EUGENE–Concerts featuring contemporary and traditional jazz and gospel music, student soloists who won a campus concerto competition, and faculty musicians are scheduled this week at the University of Oregon School of Music, 961 E. 18th Ave.

For more information, call the UO School of Music weekdays at (541) 346-5678. To confirm concert times and ticket information, call GuardLine from a Touch-Tone phone at 485-2000, ext. 2533, for a 24-hours-a-day taped message of the week’s events.

The University Symphony, under the direction of Professor Wayne Bennett, will accompany three outstanding student soloists in its annual Concerto Concert at 2:30 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall, 961 E. 18th Ave. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 general admission and $3 for students and senior citizens.

The soloists were selected last term from a school-wide competition, designed to showcase outstanding performers in a formal symphony concert format. They are:

• Dan Cathey, a master’s degree student in clarinet performance from Cottage Grove, will perform Copland’s "Concerto for Clarinet." Cathey is a student of Wayne Bennett.

• Sean Wagoner, a doctoral degree student in percussion performance from Lebanon, will perform "Concerto for Percussion and Small Orchestra" by Milhaud. Wagoner is a student of Charles Dowd.

• Alex Kelley, a doctoral degree student in cello and composition from Wichita, Kan., will perform Popper’s "Hungarian Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra." Kelley is a student of Steven Pologe.

The orchestra also will perform "Romeo and Juliet, Suite II" by Prokofiev. The concert will be preceded by a free lecture at 1:45 p.m. by graduate student Laura Pilkington, who will discuss the afternoon’s repertoire.

Violinist Fritz Gearhart and hornist Ellen Campbell will share a Faculty Artist Series recital at
8 p.m. in Beall Hall. Tickets, available at the door, are $7 general admission and $4 for students and senior citizens.

Gearhart and Campbell will be accompanied by faculty pianist Gregory Mason on the program’s four selections: "Sonata" for horn by Ferdinand Ries, "Andante" for horn by Richard Strauss, "Twilight Music" for horn and violin by John Harbison, and "Sonata" for violin by Richard Strauss.

Gearhart joined the UO music faculty this past fall as assistant professor of violin. He received his master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Donald Weilerstein. His earlier performances as a member of the Chester String Quartet were widely acclaimed by the press and singled out as a highlight of the 1989 String Quartet Congress. Gearhart has several compact discs to his credit, and has performed in major halls around the country, including a performance earlier this year in Carnegie Hall.

Campbell joined the UO music faculty in 1994 as an assistant professor of horn. She previously served on the faculty at Southwest Texas State University and more recently at the University of New Mexico. While in New Mexico, she was hornist with the New Mexico Brass Quintet, an ensemble with whom she toured Finland, the Soviet Union, Mexico and Australia. She has been principal horn with the Santa Fe and Kalamazoo symphonies and the Austin Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, she has appeared with orchestras in Michigan, Texas, New Mexico, Iowa and Pennsylvania, and has been an invited performer at several regional and international workshops of the International Horn Society.

The University Gospel Choir, under the direction of Julia Neufeld, will give its spring concert at 7:30 p.m. in Eugene’s First Baptist Church, 868 High St. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 general admission and $3 for students and senior citizens.

The concert, titled "Let’s Get Together and Sing The Same Song," includes such selections as "High In All The Earth," "Down By The Riverside," "The Vision," "We’ve Come To Praise Him," "He’s So Good," "Please Don’t Pass Me By," "It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over" and "Shout." The Spirit Ensemble, an advanced group of 20 singers within the choir, will perform Manhattan Transfer’s "Operator" and "Holy, Holy, Holy." The Conviction Chorale, another choir of community singers and former gospel students, will perform "Kumbaya" and "Thy Loving Kindness."

The University Gospel Choir is made up of more than 100 UO students, along with instrumental backup provided by Dustin Lanker, Mark Schneider, Jason Palmer and Thierry Renoux.

The Oregon Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Lab Bands will give a special Family Weekend jazz concert at 8 p.m. in Beall Concert Hall. Tickets, available at the door, are $5 general admission and $3 for students and senior citizens.

Heading the concert is the award-winning Oregon Jazz Ensemble, directed by Associate Professor Steve Owen. Jazz Lab Band II and Jazz Lab Band III, directed by graduate students Kevin Hoferer and Chad Sullivan, also will perform. The program will contain a wide selection of traditional and contemporary big band jazz.

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