Coastal Concerts to award scholarships to Juliana Castillo and Gia Bautista March 17
Coastal Concerts announced that Juliana Castillo and Gia Bautista will each be awarded a $1,500 scholarship to further their music education. The presentation to these deserving young artists will be made during intermission at the Fandango performance set for 7 p.m., Saturday, March 17, at Bethel United Methodist Church, 4th and Market streets in Lewes.
The scholarships are among Coastal Concerts’ educational and community outreach programs as part of its mission to enhance the appreciation of classical music. Castillo and Bautista are recipients of the 29th and 30th scholarships awarded by Coastal Concerts, the total value of which has now reached $33,000.
Castillo, a 15-year-old Wilmington resident, studies viola under Shelley Beard Santore at the Music School of Delaware. She began playing violin at age 4, studying with Julianne Murphy Ruiz, and has been playing viola for two years. She is a member of the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra, a Music School of Delaware merit scholar, and violist of the Gail W. Snitzer String Quartet, an ensemble that is part of the Settlement Music School Advanced Study Program. As a member of this program, she receives full-scholarship chamber music coaching with Sidney Curtiss, former associate principal violist of the Philadelphia Orchestra.
Castillo was the co-concertmaster of the Delaware Youth Symphony Orchestra for its 2016-17 season. She has also served as a student assistant for the Music School of Delaware Youth Strings Camp for four years, and currently tutors students in violin and viola. She has been a guest performer for various religious and community organizations, such as the Rotary Club International, Adas Kodesch Shel Emeth Synagogue, the Church of the Nativity and the Pen Women’s Group. Most recently, she performed solo at the Howard Pyle Studios as part of the Wilmington First Fridays November 2017 Art Loop, and as a chamber musician for the Musical Fund Society of Philadelphia in early December 2017.
Bautista is a 16-year-old junior at Wicomico High School in Salisbury, Md. She began studying piano at the age of 8 with Lyubov Paskova-Anderson. She has been studying under Chad Bowles at the Peabody Preparatory since 2015. During summer 2017, Bautista participated in Peabody Piano Week, where she was a student of Marian Hahn. She has received honors in the Royal Conservatory’s Music Development Program, is a five-year winner of the National Piano Guild, and enjoys performing in community events like the Great Composers at Salisbury University, Polished Pianists, and Classics for a Cause concerts.
With support from many of its patrons, Coastal Concerts is able to competitively award as many as three $1,500 scholarships each year to help talented secondary school students continue their music education. For 2019, three scholarships will be available once again, with one earmarked for a Sussex County student thanks to a generous grant from Sussex County Council. One scholarship is endowed by the Dorothy and Elizabeth Scholarship Fund, which was created by a local couple in honor of their mothers’ love of music.
Tickets for the March 17 concert are $35. They are available by credit card online, or at the door via cash or check. Youngsters 18 and under with an accompanying adult are admitted free with advance reservation. For advance reservations, call 800-212-6458. Students 19 and above as well as active-duty and retired military personnel with valid ID are admitted at the reduced price of $10. For more information or to purchase tickets online, go to www.coastalconcerts.org.
