Senior Division Finalist

Coming from a family of musicians, Elizabeth Milan has been playing the violin since 3 years old and piano since the age of 4. Over the course of 10 years, she played in various youth orchestras including the Tampa Metropolitan Youth Orchestra and the Pinellas Youth Symphony, where she held the position of Concertmaster in 2021. In 2022, she performed the first movement “Allegro molto appassionato” from the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with the Pinellas Youth Symphony. Continuing her parents’ legacy, Elizabeth now attends Florida State University’s College of Music as a violin performance major, where she studies under Dr. Benjamin Sung. Elizabeth recently premiered Natalia Rojcovscaia-Tumaha’s “The Great Fantastic Ball” for violin and piano and plans to perform more new music in the years to come.

Isabela Diaz is a 19-year-old violinist who lives in Miami, Florida, and has been studying the violin since she was six. For the past few years, she has been studying alongside Jose Guibert and Huifang Chen. She has participated in community orchestras such as the Greater Miami Youth Symphony and the Juilliard Orchestra, giving her the opportunity to play under the direction of renowned music directors such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Michael Tilson Thomas, Robert Spano, Carlos Miguel Prieto, Maximiliano Valdes, Stephane Deneve, James Judd and Gerard Schwartz, among others. Isabela has been awarded prizes for competitions such as the MMTA Concerto Competition, the Charleston International Concerto Competition, and the FSMTA State Violin Competition. She has played as a soloist with orchestras such as the Alhambra Orchestra, the NWSA Symphony orchestra and the Stamps quartet. She has also had the opportunity to work with violinists such as Itzhak Perlman, Hillary Hahn, Ida Kavafian, Robert Chen, Kerson Leong, Rachel Barton Pine, Roland Daugareil, Lara St. John, Alexander Kerr and Robert McDuffie. From 2017 to 2022, she was selected to participate in the Florida All-State Honors Orchestra, being appointed concertmaster in 2022. In 2019, she participated in the New World Symphony Side by Side and in 2021 as concertmaster. Isabela has had the pleasure of attending music festivals such as the Sphinx Performance Academy at the Curtis Institute of Music, the National Youth Orchestra (NYO2), the Aspen Music Festival, Domaine Forget de Charlevoix and the MusicAlp Academie. She has also been granted scholarships such as the Jerome L. Greene, Irene Muir Grant, the Katcher Family Scholarship and the Coral Gables Music Club Scholarship. Isabela is currently pursuing her Bachelors in Violin Performance at the Juilliard School under the guidance of Ronald Copes.

Isabelle Scott is a first year doctoral student in harp at Florida State University where she studies with Dr. Noel Wan. Ms. Scott holds a BM in instrumental performance and a MM in harp performance from the University of Miami and Florida State University. A native Floridian, Ms. Scott has been an active harpist throughout Northeast Florida and South Georgia. As an orchestral harpist, she served during high school as harpist with the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra and Jacksonville University Orchestra and more recently has been a substitute harpist for the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra and the Coastal Symphony Orchestra. She has also served in university orchestras and ensembles at University of Miami and FSU and as harpist for the First Coast Opera, and was a featured soloist with FSU’s University Philharmonia Orchestra. Ms. Scott has participated in summer programs at the Young Artists Harp Seminar, Brevard Music Center, and Bowdoin International Music Festival. Her current pursuits and interests as a doctoral student lie in opera orchestra as well as pediatric cancer advocacy and outreach.

Khalil Payne is a current Junior at the University of North Florida. Starting his journey on cello at the age of eleven, he played in the Honor Orchestra through his middle school years. In February of 2019 he made his first performance at the prestigious Carnegie hall with the Honors Performance Series Symphony orchestra. In 2020 Just right before covid, Khalil made his debut on television at the age of 16 for his second upcoming performance at Carnegie hall. He was interviewed on the shows Sister Circle, Atlanta and Company, and Fox 5 news. That summer he participated in the YOLA National Festival (Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles) and he was accepted into their National Institute where they talk about the culture of not only classical music, but all genres, and make discussions or panels based off of our topics we would want to cover or debate about. Khalil did his first residency with the YNI (YOLA National Institute) in the summer of 2021 at the Walnut Hill School of the Arts, which later led to his first National Symposium that he would be a part of. He was on a Youth Panel with YNI talking about the possible future with classical music. In April of that year he won 3rd prize of the District Omega Psi Phi Talent Hunt which consisted of contestants from Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama. In the summer of 2022, Khalil attended and performed in YNF (YOLA National Festival) and competed in the National NAACP ACT-SO competition. Just after his freshman year of College, he also participated in the Ascent Cello Festival which had guest teachers Hans Jensen and Richard Aaron, and the Ascent Chamber Music Festival. The following year, he entered the UNF Orchestra Concerto Competition and became one out of two winners who later performed as a soloist with the UNF Orchestra. That year he has earned the Outstanding Musician Award, and that summer he Attended the Ascent Cello and Chamber Music Festival, along with The Complete Cellist, all taking place in Cincinatti, and Hudson Ohio.

Soprano Madalyn Tomkins is currently pursuing her Master of Music in Vocal Performance at the University of Houston Moores School of Music under the tutelage of Melanie Sonnenberg. She joins the Moores Opera Center for her second season where she was featured as Alma March in Adamo’s Little Women and will cover internationally renowned soprano Christine Goerke as Princess Turandot in a concert performance of Puccini’s Turandot. During her 2023-2024 season, she performed the role of Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Additionally, Ms. Tomkins received the Honorable Mention in the 2023 Moores School of Music Concerto Competition and was a Finalist in the 2024 Grand Concours Vocal Competition.

She received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Webster University where she performed in select opera scenes as Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, Suor Angelica in Suor Angelica, and won first prize in the Webster University Department of Music annual Concerto Competition (2022).

Caroline Dratnal, 20, is a sophomore in Dr. Roberta Rust’s piano studio at the Lynn Conservatory of Music. A native of Calgary, Canada, she is a graduate of the acclaimed Young Artist Academy at the MRU Conservatory, where she received many diverse musical influences. Caroline has successfully participated in numerous competitions, advancing to the Provincial and National levels in the Calgary Performing Arts Festival, Canadian Music Competition, Canadian Contemporary Showcase, most notably winning the 2020 Calgary Concerto Competition and making her orchestral debut with the Calgary Civic Symphony in 2022.During her freshman year at Lynn, Caroline was named a runner-up in two FSMTA competitions – Gray Perry Collegiate for solo piano, and Byrd Memorial for piano duet.

From Uniondale, New York, first-generation Filipino-American Jay Julio (25) began studying music formally at the age of 14; since then, Jay has been recognized in national competitions held by the National Federation of Music Clubs, the Music Teachers National Association, and the YoungArts Foundation. Festival appearances include the Thy, Pacific, Spoleto, and Aspen Music Festivals (the latter as a New Horizons Fellow), as well as the New York String Orchestra Seminar and Music Academy of the West. Jay is grateful for crucial support in recent years from the Virtu Foundation, the American Viola Society, the FilAm Music Foundation, and the WeInspire Foundation, which named Jay a WeInspire Ambassador for justice work in 2021. Jay was a full-scholarship student at the Manhattan School of Music (BM) and the Juilliard School (MM), studying with Karen Ritscher, Misha Amory, Matthew Lipman, and Heidi Castleman, and has recently joined the Opera Philadelphia Orchestra as their Assistant Principal Viola.

Jordan McCready (21) is currently a Senior Voice and Psychology major at Drake University studying under Leanne Freeman-Miller. She participates in several programs including the Drake Chamber choir and Mixed choir, Drake Opera and Opera Scenes Program. Most recently she has participated in the Summer SongFest program dedicated to the study and cultivation of art song, and in the upcoming spring you will find her performing as Hansel in Drake Universities production of Hansel and Gretel. After graduation Jordan plans to attend a graduate program and work for her masters in Voice Performance. In addition to her musical endeavors Jordan is very passionate about the outdoors and conservation. She enjoys many activities such as backcountry skiing, nordic skiing, hiking, climbing, and mountaineering.

Owen Nichols (24) is a saxophonist and educator from Succasunna, New Jersey. Comfortable in solo, chamber, and large ensemble settings, he brings diverse and varied experience to every performance. Recent engagements include performances at regional and national conferences, and locally with the Tallahassee Civic Chorus pianist Rachel Bennett. Dedicated to teaching, Owen also maintains a private studio and has presented clinics in states all along the east coast. Owen is a student of Dr. Geoffrey Deibel at Florida State University, and holds undergraduate degrees from the Hartt School where he studied with Profs. Carrie Koffman and Rob Wilkerson.

MICHAEL ISAAC RIPPLE is the Co-Artistic Director and Chief Operating Officer of The Horizon Series, a chamber music series in Washington, D.C. and summer festival in Erie, Pa. He is an in-demand teacher and chamber musician throughout the Mid South region, currently based in Memphis, TN. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music where he pursued his undergraduate degree in oboe performance as a student of Mr. Frank Rosenwein. He is also a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, as a student of Mr. Daniel Stolper. He was the founding oboist of Catharsis Winds, an international and national award winning wind quintet based in Cleveland, Ohio. He is currently pursuing his Masters in oboe performance as the student of Dr. Michelle Vigneau at the University of Memphis Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music. At the University of Memphis, he holds the oboe seat in the Pyramid Winds Graduate Woodwind Quintet.

Anne Elise Teeling is a charming, captivating, and creative coloratura soprano based in Tallahassee, Florida. She studies voice under David Okerlund at Florida State University. Frequenting the stage, she has appeared in featured roles with Opera in the Ozarks, the FSU Opera Department, Northwestern Opera Theatre, and Chicago Summer Opera. Most recently, she appeared as Eurydice in Opera in the Ozark’s production of Orphée aux enfers. Previous credits include Stella in Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire and Barbarina in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with the FSU Opera Department, the title role in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with Chicago Summer Opera and Flora in Britten’s Turn of the Screw with Northwestern Opera Theater. Well suited to the concert stage, she recently appeared as the soprano soloist for the Tallahassee Community Chorus’ performances of Carmina Burana and Mozart’s Coronation Mass. Equally comfortable with chamber work, she has performed in multiple concerts – most notably appearing in performance with FSU’s Collegium Musicum as the soprano soloist in Bach’s Coffee Cantata. Anne Elise is originally from Des Moines, Iowa.

Cellist Lillian Yim (20) is a versatile musician striving to instill a love for music to her audiences through various performances as soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician.  Lillian made her debut as soloist at the age of 17 where she performed with the Farmington Valley Symphony Orchestra (FVSO) as the winner of the Hartford Music Teachers Alliance Concerto Competition. This spring, Lillian is looking forward to playing Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variation with the Nutmeg Symphony Orchestra as the winner of their concerto competition. Lillian is an avid orchestral and chamber musician, and served as principal and assistant principal cellist of the New England Conservatory Philharmonia and the Tanglewood Young Artists Orchestra. She was also selected for the New York String Orchestra Seminar and performed in Carnegie Hall. While at NEC, Lillian’s quartet was honored to perform the entire Beethoven String Quartet Op. 74, No. 10 in Jordan Hall at NEC as part of the Borromeo String Quartet’s Beethoven Quartet Seminar. Lillian studies at the New England Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of Yeesun Kim as a recipient of the Cornelia Lombard Scholarship, a named award at NEC, and the Dean’s Scholarship.