Congratulations!

Liliana Hoshino &
Leonora Vukovitz
Congratulations to violin students Lilian Hoshino and Leonora Vukovitz (students of Deborah Vukovitz) who won the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic Young Artists Competition! Lilian will be soloing with the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic on March 22 & 24 with Vivaldi's "Summer" and Leonora will be soloing with the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic on June 7 & 9 with Barber's Violin Concerto. Yay! Deepest gratitude to the Thousand Oaks Philharmonic, too, for this awesome opportunity and to our wonderful pianist collaborator Margaret Chen who performed with Lilian and Leonora at the competition!  Bravo!!!!

Micaela Judkins & Melina Aghili







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Melina Aghili
Congratulations to Micaela Judkins (student of Gail Acosta) and Melina Aghili (student of Molly White) who both auditioned and were accepted into CSUN's Camerata Strings for the 2023-24 school year.  Bravo!!!!












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Congratulations to Melina Aghili (age 7) who won First Place in the Beginner Fiddle category at the Topanga Banjo and Fiddle Contest in May of 2022.  Melina also auditioned for the Honors Concert at the Oregon Suzuki Institute and was one of only 8 students chosen to perform!  Bravo!!!!
Nishanth Chavourkar
Congratulations to Nishanth Chavourkar who auditioned and was placed in the California State University Northridge Youth Symphony for 2019-2020 Season. Bravo!!!
Beckett Bayan
Congratulations to Beckett Bayan who just received (Sept. 2019) a National Award of Excellence for Music Composition (silver medal) and a Young Artist Scholarship from the National Parent Teacher Association for his song about the Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly.  The theme of this year’s Reflections contest was “Heroes Around Me”. Here is his artist statement that accompanied his song: 

In my hometown we have an endangered species called the Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly. It is endangered because of habitat loss and lack of food sources.   In my song you hear the beauty of Palos Verdes and sadness when people thought the butterfly was extinct.  Then you hear the heroic volunteers and neighbors working hard to plant native plants and restore habitat. Finally you hear happiness as the butterfly returns to Palos Verdes.
Fabio Mino


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Kyle Olivera
Congratulations to Fabio Mino, previous student of Idell Low, Dafna Low-Smith and Brandie Fishkis, who recently won second place at the Satori Summer Music Festival, 2019! ​


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Congratulations to Kyle Olivera, violin student of Molly White, who auditioned for the solo at his school's Spring performance (2019) and won!  He auditioned with 30 other instrumentalists, and performed a Scott Joplin tune that Traci Minor introduced in workshop called Paragon Rag. Kyle performs throughout the year with his school orchestra. Bravo!
MJ Mendez
Congratulations to MJ Mendez, guitar student of Molly White.  In the Spring of 2019, MJ performed Tanz by Bach at his school's talent show.  He auditioned and was accepted! Bravo!
Leina Verrier        
Congratulations to Leina Verrier, student of Idell Low, who presented her Senior Recital in Valencia (2017). She performed many amazing pieces, including Brahms, Bach, and Kreisler.  She concluded the afternoon performance with an exciting duet with Alisa Luera, another SMPLA student.  Leina will attend UCLA in the fall.

Alisa Luera
Congratulations to Alisa Luera, student of Mrs. Low, who is in Junior Chamber Music of Los Angeles. She was part of a trio which was selected to perform at the Honors Concert. At the end of concert, their group was awarded a $1000.00 scholarship to go to Montecito International Music Festival. They were also selected for a Master class taught by Mark Menzies (viola, violin professor, CalArts).

Julian, Bridget & Katherine
Congratulations to Julian Rubenstein, Bridget Ayers, and Katherine Lin, all students of Idell Low, who are in CSUN's Camerata String Orchestra. Julian is Assistant Concertmaster and Bridget is first chair of the second violins.

Idell Low
The Suzuki Music Program of Los Angeles recently honored Idell Low, Director Emeritus for her 39 years of dedicated service as Director of SMPLA.  We surprised her at our Winter Concert in 2014 with a slide show of her life, a plaque, and flowers, with many people in attendance, including her three children and several grandchildren.  It was a delightful evening, and she was genuinely surprised, making the evening even more special.
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Bridget Ayers
On April 25, 2012, Bridget Ayers was awarded a Merit Music Scholarship of $300 dollars to be contributed to private lessons from LACESMA, which stands for Los Angeles City Elementary Schools Music Association.  60 violinists auditioned and only 3 received merit scholarships. We are very proud her!   A big thank you goes out to Mrs. Low, Brandie and SMPLA!

Rachel Johnson
Rachel Johnson, participated in her school's Talent Show when she was in 5th grade.  She played the Vivaldi A minor concerto.  Her piano teacher was accompanying her, and knew of her Suzuki background.
During the performance, Rachel suddenly became lost.  After a few measures she got back on track and finished beautifully.  She received second place in the Talent Show.
Now, why would I call this "Suzuki Success Story"?  Here's why:  her piano teacher told us afterwards that when she knew Rachel was lost, she thought to herself, "Rachel is a Suzuki student.  I bet if I play the melody line really loud, she will hear it, know where she should be, and get back on track."  And that is exactly what happened!  Her teacher, who got her college degree in accompanying, said that even though she was hoping that her idea would work, she was floored when it actually did! 
She explained that most people, including college students that she accompanied over the years, aren't able to do what Rachel did - to hear a few notes in the middle of being lost, and without  missing a beat to jump right back in.  They usually have to stop, go over to the piano and look at the music, figure out where they are, and then start again.
She assured us that even though Rachel felt bad about "messing up," she should actually have felt very proud of herself.  Because of her Suzuki training, she was able to do something musically that many college music majors aren't able to do. That, I believe, is a true success!