The Pontiac Oakland Symphony’s Ninth Annual David Daniels Young Artists’ Concert on Sunday, Feb. 19, at 3 p.m. in Varner Recital Hall will feature three Oakland University music students.

The David Daniels Young Artists’ Concert, conducted by OU’s Associate Professor of Music Gregory Cunningham, features student soloists who are winners of the annual Concerto Competition held at OU. Selected for this year’s concert are Brandon Byrne of Attica, Mich., performing “I Got Rhythm,” variations by George Gershwin; Christina Gurne of Rochester Hills, Mich., performing “Le Spectre de la Rose” from “les Nuits d’Ete” by Hector Berlioz; and Ronaldo Rolim of Sao Paulo, Brazil, performing “Concerto No. 3” by Prokofiev.

Brandon Byrne, a freshman at Oakland University studying both piano performance and music composition, has performed several times at the Scott Joplin Festival in Sedalia, Mo., and took second place in the junior division of the 2003 World Old-Time Piano Playing Championship in Peoria, Ill. He has performed his own compositions in several of the Oakland Composer's concerts and has sung in the University Chorus. In addition to his musical accomplishments, he is the recipient of the Michigan Merit Award and is an Eagle Scout. He currently is a student of Associate Professor of Music Lettie Alston and Professor of Music Flavio Varani.

Christina Gurne, a soprano, will graduate this spring with a degree in vocal performance. She has participated in many performances during her undergraduate studies, including “Anything Goes,” “Cosi Fan Tutte,” “Suor Angelica,” “Medusa’s Tale” and the Comic Opera Guild’s Victor Herbert Festival in Ann Arbor. She also has been a featured soloist at OU’s Arts at Noon recitals, concerts with the Oakland Chorale and University Chorus, and has debuted several original compositions by student composers. She currently teaches private voice and piano and performs periodically around the metro Detroit area. She is a student of Edith Diggory, applied music instructor.

Ronaldo Rolim was born in 1986 in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and began taking piano lessons from his mother at age 4. At age 11, he was admitted to the Magda Tagliaferro Foundation, one of the most traditional music schools in Brazil, and became active in competitions, recitals, concerts and festivals around Brazil. In 2004, he won the Magda Tagliaferro Competition in Sao Paulo, which gave him a scholarship to travel to the United States to attend Oakland University as a visiting scholar. He later auditioned to attend OU full time and was admitted in fall 2005. He began his studies with OU’s Professor of Music Flavio Varani in the winter of 2005. Rolim is a recipient of the George and Elizabeth Pyle Seifert Merit Scholarship from the College of Arts and Sciences. His activities at Oakland University include a freshman recital in November 2005, featuring works by Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann and Scriabin, and the POS Concerto Audition in January 2006.

Tickets for the David Daniels Young Artists’ Concert are $25 for the general public, $20 for seniors and $15 for students. 

For more information, call the Varner Box Office at (248) 370-3013 or e-mail mtd@oakland.edu.