Jammies

Davis Combined Junior High School Advanced Orchestra
What happens when you put 110 junior high school students in a room together? No, not anarchy. If they’re the 110 members of the Davis Combined Junior High School Advanced Orchestra, you get beautiful classical movements on strings. The best musicians from Harper, Emerson and Holmes Junior High Schools meet daily on their respective campuses and practice the same curriculum as their bandmates. The whole group gathers for rehearsal before each public performance to get in tune, literally, with one another.

Concertmistress, Violin I: Clair Prezmic; Co-Concertmaster, CODA Honor Orchestra, Violin I: Jeffrey Yo; Co-Conertmisstress, Violin I: Nicole Castañón; Violin I: Maya Abramson, Emily Barr, Amanda Chase, Jennifer Chen, Jane Chen, maria Dutulescu, Monica Fadel, Carolin Fan, Grace Hair, Erin Havens, Abulu Hsieh, Chris Hu, David Huang, Alice Hwang, Samuel Ke, Marcelo Khouri, Emmi Koivunen, Elizabeth Lawson, Tammy Lee, James Liu, Corinna Ma, Bridget MacDonald, Kieran Noble-Goodman, Saewoong Oh, Linnea Ransom, Ethan Rosenberg, Dominik Schittny, Timothy Sullivan, Julie Taquin, Kyle Wong, Mimi Yu, Alec Zavala, Yuwei Zhang; Principal, Violin II: Jeongwoo Choi; Co-Principal, Violin II: Issra Omer; Co-Principal, Violin II: Nardos Girma; Violin II: Ahmad Baratti, Joey Bashore, Shelby Brackett, William Chui, Michael Claassen, Chelsea Dingman, Cyrus Ghaffari, Lystra Hobby, Anna Hollander, Albin Huang, Hannah Hubbard, Grace Kim, Rebekah Lee, Yang Liu, Alexandria Muller, Kevin Ng, Kevin Saicheur, Andrea Setiawan, Spencer Snow, Varsha Sudarshana, Eddie Tian, Yael Torres-Bassard, Alexander Waltonen, Kennedy Wenning, Sarah Wieking, Lucy Winterhalder, Nicholas Zieve; Principal, Viola: Jesse Simons; Co-Principal, Viola: Sarah Finley; Co-Principal, Viola: Natalie Kelly; Viola: Sandra Arrendondo, Valerie Brown, Kayla Crews, Michaela Duyar, Nima Fatemi, Matthew Fung, Kayla Gibson, Catherine Ho, Dard Hunter, Mikaela Lee, Sam Rexroth, A.J. Slizeski, Alyson Tsui, Julianne Warden, Amanda Zastrow; Principal Cello: Isabel Ortiz; Co-Principal, Cello: Constanza Jackson; Co-Principal, Cello: Claire O’Leary; Cello: Caitlin Anderson, Khangal Ariungerel, Peter Aumann, Megan Crawford, Kathy Dooley, Gabriel Ehrlich, Braden Fisk, Haemin Hong, Angel Jennings, Yoonjae Lee, Katie O’Brien, Pascal Polonik; Principal, Bass: Katherine Flanigan; Co-Principal, Bass: Hannah May; Co-Principal, Bass: Derek Nelson; Bass: Keegan Cross, Tyler Dunaway, Ian Rock, Kaity Ronning, Christopher Whitmore.

John F. Kennedy Marching Band and Color Guard
During football season, the John F. Kennedy Marching Band and Color Guard cover a lot of turf to bring pep to the school’s sports fans. They’ll have to reign it in a bit for their appearance at the Mondavi Center, but don’t worry. These talented musicians can slip easily from stadium grandstanding to concert professionalism with a wave of a conductor’s baton.

Drum Major: Brian Barrett; Flutes: Dayana Caballero, Kori Chan, Alaina Fong, Marion Korbelich, Eva Ng, Amanda Saechao, Lindsay Wong, KarenYeung; Clarinets: Jonathan Fong, Elaine Holmgren, KimNg, Mai Lee Vang, Aaron Velon; Saxophones: Kenneth Dangles, Peter DeFranz, Antoine Green, Justin James, Michael Lee, Kenny Taggart; Trumpets: Sydney Burkholder, Paul Cimino, Alex Hopkins, Danielle Jimenez, Marvin Reed, Dillon Reeder, Kelsie Roff; Mellophones: Taniella Block, Janelle Gollihur, Katie Tam; Trombones: Kristy Cha, Dustin Garcia, Maggie Perez; Baritones: Taylor Fong, Angela Ruvalcaba; Tuba: Isaac Smith; Snare Drum: Paul Johnson, Mike Mikhaylevskiy, Stephanie O’Hare, Brandon Shimabukuro; Multi-tenor Drum: Zachary Brooks, Greg Okada; Bass Drum: Blake Bill, Nate Chin, Ashley Garland, Ezekiel Lebron, Imin Love; Front Ensemble: Kenny Baccus, MartinGomez, Cliff Heartsill, David Kloss, Michelle Lucas, Caitlin Nordine, Sergio Soto, Sue Vang, Deirdre Williams; Color Guard: Emily Clark, Samantha Lewis, Terry Li, Jaquis Robinson, Rosemary Sosa, Alana Streets, Joseph Welch, Traynise Yee.

Elaine Fitz Gibbon
The best thing about being a musician, according to cellist Elaine Fitz Gibbon, is the ability to communicate “without having to speak—being able to convey a full range of emotions just through playing.” The 17-year-old student at Davis Senior High School has already proved herself an accomplished communicator by performing with a number of local and Bay Area orchestras and chamber music societies. She hones her skills at numerous master classes and workshops—including the prestigious Tanglewood Institute at Boston University—and is already teaching new cello players how to speak through music.

Rio Americano Jazz Ensemble
If the six members of the Rio Americano Jazz Ensemble had their way, they’d all be playing in Duke Ellington’s band. Pending the discovery of a time machine, founding members Ramsey Castañeda and Dinos San Pedro corralled their friends Cashel Barnett, Kelly Doherty, Kesav Raghavan and Daniel Schwarz into this award-winning jazz combo. The ensemble still channels the power of the Duke, though. In fact, its rendition of Ellington’s “Black and Tan Fantasy” won the hearts of the Jammies judges and inspired the group’s jazzy addition to this evening of classical music.

Cashel Barnett, Drums; Ramsey Castañeda, Tenor Saxophone; Kelly Doherty, Alto Saxophone; Kesav Raghavan, Trombone; Dinos San Pedro, Piano; Daniel Schwarz, Bass.

Ariana Fong
At age 12, Ariana Fong has studied violin for more than half her life. It shows in her confident playing style, the speed of the pieces she tackles, and her growing list of accolades—including first place in her age group at Sacramento’s 2006 American String Teachers Association Solo Competition. Not bad for a girl who originally took up the violin only because her older sister gave it up and her mom wanted to get her money’s worth. Fong hopes to someday form her own chamber group and travel the world. Remember you saw her here first!

Natomas Nighthawk Drum Corps
The Nighthawks are a Jammies tradition, and they definitely put the “jam” in the Jammies Evening of Classical Music. Their complex rhythms energize the soul and their syncopated synchronicity delights the eyes. Under the direction of founder Floyd Kennedy at Natomas High School, the corps spreads spirit throughout the region at parades, games and community celebrations. Just try to keep your feet from tapping when they come marching down the aisles of the Mondavi Center.

Isaiah Abdul Rahman, Ryan Burge, Juan Colin, Jeremie Elkins, Chris Eshenaur, Robert Garcia, Santos Gonzalez, Justin Hamilton, Damian Juarez, Claire Kinsey, Dylan Knott, Edwin Lugo, Daniel Mitchell, Joey Sanders, Lototele Seumanu, Sal Soldano, Mario Sorci, Tamra Trotter, Michael Urquhart, Michael Ward, Jeremiah Williams, Jason Woosley; Drum corps Instructor: Floyd Kennedy; Music Department Director: Mike Seto.

Chloe Benson
Art song is a very specialized genre, a style that combines music and lyrics to create an intimate connection between performer and listener. It’s not surprising then that for Chloe Benson, musical inspiration comes from the act of performance, from “relating to an audience, or moving them through the message of a song.”

The 17-year-old vocalist, who’s won both a gold and a bronze medal at the Golden Empire Music Festival, seems preternaturally aware that musicianship has two important components: “I love the moment when I have mastered the technique and can focus on the emotional and expressive aspect.”

Fantee Jones
Like so many musicians, 13-year-old pianist Fantee Jones dreams of playing Carnegie Hall. Actually, she’s already played there, as the winner of an international piano championship, but next time, instead of a single Chopin étude, she wants to perform a full program. The Roseville native clearly knows how to set goals and she’s got the awards to prove it, but her interest in music goes beyond accolades. “I get inspired pretty easily,” she says, describing her musical curiosity. “There is a precise texture in every piece that needs to be followed.” The talent is in the determination to find it.

Granite Bay High School Madrigal Choir
This award-winning choir is no stranger to the Jammies. They knocked our socks off in 2004 and they’re back to do it again. The group focuses primarily on a capella music, skipping through the centuries with choral selections from Renaissance to modern. The choir has acquired quite a few awards in its 11-year history, including the Adjudicator’s Award at last year’s Anaheim Heritage Music Festival.

Soprano: Alana Goldscheid, Monica Hill, Melissa McCormick, Allison Roeh, Robyn Smith, Jenna Strubing, Rebecca Woge; Alto: Morgan Anderson, Lauren Andris, Kristin Klemin, Chelsey Noia, Kaitlin Reagan, Alyssa Stewart; Tenor: Matt Hopper, Blaine Johnston; Bass: Kyle Cherry, Austin Kimes, Kyle Langowski, Steven Pope, Michael Sanna, Marc Thompson; Director: Jennifer Leighton; Accompanist: Ryan Lee.