(Posted November 1, 2004)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- Renowned local pianist and longtime Juniata College music faculty member Katsuko Ochiai will be honored by the Juniata College Concert Choir with a concert of her favorite Japanese songs at 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 7 in Rosenberger Auditorium in Oller Hall on the Juniata campus.

The concert is free and open to the public.

The ensemble will sing all the selections, based on Japanese music and folk music, in Japanese. Throughout the concert Japanese international students will read poetry at various intervals in the performance.

"We have learned all the songs phonetically so this concert should be educational as well as entertaining," says Russell Shelley, Elma Stine Heckler Associate Professor of Music and director of the choir.

Katsuko Ochiai, who will retire after the 2004-2005 academic year, has performed as the choir's accompanist for more than a decade and is the college's piano instructor within the music department. She has taught piano studio courses at Juniata since 1982.

Katsuko's husband, Ei-Ichiro Ochiai, recently retired as professor of chemistry at Juniata in 2004. He joined Juniata's faculty in 1981.

The concert choir is comprised of 50 students from Juniata College. Choir members must go through an audition process to join the group. Recordings by the Juniata choir are available after the performance.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.