YACM Announces and Congratulates our 10th Anniversary Featured Soloists!

Each year YACM looks amongst its top achievers for the skills and artistic passion that are associated with musicians and vocalists of distinction. Our Featured Soloists must have achieved a technical level of Advanced B or higher (ABRSM Level 7). They study and practice their art form with rigorous devotion to excellence achieving and maintaining a professional repertoire. They must be able to perform with fluency and precision. Featured Soloists are able to sightread well, improvise as needed and perform well with ensembles. Featured Performers must also occupy the highest level of technical skill amongst their peers at YACM. Because our standards are so very high, we are not always in a position to bestow this this each year. In fact it has not been occupied by a vocalists or violinist in several years - until now!

YACM is proud to announce that in our 10th Anniversary Season we will congratulate and perform 4 Featured Soloists! Allie Knitter (17) will return for her 2nd year as Featured Pianist and will be joined by Benjamin Mendiola (16) as another Featured Pianist. Both Allie and Ben are students of Wanda Cook. Madison Brown (16) and Avalon Cook (16) will be the first Featured Soloists in their respective disciplines since those roles were vacated 2 to 3 years ago. Madison Brown is being honored as our Featured Vocalist and is instructed by YACM teacher, Jacqueline Crockett. Avalon Cook studies violin under YACM instructor John Abdallah.

These four students embody the committmet of excellence and the pursuit of potential at YACM.

Founder and Artistic Director, Wanda Cook, “ Disciplines required to study an instrument, learn to sing, master a piece of music, express poise before an audience and grace under pressure are impressive and transferrable skills. Everyone is born with the promise of excellence, but excellence is earned. No one achieves excellence without commitment, encouragement, and support. The youth performing as Featured Soloists celebrated throughout the year for their commitment to beauty and their rare endurance in the face of musical challenges. These youth are being transformed by their success in music.”

All four will be competing this Fall in the Solano Symphony's Young Artists Competition for an opportuntiy to perform with the Symphony in February.

Look for more information, press, and performances by these students inthe coming weeks and months.