The Symphony Association wishes to recognize students who have been active in music and music-related activities during their high school careers. The awards are based on participation in musical events and activities, particularly activities that support music education and music in the community.

All high school seniors who reside and/or attend school in Livermore, Pleasanton, Sunol, Dublin, or San Ramon, California, or who have actively participated as LAS musicians, are invited to apply for one of the $500 awards administered by the Symphony Association.

The awards include the John H. Green Memorial Award; the Bill King Memorial Award; and two Livermore-Amador Symphony Association Awards. One of the Association Awards is named in honor of past Music Director Arthur P. Barnes.

Applications for the 2025–2026 season awards are now available and may be downloaded as a Word document or as a pdf file. All applications must  be submitted by email by October 12, 2025. Winners will be announced the week of November 4, 2025. Profiles of the winners will included on this webpage and in the Symphony’s December concert program and newsletter. The Awards will be presented at the Symphony’s concert on the evening of December 6, 2025.

If you have questions or are unable to submit an application by email, please contact LAS Awards Committee Chair Nissa Nack at (925) 484-1942 or nissanack@comcast.net.

 
The 2024–25 Season Award Winners
(main text is from December 2024)
 
Symphony Association Award
One of two awards established by the Livermore-Amador Symphony Association.
 

This LAS Association Award goes to Neha Varughese. She sings and plays violin, cello, and piano. And she has a passion for dance. In the Dublin High School orchestra, Neha has been a violin section leader since ninth grade. Her duties have included everything from leading sectional rehearsals to tutoring individual students to tuning instruments. She had a major role in the musical Stitched, and she is the current philharmonic orchestra president. Neha sings in and provides piano accompaniment for the choir at her church. She still helps with the Cottonwood Creek Music Association, which she founded during middle school there. She has worked to promote diversity in music education and is especially interested in benefiting Dublin students who do not have the resources to pay for private music or dance lessons. Neha plans to major in biomedical engineering and in public health in college. She hopes to attend medical school and provide better healthcare to underserved communities around the world, using innovative medical technology to improve the quality of life for patients and to make medical procedures more efficient.
 

Arthur P. Barnes Award
This Livermore-Amador Symphony Association Award is named in honor of
past Music Director Arthur P. Barnes.
 

Pranati Tejomurtula, a San Ramon resident who attends Dougherty Valley High School, receives the Arthur P. Barnes Award. Pranati has studied classical Carnatic singing, which she now studies at the Vidya Subramanian Academy, since she was in first grade. As a flute player, she has been a member of both the band and jazz club at Dougherty Valley throughout high school. She’s played in school wind ensembles and the Tri-Valley Youth Music Ensemble, and she is the librarian on the band council and president of jazz club. One of the jazz club activities is playing at “Destress” events hosted by the DVHS Wellness Center. Since seventh grade, she has played in the Flock of Flutes ensemble conducted by her teacher, Monica Williams. Throughout high school, Pranati also has competed and participated in the WorldStrides Honors Performance Series. She has performed at Carnegie Hall and at London’s Royal Festival Hall with the Honors Symphony Orchestra, and in the summer of 2025, she will perform with the Honors Band at the Sydney Opera House. After high school, Pranati plans to continue playing the flute while studying materials engineering in college.
 

John H. Green Memorial Award
Established by Tot and John W. Green in memory of their son, John H. Green;
he played horn, attended Granada High School,
and received a Symphony Association Award.
 

The John H. Green Memorial Award goes to Hedrianna Caitlin Macias, a Livermore High School student. She has played violin in the LHS string orchestra since ninth grade and has been the orchestra’s concertmaster since her junior year. The orchestra won gold awards at both the 2022 and 2024 Anaheim Heritage Festivals. As a senior, Hedrianna is also a chamber orchestra member. In tenth and eleventh grades, she was in the ensembles for LHS productions of Something Rotten and Mamma Mia! She has played violin at the LHS 2024 graduation and also at several LHS fundraising concerts. Throughout high school, Hedrianna has performed at recitals as a student of Karen Paik, and she has been a member of LASYO, our LAS Youth Orchestra, which rehearses and performs in summer. In addition, Hedrianna sings and plays piano and guitar. From ninth to eleventh grade, for example, she sang in a choir at St. Michael Catholic Church and at fundraisers for the Livermore Filipino-American Organization. Hedrianna intends to become an optometrist after attending college as a pre-med student majoring in biology.
 

Bill King Memorial Award
Established by Jean and Walter King in memory of their son, Bill;
he loved music and played cello and trombone
at Jackson and East Avenue Middle Schools.
 

The Bill King Memorial Award this year is presented to Livermore High School student Evan Paradise, a singer and pianist. At LHS, Evan has been a singer in the honors chamber choir and developing tenor/bass choir, a tutor in the developing treble choir, and Leaf Coneybear in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In the school district’s Solo and Ensemble Festival, they have performed as a solo vocalist and pianist. An aspiring composer, Evan has written a piece to be premiered by an LHS choir in the spring of 2025. Through the Octavo Series Chorus, Evan has performed as a chorus member and featured singer in Carnegie Hall and will return there in June to sing with the San José State University Choraliers. He has been an actor and pit musician in several Christian Youth Theater Tri-Valley musicals, including Matilda and Mary Poppins. They also volunteer as a tutor with the Junction Middle School choir and sing in Valley Concert Chorale and the faith choir at Asbury Methodist Church. Evan plans to major in music education at college and then become a high school choir teacher.