Past Winners

Second Annual ACS Carol Competition: Amana Abdurrezak

Amana is a 9-year-old student at John Adams Elementary School. Amana, now in the fourth grade, has attended John Adams since Kindergarten. At the age of one, Amana and her family immigrated to the United States from Eritrea, a country in Northern East Africa. Amana is active in her school’s talented and gifted program. A member of the Orff Ensemble since September 2005, she meets with the ensemble everyday before school for one hour to work on music and practice. Amana’s poem, Winter, was written for her language arts class, and she later set it to music for this competition. She uses traditional Orff instruments for her accompaniment, the glockenspiel and xylophone. Not only does Amana play the xylophone, glockenspiel and drums, she is also a member of the chorus. Amana enjoys watching football, playing tennis and basketball. She lives in Alexandria with her parents, two brothers and one sister.

To learn more about Orff, visit The American Orff Schulwerk Association at www.aosa2.org.

First Annual ACS Carol Competition: Ari Cukierman

Ari is a 16 year old student residing in McLean, Virginia. He attends Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology where he sings in the choir. He plays piano, guitar, and played violin. In addition to writing songs for his rock band, The Jolly Rogers, Ari also composes for orchestra, chorus, and piano.

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