A few months after its founder Douglas Wayland, died, the chamber music competition was held this weekend
at the Bowling Green State University College of Musical Arts.
The event, in its eighth year, has been renamed the Douglas Wayland Chamber Music Competition in his
honor.
On Saturday a field of seven undergraduate and seven graduate ensembles in each division were winnowed to
a field of three ensembles in each division. Those musicians performed Sunday afternoon.
Winning the first prize in the undergraduate division was Bleeps, Sweeps, and Creeps, a percussion trio
of Dave Nelson, Billy Sheak and Ryan Williams. Second place was claimed by Barefoot 4 (they did indeed
perform barefooted giving new understanding of a toe-taping performance). The four flutists were:
Kimberly Lewis, Linda Jenkins, Michelle Whitmore and Connor Lane..
Placing first in the graduate division was the Limbo Quartet – Caitlin Phillips, flute and piccolo, Eric
Salazar, clarinet, Emil Emily Schultz, saxophone, and Katie Brown, percussion. Second place went to the
Sidu Quartet, a saxophone quartet of Dustin Baer, Aiwen Zhang, Christine Du and Nick Zoulek.
Those results are coincidentally similar to what happened back in 2007, when a percussion trio won the
undergraduate division and a flute quartet was second, and a saxophone quartet placed second in the
graduate division.
Saxophone quartets and percussion ensembles have been perennial winners in the event.
This year for the first time a jazz combo competed. The quintet of Chris Kosar, alto saxophone, Jason
Ransom, tenor saxophone, Ariel Kasler, electric guitar, Andrew Binder, double bass, and Dave Nelson,
drum set, placed just out of the money in the graduate division. On compositions by Ransom and Kasler,
they quintet mixed improvisation with tricky ensemble passages.
The third finalist in the undergraduate division was The Grimm’s Trio of Kyle Kostenko, clarinet, Caleb
Georges, viola, and Chang Qi, piano. They played music by Mozart and Robert Schumann, the rare nod to
more traditional classical music.Otherwise the music was from the later part of the 20th century. The
Barefoot 4 performed "Steely Pause" by BGSU graduate Jennifer Higdon.
Evident throughout was the close interplay and communication so characteristic of chamber music. Those
qualities prompted Wayland to establish the event back in 2007. "It’s music in a microcosm,"
he told the Sentinel-Tribune in 2007.
He secured the support of then Dean Richard Kennell, Pro Musica and Richard and Carolyn Lineback.
Each member of the first place ensemble receives $200 and each member of the second place ensemble
receives $100.
The ensembles will perform twice in Toledo: March 18 at 7:30 p.m. at Manor House, Wildwood Preserve
Metropark as part of the Bowling Green at the Manor House Series and March 23 at 3 p.m. in the Toledo
Museum of Art.