Music Scholarship Winners
Carlos Ozuna
Carlos he has been surrounded by music his entire life. His mom and sister are involved in the performing arts by dancing, and his dad is a working musician playing trumpet. When Carlos moved to Ventura and began going to Balboa Middle School in 2017 (he was in the 7th grade), that’s when he was introduced to playing the violin and the orchestra. Before he moved on to high school, he was awarded the “Director’s Award for Orchestra” in 2019 and was accepted into the string orchestra honors class his freshman year. At Buena High School, he was recognized with multiple “Outstanding Performer” awards and the “National School Orchestra” award his senior year in 2023.
Carlos then attended Ventura College and studied under Dr. Andrew Tholl and Dr. Ashley Walters for the past two years to achieve his AA for Transfer in music. During his time at Ventura College, he has had the immense pleasure of serving as the Symphonies and Chamber Orchestra’s concertmaster for the past three years. Carlos had many opportunities for solo works with the orchestra including his performance in a World premiere of a Violin Concerto written by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Wadada Leo Smith during a concert only on his music back in February. Carlos recently performed his last set of concerts with Ventura College at this years Schwab Academy including his performance of Mozart’s Fifth Violin Concerto as a finalist in this years Schwab Violin competition. He competed in the full concerto category and earned third place. On top of that, he had also gave chamber music performances and also performed in the Symphony Orchestras grand finale concert where they performed Mahler’s First Symphony!
He is now going to continue his violin journey at Cal State Northridge in the fall for his Bachelor’s in Violin Performance. Besides music, Carlos loves to spend time with his family by playing video games watching tv shows and loves hanging out with his friends on long car rides, hikes, and attending concerts.
Luis Javier Gonzalez
With an Uncle and Grandfather before him who played instruments, Luis feels called to continue the tradition of music in his family. He says his favorite type of music is Jazz, due to its relaxing and calming nature. Luis plays both the saxophone and the violin.
Luis has been taking private lessons for the saxophone through our program with musician Raul “Lito” Hernandez, who says he is “a driven young person and . . . an absolute joy to work with.” Below you can hear Luis’ first and final lessons with Mr. Hernandez. Luis is slated to receive more lessons through our program soon.
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