By Ana Carolina Morales
One of El Sistema Texas’ students, 8-year-old Avril Isabella Carrillo, won her first-ever music contest after participating in the prestigious Charleston Music Competition. The international event, which accepts submissions from 80 countries and has 34 judges, published the results on its website on February 3.
In December 2023, Carrillo played music in a Christmas recital in Houston, Texas, and played the piece titled Concerto A Minor 1st Movement by Antonio Vivaldi. In January, she submitted a video of her live performance to the contest.
Carrillo achieved third place in the 8-year-old category with the violin. Her bio is on the Charleston Music Competition webpage.
Avril plays this instrument in the Hispanic Children’s Symphony Orchestra of El Sistema Texas; she has been practicing professionally since 2021. She has achieved technical proficiency and mastered the rhythms and expression of complex plays.
Her mother, Rhomy López, an award-winning violinist, explained that Carrillo has listened to classical music from the womb. “I played in the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Venezuela throughout my pregnancy and stopped playing four days before she was born. When she was 2-years old, we gave her a violin to play with, and she nicknamed it Cholín. She knew how to place the violin, and the position of the bow was perfect.”
According to the Charleston Music Competition, Carrillo was born in Caracas on June 29, 2015, and emerged as a “violin prodigy, dazzling the musical world with a mastery that surpasses her young age.” With just one year of training, Avril already holds the title of concertmaster in the Hispanic Children’s Symphony Orchestra of Texas.
Besides the violin, Avril likes to sing and play the piano. Music is deep in her roots from a family of renowned musicians. “She enjoys the music from movies. When she plays, she tells me that feels something in her heart and gets goosebumps. That shows what she experiences as she plays her instrument,” expressed López.
At such a young age, Carrillo became a beacon of discipline and talent. This international recognition is promising for her future career in the music industry.
Watch Avril’s play that got her into the top 3 of the Charleston Musical Contest in the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RF8keuSR9I