Congratulations to Emily, age 8, on her stunning violin performance today for all of the students and teachers at Bentley Elementary! Out of the 31 students across grades K – 5 who auditioned for a panel of four judges, Emily was the only second-grader (!) selected to perform for today’s talent show. She will follow up today’s performance with another one tomorrow for parents. Keep up the amazing work, Emily!
As we celebrate the end of this school year, I’m so thrilled to acknowlege everyone’s achievements. In particular, I’d like to recognize Nikita for her outstanding academic and musical accomplishments.
Nikita will graduate in June as Valedictorian at DeBakey High School. In addition to her musical achievements in middle and high school (including the Arts Supplement, Region, Houston Youth Symphony, LHS Showcase Concerts, Solo & Ensemble awards, performances at assisted living centers, and the Virtuosi of Houston Summer String Workshop), Nikita has demonstrated exceptional leadership as a violinist in our studio.
Nikita’s college acceptance letters included offers from UPenn, Rice, and the Houston Premedical Academy (HPA). Pursuing her dream of becoming a doctor, Nikita will attend the Houston Premedical Academy, an 8-year program that leads to graduation from the Baylor College of Medicine(!). Just 6 seniors per year are accepted into HPA. WOW, Nikita!
On a musical note, Nikita has accepted the position of Violin Teacher at Century Fine Arts in Sugar Land and is now welcoming new students into her very own studio!
Congratulations on your amazing accomplishments, Nikita! You have earned them all and we are thrilled for you and proud of you!
We are so excited to introduce the Sugar Strings Chamber Ensemble! Sugar Strings was formed in Fall 2017 and kicked off their first season with a dazzling holiday tour that included concerts around Houston and Sugar Land. You might have caught their spring program a few weeks ago at an event for the Sugar Land Art Center and Gallery! Sugar Strings is looking forward to welcoming three new ensemble members this July for their summer engagements. We’ll keep you posted on this page with more of their upcoming performances!
Hello, everyone!
It’s audition season, and that means we’re starting to find out which orchestras our young musicians have been accepted into for the 2018 – 2019 school year! We’ll update this site with results as they come in, as so far only a few schools have posted their audition results and many more are sure to do so between now and August!
Congratulations to Seline (violin) and Dhruv (viola) for reaching the top orchestra (Camerata) at Austin High School! Both Seline and Dhruv will have the huge honor of performing at the Chicago Midwest Clinic in December 2018.
Congratulations to Jordan (viola) for reaching the top orchestra (Symphony) at Travis High School! Jordan will attend the high school AFA program this summer as well. So exciting!
Jordan joins Esosa (viola) in the top Travis group. On that note, Esosa will be spending one month this summer in Thailand, having successfully applied for a summer abroad scholarship through the Council on International Educational Exchance (CIEE) program. Wow, Esosa!
Congratulations to Zayn (viola) for reaching the top orchestra (Camerata) at Garcia Middle School as a 6th-grader! Zayn will attend the AFA this summer as well.
Congratulations to Aishwarya (violin), who will stay in the top group at Clements HS and to Amanda (viola), who will stay in the top group at Ridgepoint HS.
*EDIT, 5/31* Congratulations also to Ryder (viola), who has reached the top orchestra (Symphony) at Sartartia Middle School!
*Edit, Fall 2018, below*
Congratulations to Hamsini for being the only freshman violinist accepted into the top group at Elkins HS!
Congratulations to Tarunikha for being accepted as a freshman violist at Elkins HS as well!
Congratulations to Catherine and Elizabeth for being accepted into the top group at Dulles MS as incoming 6th-graders!
Congratulations to Olivia for being accepted into the top group at Baines MS on viola!
To everyone who will be auditioning this week and next — good luck, and remember to perform with confidence! We are already so proud of you!
Congratulations to Hamsini, who last night received the Director’s Choice Award at Fort Settlement Middle School! Hamsini is in the top orchestra at FSMS and in December she performed the concertmaster solo for Fantasia on Greensleeves (Ralph Vaughan Williams).
Congratulations to Ananya for receiving the Outstanding Musicianship Award from her orchestra at Clements High School! A few weeks ago, Ananya led her orchestra to Sweepstakes at DC Fest with her fantastic concertmaster solo for Pavane (Gabriel Fauré).
Congratulations to the following young musicians for successfully auditioning for and being accepted into AFA! We are so excited to have young musicians ranging from elementary school to middle and high school participating in both the MS and HS summer music programs. Well done, everyone!
Rohith, violin, 3rd grade
Jordan, viola, 10th grade
Kyle, violin, 6th grade
Morgan, viola, 6th grade
Ryder, viola, 7th grade
Catherine, violin, 5th grade
Elizabeth, violin, 5th grade
Zayn, viola, 6th grade
We’re already off to a fantastic year at LHS, with our young musicians bringing home 26 Grade 1 medals in both the Solo and Ensemble categories at this year’s Solo & Ensemble competition. You’ll notice that the number of Grade I Medals exceeds the number of names on this list, indicating how many of our young musicians chose to compete in both categories and were awarded top marks and medals in each!
Katelynn, Clements HS, viola*
Neha, Fort Settlement MS, viola*
Anisha, Quail Valley MS, violin*
Amanda, Ridgepoint HS, viola*
Jacob, Quail Valley MS, viola*
Tarunikha, Fort Settlement MS, viola*
Archana, Clements HS, violin*
Anika, Dulles HS, viola*
Jordan, Travis HS, viola*
Aishwarya, Clements HS, violin*
Jessica, Fort Settlement MS, violin*
Olivia, Baines MS, viola
Hamsini, Fort Settlement MS, violin*
Mustafa, Travis HS, viola*
Ananya, Clements HS, violin*
Esosa, Travis HS, viola
Seline, Austin HS, violin*
Isaac, Dulles MS, viola*
Christian, Sugar Land MS, viola*
Paige, Dulles HS, violin*
Special congratulations to students who chose to compete in both categories and received top marks in each, and to our high schoolers who chose to perform their Level 1 pieces by memory and, in receiving top marks, qualified for state auditions in May!
*Indicates musicians who received the top grade for performances of PML Level 1 pieces. This is the highest HS level on the PML, and we’re thrilled with the number of middle school (!) and high school musicians who pursue these advanced studies!
Our new 6th-grade musicians on violin and viola will be competiting in Solo & Ensemble for the first time later this spring. We wish them luck and will keep you posted on their amazing progress!
Congratulations to our young musicians who have made Region this year!
It is a tremendous achievement for performers to be selected from an exceptionally large number of competitors to represent their schools in the Region concerts this November!
Amanda V., viola, Ridge Point HS
Aishwarya M., violin, Clements HS
Christian B., viola, First Colony MS
Hamsini M., violin, Fort Settlement MS
Isaac R., violin, Fort Settlement MS
Neha C., viola, Fort Settlement MS
Riya P., violin, Sartartia MS
Tarunikha S., viola, Fort Settlement MS
Our warmest congratulations to the following young musicians on their successful auditions for AFA! We are excited for their upcoming performances and so proud of their accomplishments.
Archana, violin
Jessica, violin
Anika, viola
Catherine, violin
Elizabeth, violin
Riya, violin
Neha, viola
Aleezay, violin
Christian, viola
Haneesha, violin
Amanda, viola
More information about the American Festival for the Arts, or AFA, can be found at http://www.afatexas.org.
Congratulations to all of the LHS families who participated in this Saturday’s Winter Showcase Concerts! Violinists and violists performed works ranging from Suzuki Book I favorites to Beethoven’s Spring Sonata and Schumann’s Märchenbilder. From Bartók to Mozart, our LHS performers demonstrated command of a wide range of musical styles.
We were thrilled to once again offer students the opportunity to work with LHS pianist Evelyn Lam (https://laurenhaleystudios.com/meettheartists/) as Ms. Lam completes her doctoral degree in piano performance at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.
Virtuosi of Houston and Karen Needham hosted both the 5:30pm and 7:30pm LHS recitals in their beautiful studio. Thank you again, Virtuosi and Ms. Needham!
Parents can submit their photos from the recital to be posted here. Congratulations again to all performers!
Below: Ms. Haley and Sophie, Sebastian and Ms. Haley
LAUREN HALEY STUDIOS 
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