11/3/2003

Contact: K.E. Schwab  -- 724-738-2199;  e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu

14 SRU VOCAL STUDENTS TO COMPETE FOR CHAD WILLIAMSON MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP          

          SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Fourteen Slippery Rock University music majors, among the largest contingents ever, will compete Sunday in the annual Chad Williams Memorial Scholarship Competition when they show off their singing talent in both classical and popular music.

          The competition provides the winner a scholarship in memory of Chad Williamson, a Slippery Rock High School student killed in a traffic accident before beginning classes at SRU. The free competition, set for 4 p.m. in Swope Music Hall, has grown each year since created by his family. 

          The program, which will include 18 performers, is organized by Colleen Neubert, assistant professor of music.

         This year’s judge isMilutin Lazich, a retired associate professor of voice and director of the Concert Choir and Madrigal Singers and Show Choir at Clarion University. He holds a bachelor’s degree in music education with a concentration in voice and choral conducting and a master’s degree in voice, opera and choral conducting from Indiana University, Bloomington, and has performed extensively as a bass soloist in oratorios by Handle, Haydn, Mozart and Mendelssohn, among others. He has performed with the Orchestra Nova and with the Clarion University Orchestra and Chorus.  A native of Yugoslavia, he has appeared in numerous operatic bass roles, including the Pittsburgh premiere of Verdi’s “La Battaglia di Legnano,” and he has performed in summer stock, including roles in “Fiddler on the Roof,” “South Pacific,” “Man of La Mancha” and “The King and I.”

       Competitors are required to offer both a classical selection and a popular work designed to spotlight their talents in the performance side of music and in recognition of Mr. Williamson’s love of the stage. This year’s contestants are:

PN, PgN, WPN