Six young musicians took home thousands of dollars in scholarships after competing in the annual music contest organized by the Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation, April 28 at Music Academy of the West in Montecito.

Eleven finalists performed at the event, and a professional panel of judges selected first and second place winners in the adult instrumentalist, junior instrumentalist and vocalist categories. Awards ranged from $500 to $6,000, totaling $26,000 overall.

This year’s vocal division winner was Ava Kimmel, 22, a soprano and junior at Westmont College. Second prize went to Xeni Tziouvaras, 29, a mezzo-soprano and freelance vocalist embarking on an international opera career after graduating from the Manhattan School of Music.

The 2024 adult instrumentalist winner was Tiffany Yin, 23, a pianist and recent graduate of UCSB’s Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance program. She will begin a Master of Music in Piano Performance at UCSB in the fall.

Second prize in the adult instrumentalist division went to Cam Audras, 25, a violist and recent graduate of the Master of Music in Viola Performance program at UCSB. Audras is a freelance violist and principal violist for several area orchestras and ensembles.

Henry Woodruff, 16, won first prize in the junior instrumentalist category. He is a violist and student at the Colburn Music Academy in Los Angeles. In second place was Joey Malvinni, 16, a classical guitarist and a junior at Dos Pueblos High School.

Honorable mentions were earned by performers tenor Lorenzo Johnson, Jr., 27; pianist Noelle Hadsall, 15; pianist Leon Guo, 15; pianist Jiyoo Kim-Jung, 15; and pianist Matvey Ioffe, 15.

The Performing Arts Scholarship Foundation is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to support students of the performing arts in the Santa Barbara community. For more about PASF, visit pasfsb.org.