Allegro risoluto Andantino Vivace Marilyn McDonald and Michael Roth, violin

Suite for Strings John Rutter A-Roving I have a bonnet trimmed with blue O waly waly Dashing away Oberlin College Community Strings

Violin I Violin II Jarin Joyner Emily Nauman Peter Kutzen Molly Johnson Nathan McCrensky Casey Lee Marlee Fischer Eileen Dettman Erin Swenson-Klatt Eliot Heaton* Jane Hannauer Ellen Braverman Cello Dechopol Kowintaweewat* John Sanderson Seth Girton Viola Laura Grossi Noel Anderson Michelle Torres Hannah Harris Bekah Schweitzer Jen Graham Ji-Eun Park Megan Emberton

Bass Tiesha Cassel

*Arnold only

OCCS rehearses every Tuesday evening during the spring and fall semesters, and is open by audition to students, faculty, staff, and area residents Tonight’s Soloists

Marilyn McDonald, a founding member of the Castle Trio and the Smithson and Axelrod quartets, has toured worldwide as a chamber musician playing repertoire that runs the gamut from baroque to contemporary. Concertmaster of the Peninsula Music Festival and Boston Baroque, Ms. McDonald’s appearances reflect her versatility: she has been soloist with the Milwaukee and Omaha Symphonies, and concertized at the Caramoor Festival, Yale University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian, the Mostly Mozart Festival, and the Utrecht Festival, among others. Her students have been international prize winners in the Locatelli, Berkeley Bach, and Naumburg competitions. She has been artist in residence at Boston University and has held visiting professorships at the Eastman School of Music and Indiana University. She teaches each summer at the Oberlin Baroque Performance Institute and, this past year, was honored with the “Excellence in Teaching” award at Oberlin. Ms. McDonald’s recordings are heard on the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Virgin Classics, Decca, Gasparo, Smithsonian, and Telarc labels.

Violinist Michael Roth is a native of Scarsdale, NY, and received his early musical training with Frances Magnes at the Hoff-Barthelson Music School. He attended Oberlin College and Conservatory, continuing his studies with Marilyn McDonald. At Oberlin, he won the Kaufman Prize for violin and First Prize in the Ohio String Teachers Association Competition. He completed his Master of Music degree at the University of Massachusetts where he worked with the distinguished American violinist and pedagogue Charles Treger and was a recipient of the Julian Olevsky Award. Mr. Roth is currently associate concertmaster of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and has appeared in chamber music and as a soloist with the company, most recently in the debut of “Slice Too Sharp”, a ballet of Biber and Vivaldi violin concerti, and “After the Rain”, violin music of Arvo Pärt. In addition he is a member of the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, Principal 2nd Violin of the Westchester Philharmonic, the American Composers Orchestra and the New York Pops. He was concertmaster of the Vermont Mozart Festival Orchestra for many years and often appeared as soloist there, as well as at the Caramoor and Bard Music Festivals. He has played and toured internationally with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and the New York Chamber Soloists. As a chamber musician, Mr. Roth has collaborated with artists such as Eugene Drucker, Menahem Pressler, James Buswell, Steven Doane, Hamao Fujiwara and members of the Brentano, Manhattan and Ying Quartets, and recently presented a recital of contemporary Cuban solo violin and chamber music in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall under the auspices of the American Composers Orchestra. With Orpheus, the Eos Orchestra, Philharmonia Virtuosi, The New York Pops and the American Composers Orchestra and others, Mr. Roth has recorded for the Sony, Angel, Telarc, Decca, BMG, Point Music, ESSA.Y. and Arbors Music labels.