Schwab Academy

🎶 TONIGHT at 7 PM – happening right here at the Performing Arts Center!

We’re excited to welcome Rising Stars Ray Ushikubo & Chi-Jo Lee from the Coburn School to the VC PAC, presented by our friends and community partners from The !

🎹 Ray Ushikubo is a 23-year-old piano and violin prodigy who’s played Carnegie Hall and performed with major U.S. orchestras.

🎶 Chi-Jo Lee is an expressive, award-winning pianist known for her powerful solo and chamber performances across the globe.

🎟 Use code ‘PIANO’ for FREE TICKETS for students!

🗓 TONIGHT! Thursday, July 24
🕖 7:00–9:00 PM
📍 Performing Arts Center at Ventura College
4700 Loma Vista Rd, Ventura, CA

Let’s give these rising stars our warmest Ventura welcome ❤️

Instagram Takeover!

Geraldine Mae Cabanban ( ) is taking over our Instagram today to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the grand finale of our Chamber Music Series.

A familiar face to many of you and a part of our Schwab Family, she is a violinist, composer, and all-around creative force! She’s performed with both the Schwab Academy Orchestra and Chamber Music concerts and last spring she premiered her composition “Limerence” with the VC Orchestra. We love the unique voice she brings to her performances and compositions!

Catch her takeover as we get ready for tonight’s concert —
Friday 7/18 at 5 PM at the Ventura College Performing Arts Center.

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Some incredible shots of our Schwab Academy musicians by the equally incredible !

Come see what they’ve been working on! Mahler’s Titan Symphony- this Saturday July 19 / 4 PM. Pay What You Can Tix :-)

A few more photos as we get ready for chamber music concert number two! Come join us… Today, Saturday, at 4 PM! At the Ventura college performing arts center 👏👏

Chamber rehearsals for this weekends concerts! 👏

Some great Week 1 photos! 👏👏👏👏

📸: John Hester

Annnnnd… it’s official! Our 15th annual Henry Schwab Violin and Viola competition has finished. We are so proud of all our amazing finalists… Thank you so much for the amazing music! And a huge thank you to our Schwab Academy Summer Orchestra for learning and performing three full concertos plus four individual movements in less than a week… Wow! Looking forward to next weekend’s chamber music fun!

Judges: Mark Menzies, Tomasz Golka

Category A 2025 Winners
1st: Leonora Vukovitz
2nd: Isabella Zhou
3rd: Carlos Ozuna

Category B 2025 Winners
1st: Yiyi Chang
2nd: Nicole Alexander
3rd: Leo McDonnell
Honorable Mention: Maya Kim

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Last Day to Apply! The Ventura College Allegro Solo Competition is Here!

Are you ready to take the stage and perform with a full orchestra? The Second Annual Allegro Solo Competition is your chance to showcase your talent! Apply today for the opportunity to perform with the Ventura College Symphony Orchestra!

This competition is for all musicians of all ages (instruments and voice included) and is open to all current residents of Ventura County, AND to all students or alumni of Ventura College, Moorpark College, or Oxnard College. 

Whether you’re a seasoned performer or just starting out, this is the perfect stage for you to shine – We can’t wait to hear you!

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How It Works:

The Allegro Solo Competition will be held on Tuesday, January 14, 2025 at the Ventura College Performing Arts Center. All contestants will have the chance to play for conductor Ashley Walters and our panel of guest judges, and receive feedback on their auditions.

Up to two winners will be selected to perform with the Ventura College Symphony Orchestra on Saturday, March 8, 2025 at 3:00 PM.

Full details on our website - link in bio
Apply today! - Link in bio

📸: 2025 Allegro Judges, two of our 2024 Allegro Winners: Dylan Gruber (flute) and Alex Fager (violin) (not pictured: Jonathan Tellez, euphonium)

Thanks and for working with our faculty, mentors and our amazing students on last weekend’s chamber music program! Here are some images from the wonderful

Go team!! 🫶🫶

Congratulations to all our amazing musicians from last Saturday’s orchestra concert! Thanks to for planning this great program and to for capturing these moments… and a big bravo to everyone involved!

Congratulations to our five amazing Henry Schwab Violin and Viola Competition Category B performers: Kyler Chu, Carlos Ozuna, Alan Wu, Idan Yohanan, and Isabella Zhou! All five gave our audiences a fantastic concert and made themselves proud!

Isabella Zhou was awarded first prize, Kyler Chu was awarded second prize, and Carlos Ozuna was awarded third prize👏

Thanks again to and our incredible Schwab orchestra for all their work pulling all these concertos together, as well as our fantastic guest judges Sara Parkins and Sarah Thorndale. And a shoutout to the violin instructors of all our contestants - without our teachers, where would we be? 🥰🥰

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