Wichita State University Professor Scott Oakes, bassoon, will appear as soloist with the WSU Summer Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 20, in Wiedemann Hall.

Tickets are $7 with discounts available through the College of Fine Arts Box Office, (316) 978-3233.

Oakes, who also serves as principal bassoon of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and bassoonist for the Lieurance Woodwind Quintet, will perform the Bassoon Concerto in F Major by Carl Maria von Weber, a German composer, conductor, pianist and critic active in the early Romantic period.

The concerto’s tuneful melodies and dramatic virtuosity bear some resemblance to the composer’s groundbreaking work in German opera.

The concert will also feature Tchaikovsky's Second Symphony. Nicknamed “Little Russian,” the work was inspired by a visit to southern Russia (now Ukraine) and the popular songs heard in its villages. In fact, the Second Symphony marks one of the rare occasions on which Tchaikovsky incorporated folk melodies into a purely instrumental piece.

Graduate violinist Leo Adamov will perform Sarasate’s “Carmen Fantasy.” Based on themes from the great Bizet opera, the work is a brilliant showpiece for solo violin and orchestra. Adamov, an active freelance musician based in New York, is completing his Master of Music in Violin Performance at WSU as a student of Alla Aranovskaya of WSU’s St. Petersburg Quartet.

The rhythmically charged, Spanish-flavored overture “Feria Magica” (“Magic Fire”), by American composer Carlos Surinach, will open the program.

Backgrounds

Oakes previously held positions of principal bassoon of the Quad City Symphony (Davenport, Iowa) and the Rockford Symphony (Illinois), and was a member of both the Illinois Symphony and Illinois Philharmonic. Noted for his “smoky” bassoon tone and “grace and beauty,” Oakes has performed with numerous orchestras in the Chicago area and throughout the upper Midwest, including the Chicago Chamber Orchestra; the symphonies of Green Bay, Elgin, Lake Forest, Northwest Indiana and South Bend; the New Millennium Orchestra of Chicago; and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. Other engagements have included performances with the Aspen Festival Orchestra and Chamber Symphony, Ravinia Festival, Southern Illinois Music Festival and the Great Performers of Illinois festival in Millennium Park, Chicago.

Adamov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. He has given solo recitals in New York and Boston as well as Belgium, the Netherlands and Russia. In New York, Leo has been concertmaster of DiCapo Opera and other ensembles, performed as soloist with orchestra in concertos by Mozart, Bach, Corelli and Vivaldi as well as “Zigeunerweisen” by Sarasate, “Poeme” by Chausson and Romance in F by Beethoven. In 2010, he made his New York/Boston/Brussels debut tour with the Adamov/Lawson Violin Duo and performed chamber music at Bargemusic in New York and MIT in Boston. From 2000 to 2007, Adamov lived in the Netherlands where he attended the Rotterdam Conservatory and was invited as one of the youngest musicians to perform with the Netherlands Philharmonic and Chamber Orchestras as well as the Netherlands Opera. As a violin teacher Leo has been on the faculty at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music and the Noel Pointer Foundation.

Laycock holds Wichita State’s Ann Walenta Faculty of Distinction Endowed Professorship. He is a member of the board of directors of the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic. His work as guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator spans 22 states, including the leadership of all-state, regional and district honor orchestras. His appearances with professional ensembles include the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Grand Opera and Opera Kansas.