Category: competitions

STATE CHAMPION – CONGRATULATIONS, ROHITH!

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Warmest congratulations to LHS violinist Rohith S. for winning the OUTSTANDING PERFORMER AWARD at the Texas State Solo & Ensemble Competition in Austin! Rohith stands out as the only musician in his highly competitive school district (FBISD) to receive this honor in 2026.

Only the top 2% – 3% of musicians who make it to state are nominated for the Outstanding Performer Award. This medal is the highest award for high schoolers in Texas and is granted to State Champions across disciplines, including athletics, academics, and fine arts.

Rohith is President and Concertmaster of the Dulles HS Orchestra, Concertmaster of Fort Bend Honor Orchestra, Vice President of DHS Tri-M, is a TMEA All-State Orchestra violinist, and is the founder of the Do Re Mi Project’s Houston chapter.

We are especially proud of Rohith’s longtime work with Barton House to facilitate performances for Alzheimer’s care patients. Rohith has been an LHS student for over 10 years (with lessons online since LHS moved to Washington!), and we so vividly remember the excitement of his first performance at Atria Senior Living in 2015!

Rohith, we are SO PROUD OF YOU, your artistry, and your leadership. Your musical joy makes the world a better place. Bravo!

Many thanks to Rohith’s wonderful family for the support and enthusiasm they bring to every lesson!

Ready for a Region Boost? Check out the LHS MS Region Tutorials in Collaboration with Cellist Mark Yee!

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MS Region auditions are just around the corner and we’re so excited to give everyone an extra boost. We’ll be offering the FBISD Region 13 MS etude and scale performances and tutorials on violin and cello for 50% off this week only! Click HERE to access the videos through the LHS Vimeo site! Young musicians can rent the videos to rewatch at home an UNLIMITED number of times before Region auditions on November 2nd and 3rd.

LHS is thrilled to collaborate with cellist Mark Yee to create exceptional cello tutorials and performances for this year’s audition material! You can read all about Mark, a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music (B.M., Cello Performance) and Eastman School of Music (M.M. and Performer’s Certificate) at this link.

Best of luck to everyone for fabulous auditions again this year! Be sure to follow @LaurenHaleyStudios on Instagram for audition tips and to keep up with the latest studio news!

Rochester Cello Society and Hochstein School of Music and Dance Welcome Ms. Haley for October Workshop

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The Rochester Cello Society and the Hochstein School of Music and Dance announce Strategies for Parents of Instrumentalists, a special event with Lauren Haley on Saturday, October 5th from 1:15 – 2:45 pm at the Hochstein School in Rochester, NY. All are welcome to attend this free workshop, which will include an intermission.

From Sandra Halleran, Founder of the Rochester Cello Society:

“The Rochester Cello Society and the Hochstein School of Music and Dance welcome Lauren Haley, renown author of Kids Aren’t Lazy: Developing Motivation and Talent through Music. Lauren will give a session to Rochester’s parents of instrumentalists. Any parent who wants to learn strategies for supporting their young musician is welcome. Topics will include: the power of parents (and effective communication), developing practice routines that *really* stick, and helping young musicians and their families prepare for peak performance (competitions, auditions, etc!)

This workshop is FREE and will take place in the Hochstein Recital Hall.”

LHS Violinist Anna M. Accepted into the Fort Bend Symphony!

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Huge congratulations to LHS violinist Anna M. on her successful audition for the Fort Bend Symphony Orchestra!

Anna’s first performance as a violinist in the FBSO will be the orchestra’s “Russian Fireworks” concert on Sunday, October 6th at 2 pm at the Stafford Center. Click here to get tickets to this performance, which will feature works by Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov!

Congratulations, Anna! We’re so proud of your awesome work!

LHS Young Musicians Earn 23 Grade 1 Awards at Solo & Ensemble Competitions

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Congratulations to LHS young musicians on last week’s stunning Solo & Ensemble performances! It’s thrilling to see everyone reach new levels of confidence and skill.

Special congratulations to players who performed Grade 1 pieces by memory. We look forward to their upcoming performances at State! We’re extra proud of everyone who competed in the ensemble category and earned an additional 1 there as well.

Studio News

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We’re excited to announce that Fishburn Violin Shop will carry Kids Aren’t Lazy: Developing Motivation & Talent. Fishburn has shops in both The Woodlands and Tomball. We’re so happy to partner with them to make KAL available locally to more Texas families!

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Photo & Design: Albertine Wang (River Oaks Bookstore, 2 February 2019)

Congratulations to Ananya B. (Clements HS), who has won a concertmaster solo for her Clements HS orchestra performance at Carnegie Hall on Monday, March 11th! We’re thrilled for Ananya and wish her the best for a fabulous performance.

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Ananya in 2018 with her Outstanding Musicianship Award from Clements HS

Congratulations to Lauren H. for winning the J.S. Bach Musical Leadership Scholarship (a merit-based award) at Patrick Henry College in Washington, DC! Join us in celebrating Lauren at her upcoming senior recital on Saturday, April 13th.

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Lauren H. (blue dress) and the rest of the Sugar Strings in 2018

We’ll see everyone soon at the LHS Winter Showcase Concert at Virtuosi of Houston on Sunday, February 24th at 6:00 pm! We’re thrilled to welcome back pianist Evelyn Lam to collaborate with LHS young musicians. Performances will feature works by Bruch, Walton, Lalo, Schumann, Kabalevsky, and others, and will be followed by a special performance by Ms. Lam. All are invited to join us for a reception following the recital.

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LHS Collaborative Pianist & DMA Candidate (Eastman School of Music) Evelyn Lam

 

LHS Young Musicians Shine!

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We’re thrilled for everyone’s amazing performances this past Saturday at the LHS Evening of Chamber Music at the Virtuosi of Houston Studio! From Seitz to Lalo to Brahms (with a little bit of Twinkle!), LHS musicians performed both solo works and ensemble favorites.

As this semester comes to an end, we’re so excited to reflect on the leadership we’ve seen from LHS young musicians. From concertmaster solos (Jessica, Lizzie!) to principal viola solos (Jordan, Anika!), from coaching younger orchestras (Olivia, Jordan!) to leading ensemble performances in the community (Sugar Strings!), from being first chair (Morgan, Jessica, Jordan, Anika, Lizzie, Amanda, Christian…we’re surely missing a few young musicians in this list, let us know!), to performing in the Houston Youth Symphony (Christian, Archana, Catherine, Elizabeth!) from making region (LHS violinists/violists in ALL FOUR region orchestras!) to teaching lessons themselves (Molly, Lauren!), we have seen everyone grow tremendously.

This week, we send lots of luck to Seline (violin) and Dhruv (viola). Both are traveling to Chicago this week as members of the top orchestra at Austin HS. Dhruv and Seline will be performing in their orchestra at the Midwest Clinic. Have fun, guys!

Smile, everyone! Photo by Karen Needham
Amber (left) and Emily (Photo by Karen Needham)
Cheers! Photo by Karen Yang. Catherine (left) and Lizzie with Ms. Haley and Ms. Lam

LHS Musicians Make Region, Perform this Weekend!

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We’re proud to announce that LHS violinists and violists will be performing tomorrow in ALL FOUR Region groups! (Mobile users, click through to website to view concert details.)

Special shout-out to Lizzie (6th grade, Dulles MS) for winning the Concertmaster spot (and solo!) in the MS Philharmonic. Musical leadership runs in the family — Lizzie’s twin sister, Catherine, will perform as Principal 2nd Violin in the MS Symphony!

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Image courtesy of The Sugar Land Moms 

Praise for KIDS AREN’T LAZY from the European String Teachers Association (ESTA) in ARCO Magazine, Fall 2018!

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“This book is absolutely brilliant…a must read for every teacher and music parent in the land…I shall be recommending it to all I know – go buy, now!!!”

-Vivienne Blumfield for Arco magazine (European String Teachers Association, UK), Fall 2018

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ESTA UK Review of Kids Aren’t Lazy, Arco Magazine, Fall 2018

We’re over the moon to share the European String Teachers Association review of Kids Aren’t Lazy: Developing Motivation & Talent Through Music from the Fall 2018 issue of Arco, which hits mailboxes today. For mobile readers, click through to your web browser to view the full review.

Audition Season is Here + a NEW Local Resource!

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https://thesugarlandmoms.com/4-easy-ways-to-boost-audition-performance-for-orchestra-kids/

Happy Fall, Y’all!

HS Region Auditions will be this Saturday, October 13th, and MS Region Auditions will be next Saturday, October 20th. To celebrate these exciting auditions and help everyone prepare, I’ve teamed up with the Sugar Land Moms Network for an article sharing my audition prep tips! https://thesugarlandmoms.com/4-easy-ways-to-boost-audition-performance-for-orchestra-kids/

Sugar Land Moms is a new go-to site for families and is a chapter of The Local Moms Network, https://thelocalmomsnetwork.com. It’s a great resource for everything from local event calendars, arts and activity resources, and parent interviews to deals from nearby businesses.

In LHS news this week, we’re extra proud of Anika, who as principal viola in her Dulles orchestra will perform a solo in tomorrow’s orchestra concert. We’re also absolutely thrilled for Jordan, who (in the top group at Travis) has started coaching viola sectionals for a lower ensemble and has her own principal viola solo coming up!