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CORVALLIS - Corvallis musician Lara Wickes, oboe, and Eugene pianists Ezra Bartz and Ji-Won Lee were this year's first- and second-place winners of the 2002 Petri Music-Study Scholarship Awards.

They competed in public auditions at Oregon State University on Saturday, March 2, to win awards totaling $12,500.

Adjudicators were Hamilton Cheifetz, cellist and music professor at Portland State University; Carol Rich, pianist and PSU faculty member; and James McQuillen, music writer and frequent contributor to The Oregonian newspaper. Awarding of the scholarships was based on the applicants' performance and professional plans.

Wickes will receive the first place prize of $6,500 that she will use to help defray some of the expenses of pursuing her master's degree in oboe performance at the California Institute of the Arts and to finance attendance at summer music festivals. She recently earned her bachelor's degree in music performance and music education from the University of Oregon.

Second-place winners Bartz and Lee will each receive $3,000. Bartz, who is completing his bachelor's degree in piano performance from the University of Oregon, will apply the scholarship prize toward his graduate education and to finance attendance at master classes and music festivals.

Lee holds master's degrees in music performance and in piano performance from the University of Oregon, where she is now a doctoral student specializing in piano accompanying. She intends to apply her award towards attendance and training at the International Piano Festival and the World Piano Pedagogy Conference in Europe this summer.

The biennial Petri Music-Study Scholarship award competition was established through the estate of Lillian and Paul Petri, who were residents of Corvallis for more than 30 years. Both were talented musicians and teachers at Oregon State College (now OSU), where Paul Petri was head of the Department of Music for 24 years. Since its inception in 1962, grants have been awarded to 26 other Oregon musicians, most recently to soprano Amy Hansen, flutist Jasmine Hedrick, and clarinetist Michael Santos in 2000. The award is administered by the Benton County Foundation, and auditions are coordinated by the OSU Department of Music.