Salute!
to
Samohi
Symphony
Orchestra and its
Director
Ms.Joni
Swenson on a
Win at ASTA
National
Orchestra Competition!
ASTA
- American String Teachers Association (national).
Samohi Symphony Orchestra took upon a challenge to
compete in the ASTA National Orchestra Festival of
2005. The Festival was held in a framework of 2005
ASTA National Conference "Strings Alive! in 2005". The
event took place in Reno, Nevada on February 23-26,
2005.
There
were three performance options:(1) Competition +
Rating, (2) Rating Only, (3) Comments Only. Ms.
J.Swenson and Samohi Symphony Orchestra took upon a
challenge to compete and prove to themselves and to
the world a tremendous value of its internationally
recognized string music program. The Santa Monica and
Malibu School District (SMMUSD) string program starts
in its elementary schools and gradually develops in
middle and high schools.
To be
considered for the ASTA competition division, Samohi
orchestra had to submit a recording demonstrating a
superior performance of national level repertoire.
According to ASTA competition regulations only eight
groups could be accepted in that division.
High
performance level of Samohi Symphony orchestra for
years is well known not only to Santa Monica
community, music instrument teachers, but several
times was even acknowledged internationally. Based on
a quality of SMMUSD string program on all levels and
extensive performance experience of the Samohi
orchestra, it was no surprise that ASTA selected
Samohi Symphony to participate among eight accepted
orchestras.
Another
kind of suspension was in the air: will the orchestra
do it in the official competition? To the credit of
orchestra musicians and its director Ms. Joni Swenson,
the Samohi Symphony Orchestra concentrated well on a
challenge at hand. The orchestra was named the Grand
Champion of the ASTA National Orchestra Competition.
The adjudicators chose it as a 1st place winner in a
category of High School Full Orchestra.
The
Samohi Symphony earned the highest rating:
Superior. The orchestra also earned
the right to perform for the Conference attendees in
the winners concert. Whale done :)
As a
long time ASTA member and a long time private teacher
to many students of Samohi and SMMUSD schools, I am
very proud of this Samohi Symphony Orchestra
achievement. Special recognition goes to the orchestra
director Ms. Swanson for her patience, professional
dedication and creativity, which bring wonderful
quality to the vibrant string program [ I especially
like her introduced audio tape sitting tests before
major performances - congratulations on that alone! ].
Congratulations to the whole Samohi Performing Arts
Department, to Samohi school administration, to SMMUSD.
I meet
weekly some Samohi and SMMUSD students at my private
violin studio and we always enjoy sharing with each
other good news and go through the current challenges
together. Those students are indeed dedicated and open
minded. I am particularly glad for them, because such
performances will follow the students through their
lives. The performances and wins like that will
encourage them to work even harder on smallest details
of their music sheet. Students will always remember
"Strings Alive! in 2005". Congratulations, once again
to all !
Sincerely,
Birute
violin/viola private teacher, teacher of SMC CS violin
ensemble classes
 
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