For immediate release

By Julia Shands 

February 18, 2022 

For more information, contact OBU’s news bureau at [email protected] or (870) 245-5208 

ARKADELPHIA, Ark.—Ouachita Baptist University senior Craig Crawford won the 2021 W. Francis and Mary McBeth Wind and Percussion Concerto Competition held in December in Ouachita’s McBeth Recital Hall. Crawford took first place performing Fantasia by Claude T. Smith on saxophone.  

Crawford is an instrumental music performance major from Texarkana, Texas. He received an award of $500 for his performance and will perform as a featured soloist with the Ouachita Wind Ensemble in March. 

“I felt like I had a lot to prove going into the competition,” Crawford said. “I was pretty ecstatic because I felt like I played well, and I knew that the other competitors were genuinely happy for me, which is a luxury amongst music programs. It was also really cool because the other winners came from the saxophone studio, and I played with them throughout the semester in saxophone quartet.” 

Graham Scarborough, a junior instrumental music education major from Ruston, La, earned second place with his saxophone performance of Concerto, Op. 50 (movements I, II, and III) by Burnet Tuthill 

and received an award of $300. Katelyn Still, a senior instrumental music education major from Benton, Ark., placed third and received an award of $200 for her saxophone performance of Odysseus: Concerto for Saxophones (movement IV: Soprano Saxophone) by Lucas Garner. 

Other students who competed include Cross Brandon, a senior music industry major from Little Rock, Ark., on saxophone; Kaitlyn Campbell, a senior computer science major from Benton, Ark., on horn; Destiny Diaz, a senior instrumental music education major from Malvern, Ark., on flute; Lane Dunman, a freshman nutrition and dietetics major from Cash, Ark., on clarinet; and Josh Sutton, a junior instrumental music education major from Lone Star, Texas, on saxophone.  

This was the 16th year of the annual competition. Event sponsor Mary McBeth provides the competition prizes for first-, second- and third-place winners. The late Dr. Francis McBeth, her husband, was an internationally recognized composer and conductor and long-time professor of music at Ouachita. 

The winners of the competition were accompanied by Kristen La Madrid, staff accompanist for Ouachita’s Division of Music.  

For more information about the competition, contact Dr. Carlos Feller, visiting assistant professor of music, at [email protected] or (870) 245-4160.