Taken from Lawrence Today, Summer 1997
What began last summer with ten-hour-per-week rehearsals ended triumphantly in April when four Lawrence University saxophonists were named first-place winners at the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) national competition in Dallas, Texas.
Lisa Rhoades, '98, alto saxophone, came home a double winner, after placing first in the collegiate artist performance competition for woodwinds and then helping the Lawrence saxophone quartet win the chamber music competition. Seniors Javier Arau, tenor saxophone; Paul Gronert, baritone saxophone; and Matthew Livingston, soprano saxophone, joined Rhoades in the chamber music competition.
The quartet, which began practicing for the MTNA competition last summer, featured in its forty-minute program works by Bach, French composer Lucie Robert, and "Jelly Roll" Morton and also performed Jean-Baptiste Singelee's "Petite Quatour," the first saxophone-quartet piece ever written. For her program Rhoades performed works by Bach, Brahms, Lars-Erik Larsson, Jacques Ibert, and Rudolf Kelterborn. She was accompanied by Douglas Schneider, '95, a former Down Beat award winner.