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.