Cameron Lugo – Winner 2011 Young Artist Maters Event.

Cameron Lugo, a 14-year-old violinist from Jonesborough, Tennessee, began playing the violin at the age of 9 under the instruction of Timothy Barrett at the Academy of Strings in Johnson City, Tennessee.  He has recently begun studying with Dr. Thomas Joiner, Professor of Violin and Orchestral Studies at Furman University.  He currently serves as concertmaster for the Symphony of the Mountains Youth Orchestra.  Cameron made his concerto debut this past year performing the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor with the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra at the historic Tennessee Theatre.  He was invited to perform in both the 2010 and 2011 Appalachian Classical Music Association (ACMA) Regional Honors Orchestras, serving as co-concertmaster and featured concerto soloist in 2011.  Cameron frequently performs in various concerts throughout the Northeast Tennessee region and regularly plays as a chamber musician for weddings and other events.

Cameron has been named a winner in several competitions including the 2010 Knoxville Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, the 2010 ACMA Concerto Competition, and most recently, he won first place in the 2011 ACMA Young Artist Masters Event.  He has been named Outstanding Violin Soloist in the ACMA Sonata Festival for three consecutive years and he was first violinist in a string quartet that won the Outstanding Ensemble Award in 2011.  Currently, he is representing the state of South Carolina at the 2012 Music Teachers National Association Southern Division Competition, competing against the winners of nine southern states. In 2009, he was awarded First Place at the Bristol Music Club Scholarship Auditions.  In the summer of 2010, Cameron spent a week of intensive study of chamber music with the members of the Fry Street Quartet including violinist William Fedkenheuer.  For the past two years, Cameron has participated in the University of Tennessee Violin Festival and was selected by audition to perform in master classes taught by Dr. Miroslav Hristov and Professor Oleh Krysa of the Eastman School of Music.  He has also performed in master classes for Terry Durbin and Linda Fiore.  Also a pianist and composer, Cameron studies with Ivy Blair (piano) and Robert Jeter (composition and piano) and has written several award-winning compositions.  In 2011, his string quartet composition won first-place in the National Federation of Music Clubs Junior Composers Contest.  In the same year, he won first place for a piece written for choir and orchestra in the International Pikes Peak Young Composers Competition.