ARKADELPHIA, Ark. – Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music will host its annual Virginia Queen Piano Competition on Friday, Feb. 7, at 3 p.m. The competition will be held in Ouachita’s McBeth Recital Hall in Mabee Fine Arts Center, and admission is free and open to the public.
The annual competition features the musical talents of contestants, who are either piano majors or minors at Ouachita, as they perform two pieces with contrasting styles. The competition itself is named after Virginia Queen, former professor of music at Ouachita. Queen graduated from Ouachita in 1944 with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Music degrees, and she began teaching in 1946 and continued for 40 years until her retirement.
The students participating in this year’s competition include: Katie Bayer, a freshman music major from Lonoke, Ark.; Sean Carney, a senior music and Spanish double major from Little Rock, Ark.; Josh Conard, a sophomore music industry major from Denton, Texas; Melissa Lee, a junior music major from Singapore; Logan Moore, a sophomore worship arts major from Gulfport, Miss.; Anna Weyenberg, a junior piano performance and communications & media double major from McKinney, Texas; and Sam Youmans, a junior music industry major from Siloam Springs, Ark.
“The Virginia Queen Piano Competition is an event to honor a long-time retired faculty at Ouachita,” said Dr. Mary Chung, assistant professor of music at Ouachita. “It is also an important event for our piano department where we can celebrate the hard work and progress of our piano students with the community.”
Dr. Jinha Park, chair of the piano department at Kirov Academy in Washington D.C. and the winner of both international and national piano competitions, will serve as a judge for Ouachita’s competition. Park also will present a guest artist concert Friday, Feb. 7, at 7:30 p.m. in McBeth Recital Hall.
Park has a strong history as a performer in America, Europe and Korea. She has performed as a soloist and chamber musician at Kumho Art Hall, Seoul Arts Center and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and also has made appearances in Barcelona, Perugia, St. Petersburg and Union City. Major piano competitions Park has won include the Aria Competition, Burgos International Music Competition and Vienna Allegro Vivo International Chamber Music Competition.For more information about the competition, contact Dr. Mary Chung at [email protected] or (870) 245-5132. For more information about Dr. Jinha Park’s guest concert, visit https://obu.edu/news/2020/01/27/world-traveled-pianist-jinha-park-perform-ouachita-feb-7/