Seventeen ensembles from coast to coast battled in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for top rankings at the fifth annual American String Teachers Association National Orchestra Festival held earlier this year. The Orchestra da Camera, made up of members of the virtuoso program at the all-girl high school at the San Domenico School in San Anselmo, California, emerged the 2008 Grand Champion. This was senior Orchestra da Camera violinist Camille Buchanan’s fourth time and second victory at the competition. During her freshman year, the ensemble tied for first place.

“I think the whole orchestra could sense a heightened energy this time around because the other orchestras that came to the festival were even harder competition than in 2004,” the 18-year-old says. “I remember after listening to one group’s audition, the virtuoso program gave them a standing ovation and left feeling a little scared for our own competition because we definitely had something to prove.

“When they announced the winners, the whole orchestra was on the edge of its seat, and no one knew what to expect. I think that this is the best way to win.”

Orchestra da Camera also took first place in the High School String Orchestra category while the Punahou Symphony Orchestra Strings from Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Iowa City West High School Symphony String Orchestra of Iowa City, Iowa, took second and third places, respectively. The Las Vegas Academy Philharmonic Orchestra of Las Vegas, Nevada, placed first in the High School Full Orchestra category, and the Springville High School Philharmonic of Springville, Utah, placed second. The Las Flores Middle School String Ensemble from Las Flores, California, won the middle-school string orchestra category.

—RORY WILLIAMS

The recent 11th annual Sphinx Competition in Detroit, Michigan, played host to some of the most gifted musicians of color, with violinist Clayton Penrose-Whitmore, 14, placing first in the Junior Division. The spotlight is nothing new to Penrose-Whitmore, who has performed in master classes for Leonidas Kavakos, Tai Murray, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Pinchas Zukerman, Pamela Frank, Rachel Barton-Pine, and Angella Ahn. Penrose-Whitmore made his orchestral solo debut at age nine with the Jacksonville (Illinois) Symphony Orchestra and has since given winning solo performances at Carnegie Hall and elsewhere. Along with home school and high school in Evanston, Illinois, he attends the Music Institute of Chicago Senior Academy, and is a member of the Chicago Youth Symphony. On his off time, he attended the Heifetz International Music Institute, Interlochen summer camp, and the Illinois Wesleyan University Chamber Music Camp.

Placing second was violinist Alexandra Alvarado Switala, 14, who was also the Junior Grand Prize winner in the 2008 Dallas Symphonic Festival and has been featured on National Public Radio’s From the Top. Her brother, Robert, was the 2007 Sphinx Junior Division champion. The two enjoy performing chamber music in their hometown of Grapevine, Texas. Placing third was violist Steven Laraia, 16, who after just six years has become a fixture in his hometown orchestras of Sewell, New Jersey.

—R.W.

• IN BRIEF •

ZHOU BET!: Margaret Zhou.

Cellist Margaret Zhou, 16, of Westview High School in Poway, California, took home $1,500 for first place at the La Jolla Symphony & Chorus’ 49th Young Artists Competition in La Jolla, California, on January 26. Zhou is principal cello in the Civic Youth Orchestra, and will perform Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1 with the La Jolla Symphony in December 2008.

MOVE OVER, GERSHWIN. A day after the New York Philharmonic’s historic performance in North Korea in February, an octet of Philharmonic and North Korean musicians performed 12-year-old Farah Taslima’s composition “Serenity Unleashed,” among other works.

WHAT’S ON YOUR BACK? Members of the Northfield High School Orchestra in Northfield, Minnesota, took a different approach to their ensemble T-shirts, which are emblazoned with “Save Darfur.” The ensemble raised about $1,100 in t-shirt sales to stop the genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan.