WE WERE THRILLED TO RECEIVE MANY WONDERFUL ENTRIES FOR OUR 6TH ANNUAL SOLO COMPETITION!

Winners are determined through a blind adjudication process, meaning that the Elemental Music team pulls audio off of the video files so that the adjudicators can listen without any indication of who is playing.

Joni Swenson, our adjudicator, loved hearing every student who submitted a recording and provided feedback to every participant.

WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE WINNERS BELOW.

HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION

1st Prize: Hannah Webb, clarinet

student of Amanda Walker

2nd Prize: Lia Tompkins, violin

student of Philip Levy

3rd Prize: William Varnum, flute

student of Ashley Kim

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION

1st Prize: Oscar Hughes, violin

student of Susan Rishik

2nd Prize: Kiani Hodo, clarinet

student of Linda Szeto

3rd Prize: Lucy Harris, voice

student of Agy Norris

Each winner will receive a cash prize. Congratulations to our winners, and thank you to ALL students who submitted recordings! We’re so impressed by your skill and dedication to music.

About our adjudicator:

Joni Swenson served as the Director of Orchestras at Santa Monica High School for 17 years before retiring in Fall 2020 and is proud to have been a part of the Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District. A graduate of UCLA, she taught in the Sacramento City Unified School District and in the San Jose Unified School District prior to her position at Samohi. Joni has served as guest conductor for many honor orchestras throughout California and has presented sessions at both the CMEA State and Bay Section Conferences, as well as at the Southern California School Band and Orchestra (SCSBOA) Fall Conference.