Tuesday Student Takeover

Guitarist Broderick Nakasone graduated from ʻIolani School this past Spring, and will be attending the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston. Nakasone encourages music students to play the music they love. Hear Nakasone at Noel Okimotoʻs Ohana Jazz on July 31. @ohanajazzhawaii

Hawaiʻi Baptist Academy seniors Sage Shiroma and Tobias Watanabe celebrate National College Decision Day on Classical Pacific, sharing their experiences as violinists in the Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony. Shiroma and Watanabe both donʻt plan on majoring in Music in their colleges, but plan on finding their own path in continuing to make music a part of their lives.

Roosevelt High School percussionist Camden Funai grew up playing the ʻukulele and attending Royal Hawaiian Band performances. Entering the 10th grade in the Fall, Funai is a busy musician, performing with Rooseveltʻs Marching Band, Symphonic Band, and Symphony Orchestra as well as the YSI orchestra and Jazz Ensemble II of the Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony. Funaiʻs Summer Vacation has been filled with Marching Band practice and the Pacific Music Festival, performing with Wind Ensemble and Jazz I.

The winners of Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestraʻs 2025 Na Hōkū ʻŌpio Music Competition, Iris Yun, harp and Lei Yao Chang, cello share their Tuesday Student Takeover. The ʻIolani graduates were both cellists and featured soloists in ʻIolani Schoolʻs Orchestra 5. They will share the stage again next week with the Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra as Yun performs Gliereʻs Harp Concerto in E-flat Major, mvt I & Chang performs Dvorakʻs Cello Concerto in B minor, mvt. I. https://www.myhso.org

Mani Kovacich is a percussionist and a jazz drummer. The Kalani High School Junior studies Brazilian drumming, plays in the both YSI and Jazz I in the Hawaiʻi Youth Symphony Orchestra organization, and finds the balance easily because he prioritizes learning and improving. This summer, we can hear Kovacich at jazz jam sessions with Noel Okimotoʻs Ohana Jazz, or reading the Hawai`i Public Radio call letters when heʻs helping at HPR2.@ohanajazz

Vocalist Solomon Shumate just completed his Junior year at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Shumate joined Tuesday Student Takeover during his first year of conservatory in 2023. Back home in Kamuela for the summer, Solomon Shumate has enjoyed college life, full of learning and performing.

Recent University Laboratory School graduate Eli Wolf will spend his summer playing guitar before heading to Reed College this fall. He credits his dedicated teachers, friends and his mother for their support. Catch Wolfe live this summer at ʻŌhana Jazz and the Pacific Music Institute.

During Spring Break, the award-winning Honokaʻa Jazz Band performed at the Kahilu Theatre in Waimea before heading to Oʻahu. Band director Gary Washburn and his students join Classical Pacific host Sharene Taba for a closer look at the dedicated musicians behind this Grammy Signature School program.

Seabury Hall pianist Cassie Goldyn and her sister Bobby started a nonprofit: a tuition-free choir on Maui that performs for kūpuna, brightening their day with the sharing of music. Inspired by visits with her grandmother, Cassie — who has been playing the piano since age 4 — has found a way to turn her hard work and joy into others' happiness.

Virtuoso violinist Yxing Guo of Honolulu graduated last week from the Colburn Music Academy, where she attended the pre-college program during her junior and senior years of high school. This fall, she will return to attend the Colburn Conservatory of Music. Hear from this From the Top alum on this edition of Tuesday Student Takeover.