CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS!

Photo Credit: Renoda Campbell Photography

1st PLACE - Amelia Long, Alto Saxophone 

Atascadero High School, Senior
Accompanist: Janis Johnson

• Concerto in Eb Major by Alexander Glazunov
• Tableaux de Provence mvt. 2, by Paule Maurice

2nd PLACE - Andy Shen, Piano

San Luis Obispo High School, Junior

• Etudes No. 12, Op. 10 by Frédéric Chopin
• Un sospiro by Franz Liszt

3rd PLACE - Lauren Weyel, Flute

San Luis Obispo High School, Senior
Accompanist: Gary Weyel

• Syrinx by Claude Debussy
• III. Andante of Flute Sonata in E minor by BWV 1034; by J.S. Bach

FINALIST

Karen Clark, Oboe

Templeton High School, Senior
Accompanist: Susan Davies

• Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314, Second Movement by Mozart
• Humoreske from Fantasiestucke by Carl Nielsen

JUDGES

Mark Kovacs

Mark Kovacs is a well-known and respected teacher of violin and viola in San Luis Obispo County. He has spent twenty-five years as a classroom teacher. In 2016 he founded the Central Coast String Academy.

Most recently, Mr. Kovacs recorded with Andrea Bocelli the “Amore” video for PBS. He is currently Music Director and Conductor of the San Luis Chamber-Orchestra.

Cliff Swanson

Clifton Swanson has enjoyed being a part of San Luis Obispo’s music scene since arriving in 1967 to teach in the music department at Cal Poly.

In 1971 he was involved in the formation of the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, and was soon invited to conduct the San Luis Obispo Symphony. In 1984, he became chair of the Cal Poly Music Department, retired from conducting the SLO Symphony to become a member of the bass section, and continued as music director of the Mozart Festival until his retirement from Cal Poly in 2004.

He has been involved from the outset in the conception and design of the Christopher Cohan Performing Arts Center, and served for nine years as a member of the Foundation for the Performing Arts Center board of directors. He completed two terms as president, and continues his involvement as an Honorary Board Member.

Clifton is married to Jane Swanson, recently retired performer and current teacher of the French horn. They have two children; Erika Norris, M.D., who won the Monday Club Competition as a pianist in 1984, and Christopher Swanson, who graduated with a degree in violin performance from Indiana University and currently performs and teaches violin in Portland, Oregon.

Cassandra Tarantino

Cassandra Tarantino has her in Master’s degrees Choral Conducting from San Jose State University and Performance Flute from California State University, Northridge.

Mrs. Tarantino has participated in music festivals as a flutist and conductor at the Oregon Bach Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival in New Hampshire, Abeyrstwyth Music Festival in Wales, and Morges Chamber Music Festival in Switzerland. She took sabbatical in Northern Ireland to study Classical and traditional music and the Irish-Celtic Language. In 2005 Mrs. Tarantino was hired by Cuesta College to begin a choral program at the campus in Paso Robles. The Cuesta Concord Chorus has since become a thriving community of singers that regularly performs locally and tours to Europe.

In 2013, Mrs. Tarantino co-founded the Central Coast Gilbert & Sullivan Company with Marcy Irving, a community-based opera company. In 2017 Mrs. Tarantino was hired as the Director of Music at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, San Luis Obispo. Mrs. Tarantino also conducts, teaches private flute and voice, music theory and music history at Cuesta college.