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MusicaNova Young Artists: Bobae Johnson and Morgan Beckstead

Violin virtuoso Bobae Johnson is a 15-year-old sophomore at Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee. She has been a member of the Phoenix Youth Symphony since 2011, where she has served as principal violinist and concertmaster. In the past year, Bobae won the ASTA state solo competition, was a finalist in the Phoenix Youth Symphony Young Musicians Competition, and was the strings winner of the AMEA All-State Solo & Ensemble competition, for which she received an invitation to perform at ASU's Gammage Auditorium at the All-State Festival. During the past two summers, she has studied at the Innsbrook Institute, the Bowdoin International Music Festival and Le Festival International du Domaine Forget, where she performed at masterclasses with Elizabeth Wallfisch, Patrice Fontanarosa and the Emerson String Quartet. Bobae is currently co-president of Melodic Minors, a charitable music outreach group. Bobae played in the MusicaNova's Young Artists series in the 2013-2014 season and is looking forward to returning in February 2015. She studies violin with Dr. Jonathan Swartz at Arizona State University.

Piano prodigy Morgan Beckstead, 9, is a fourth-grader at American Leadership Academy in Queen Creek, Arizona. Morgan began learning piano at the age of 4 and currently studies with MusicaNova Young Artists Coordinator Fei Xu. At the age of 7, Morgan placed first in the 2013 East Valley Music Teachers Association Piano Competition. At age 8, she performed her first solo piano concert at the American Leadership Academy Performing Arts Center in May 2014. When Morgan is not playing piano she loves playing table tennis with her two older brothers, swimming, watching movies and playing with her friends.