Carrera performs on Show 429.

Carrera Stamile (mandolin), 16, hails from Roebuck, South Carolina. She has always been highly influenced by classical music. Carrera started playing violin at age 3 and continued for eight years. At 11, she switched to mandolin due to a medical issue irritated by bowing. Since then, she has studied with several teachers including Ted Lucktenberg, Caterina Lichtenberg (Artistworks.com), Alon Sariel (Arpeggiato.com), and most recently Jacob Reuven (Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance). Although she loves exploring multiple styles of music, Carrera loves Bach, and it is her goal to learn all of his Six Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin.

She has performed two solo concerts and participated in multiple ensemble groups in the pre-college music program of Converse University and at her church. Carrera was one of the first place winners in the online 2022 Charleston Baroque Music Competition. She was also an Honors Recital soloist in the summer 2022 Masterworks Festival. In September of 2022, she performed Domenico Gaudioso’s Mandolin Concerto with the Piedmont Chamber Orchestra, and in January 2023, she was awarded the opportunity to play this concerto again with Foothills Philharmonic Orchestra in the coming season as the winner of their Future Stars Scholarship Competition.

Carrera’s goal is to play classical mandolin professionally in the future. For the present, she posts music online via her YouTube channel Mandolin Princess. She is currently playing a mandolin built by Carlo Mazzaccara in Modena, Italy.

Receiving the Award will support Carrera’s studies by helping to cover the cost of private lessons and making it possible for her to attend a summer music program. The scholarship funds will also support the purchase of a high-quality mandolin that will carry Carrera through college and into the professional field.

Dexter performs on Show 430.

Dexter Doris (Violin), 18, hails from Hartsdale, New York. He studies violin with Dr. Ann Setzer through Juilliard Pre-College program. Dexter has enjoyed performing and exploring the art of music since the age of four. He has competed in numerous competitions in New York and throughout the United States. In 2017, Dexter became the New York State Junior String Winner of the NYSMTA Competition, and within the same year, he won the Louisiana Philharmonic Competition which led to his first orchestral debut playing Henri Vieuxtemps’s fourth violin concerto. During his first year at Juilliard Pre-College, Dexter won the Sound Symphony Competition in Long Island where he made his second orchestral debut playing Camille Saint-Saens’s third violin concerto. Later, he would go on to serve as associate principal and concertmaster of the Juilliard Pre-College Orchestra. Dexter was named a 2022 YoungArts winner and has also enjoyed performing in many masterclasses with esteemed artists such as Midori Goto, Ida Kavafian, and Lara St. John. He is the proud owner of a fine violin made by Stefan-Peter Greiner. Giving back is one of Dexter’s core beliefs, and he does so by giving performances as a part of the Back to BACH Project and the Show Me Your Heart Foundation. Outside of his musical pursuits, Dexter enjoys learning about ancient history and mythology.