About our Soloists:

Brothers Josh and Steve Corona are students at Southwest High School.

Josh Corona started playing the bass in 8^th grade under the direction of Carolyn Sechrist. He has performed with the SCSBOA Honor Orchestra, the North County Coalition for the Arts pit orchestra and various other musical ensembles. Currently, he performs as a member of the Southwest High School Chamber Orchestra, as the principal bass of the Imperial Valley Symphony, and as the bassist in the Amadeus Quintet. He is quite versatile, playing all of the orchestral strings. This summer he will be attending the prestigious Boston University Tanglewood Institute. In the future he wishes to study music performance on the bass and hopes to one day play for a major symphony orchestra.

Steve Corona first knew he wanted to be a musician when he saw the Disney Honor Orchestra on television. His opportunity came in 5^th grade when Carolyn Sechrist went to Desert Gardens Elementary School to recruit musicians for the El Centro Elementary String Program. Originally he signed up for violin, but because of a shortage of violists, Mrs. Sechrist called his home to ask if he would consider switching to the viola. There was no hesitation. All he wanted was to be a member of the orchestra! His freshman year he auditioned for the Southwest High School Chamber Orchestra. He was the only freshman violist. Since his sophomore year he has been the principal violist of that orchestra. Earlier this year he performed with the SCSBOA Honor Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Toskiyuki Shimada, the director of the Yale Symphony Orchestra. Currently he is the principal violist of the Imperial Valley Symphony, having played in the orchestra for three seasons. He also performs in the Amadeus Quintet which provides musical entertainment for weddings, banquets, and other events. His plans for the future are to get a bachelors degree in music education and a masters degree in performance, and to keep music alive for the future.