They’re recognized as some of the most gifted young musicians in the country. And they’re still in high school. A public high school. Santa Monica High School. And they’re going to play in Disney Hall.
While high school music programs are losing their funding and becoming an endangered species all over the country, the music program at Samohi is flourishing.
Its Symphony Orchestra was named Grand Champion of the National High School Orchestra Festival at the National American String Teacher’s Association and National String Orchestra Association conference this year.
they will perform at the Walt Disney Concert Hall on February 19, 2006, as part of the Sounds About Town series. The orchestra will perform works by Gershwin, Tchaikovsky and Mahler.
Orchestra Director Joni Swenson was named 2001 Music Educator of the Year by San Francisco radio station KDFC, and was a 2004 recipient of the Le Blanc Outstanding Orchestra Educator Award from the California Music Educators Association.The Santa Monica High School orchestra program consists of six different groups, ranging from entry level to advanced: Beginning Strings, String Orchestra, Concert Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra, and its two stars, the Chamber Orchestra and Symphony Orchestra.
