Raven Dow-Hygelund, 18, is a high school senior in Eugene, Oregon. This spring, she was awarded the Sher Distinguished Musician Scholarship at the University of Colorado, Boulder where she will commence a double major in classical guitar performance and physics this fall. Raven has performed in numerous master classes with world renowned guitarists, and has won scholarship, solo, and concerto competitions throughout the state of Oregon. At age 15 she performed the 2nd movement of the Villa Lobos guitar concerto, Andantino e Andante/Cadenza as a concert soloist with the YMA Orchestra. Raven is equally gifted in flamenco guitar and has performed in concert with “Flamenco Pacifico” as well as being selected to perform flamenco comping in the Virtual Guitar Orchestra’s World Premiere of “Relampiños”. In 2019, Raven started her own guitar studio where she teaches middle school students classical guitar and an endearing love of music.

Owen Kareken, 18, is a guitarist from Minneapolis, Minnesota. He’s been playing guitar since he was 5 and has participated in a variety of performances, master classes, and competitions. In 2016, he and his guitar quartet toured Italy with their music school, MacPhail. More recently, he twice won the Peter Jackson Scholarship at his guitar school and played at MacPhail’s Music Matter’s Fundraiser.

Peter Lin, 16, is a junior at International Academy East in Troy, Michigan. He has played the guitar since 5th grade and enjoys both classical and jazz guitar styles. He is currently studying under Steve Dearing.

Mira Morales, 17, has been playing guitar and piano for 12 years now. She loves movies, playing soccer, and learning about medicine. She participated in the Parkening International Guitar Competition in 2019 and studies with Robert Miller at the California Conservatory of Music. She hopes to continue learning about and performing  music well into her future.

Nikhil Morales, 15, is a freshman at Los Altos High School. He has been playing guitar since a young age and has been taught by Mr. Robert Miller for the last ten years at the California Conservatory of Music. He enjoys playing soccer, piano, and spending time with his sisters.

Nicolas Pena, 18, is a senior at Coronado High School in Las Vegas, Nevada. He began playing guitar in his freshman year of high school, along with percussion, where he has played in the Las Vegas Young Artist Orchestra as a percussionist. Nicolas is currently studying under Mel Hallam privately, in addition to Dr. Jeremy Harting of Coronado HS. He will continue guitar studies next school year in the Classical Guitar program at USC.

Micha Rand, 17, attends Harvard-Westlake school and has been playing classical guitar for nine years. He studies with his teacher Eric Pratt in Santa Monica, California. He received first place in the 2020 University of Louisville Classical Guitar Festival youth competition and second place at the 2021 Rhode Island Guitar Guild youth competition. Other teachers he has studied with include Scott Tennant and Andrew York. In addition to classical guitar, Micha enjoys composing music and developing games.

Jiasheng Shi, 16, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is currently a sophomore at Germantown Friends School. He began classical guitar at age eight and is currently studying with Brendan Evans. Jiasheng has played in several public masterclasses and was a finalist for the 2020 Philadelphia Guitar Society Competition. He is also a pianist, and studies with Sandrine Erdely-Sayo. Jiasheng runs for his school’s Cross Country, Track & Field team and enjoys swimming, sailing, and hiking with family.

Nick Sortisio, 18, is a 12th grader at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, located in his hometown of Durham, North Carolina. Nick began studying the guitar at age 4 under Billy Switzer, and currently studies under Adam Holzman. In addition to numerous concerts and recitals, Nick has played in several public master classes, and won his school’s concerto competition with his performance of Ponce’s Concierto del Sur. In addition to guitar, Nick is a trained classical cellist, and he enjoys economics, mathematics, and linguistics.

Owen Wang,15, is from Edison, New Jersey. Owen started learning guitar when he was five with Galina Jitlina in Canada. In 2020, he was selected as part of the Guitar Foundation of America Mentorship Program and had the opportunity to study with Denis Azabagic. Owen is the 1st prize winner of the 2021 Latino Arts Strings Program Youth Competition, advanced group; and 2nd prize winner of the 2021 Philadelphia Classical Guitar Competition National Competition, Junior Division. Owen is currently a classical guitar teacher at the Edison local Chinese school. During quarantine Owen and his sister also created four segments for the GFAtv youtube channel. His dream is to become a skilled, professional guitarist.