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Annika Jenkins, Violin - RSOL Concerto Contest Winner


Annika, age 15, began playing violin before the age of three. In 2006, at age 11, she made her solo debut performing Concerto No. 3 in G Major by W.A. Mozart with the Virginia Beach Symphony Orchestra. At age 14, she was accepted for study at The Julliard School Pre-College Division where she is a violin major and student of renowned artist-teacher Shirley Givens. The recipient of numerous awards and prizes in district, regional and state competitions, Annika has performed with orchestras and in recital throughout the State of Virginia. She was Grand Prize Winner of the 21st Annual Young Performing Artists Competition in Hampton, Virginia, and 2008-09 MTNA State of Virginia Junior String Performance Winner.

Annika is in her second year serving as concertmaster of Bay Youth Orchestras of Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and toured Austria last summer as concertmaster of the Bay Youth Vienna Festival Orchestra which performed in the Wiener Konzerthaus (Vienna Concert Hall) and the Haydnsaal (Haydn's Hall) in Esterhazy Palace. She recently completed a solo recording of "Winter," from the Four Seasons by Antonia Vivaldi for an international CD with Traveling Notes, a cultural exchange program whose mission is to "promote musical excellence, cultural appreciation and social responsibility in young musicians from different countries and socio-economic backgrounds." Musicians from the Dominican Republic, Peru, Mexico, and the US collaborated on the recording.

Annika has performed in master classes for Curtis Macomber, faculty of The Julliard School; David Kim, concertmaster of the Philadelphia Orchestra; Elmar Oliveira, the only American ever to win the Gold Medal at Moscow's prestigious Tchaikovsky International Competition; and Charles Castleman, Chair of the Strings Department at Eastman School of Music.