January 31, 2018 – Dr. Steve Bingham brought a group of Santa Fe College students from the Fine Arts department to Jacksonville University recently to compete in the Florida State College Activities Association Winter Music Symposium and offered the following letter of praise for the students’ success.
Congratulations to Santa Fe College’s Fine Arts music student who participated in the Florida State College Activities Association Annual Winter Music Symposium. A total of 313 students from 18 different colleges in the state of Florida competed in chair placements and ensemble placements to vie for the best instrumentalist or vocalist within their section. In the jazz genre, the Symposium’s Big Band had only 18 positions to fill. SF’s Jay Abernathy pulled down first chair trombone and landed the trombone solo for the ballad. Jaan Albrecht made fourth trumpet and played several solos. In the orchestral genre, SF had only one student audition, her name was Alexandra Partridge who landed first chair French horn. In the symphonic band genre, Morgan Lozzi placed first chair second clarinet while D.J. Kraus and Kevin Jimenez filled out the third section. In the genre of percussion ensemble Jonathan McDonnell played the piano, and Teanna Williams participated in the piano genre.
In the vocal genre, eight students for SF’s chorus program participated in the 200 plus member festival choir. Candace Rhodes, Avital Masri, Alesia D’Tomaso, Mack Oliver, Tyler Williams,
Terance Williams, Zach Cerino and Ian Hazzard all were seated very high in their respective sections.
SF also had two students perform for the student artist competition and scored high marks in woodwinds (D.J Kraus-Clarinet) and brass (Alexandra Partridge-French Horn).
Special thanks to Professor Sandefur and I would like to personally thank all of those who participated in the three-day event culminating in two very demanding concerts. You all represented Santa Fe College and the Fine Arts department well! Congrats to all!