Violinist Jenna Son, 16, is a junior at Davis Senior High School and a Pre-College student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music under the instruction of Nancy Zhou. Jenna started violin lessons at the age of six with Heather Powell and continued her studies with Dr. Christine Choi and Elbert Tsai respectively. Jenna is currently a violinist of the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra, DHS Symphony Orchestra, and Quartet Soleil at the Young Chamber Musicians.
In 2024, Jenna made her orchestral debut with the Solano Symphony Orchestra after winning first place in their Young Artist Competition String Division. Later, Jenna won the Davis Senior High Concerto Competition and appeared as a featured soloist with the DHS Symphony Orchestra at Jackson Hall of the Mondavi Center and Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage of Carnegie Hall. Most recently, Jenna soloed with the Auburn Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Ryan Murray as the Grand Prize winner of their young artist competition.
Jenna won numerous competitions including 1st place in the Korean-American Music Supporters’ Association (KAMSA) Competition Violin Senior Division, 1st place in the Diablo Valley College (DVC) Young Artist String Competition Violin Junior Division, 1st place in the CalASTA Sacramento Solo Competition Junior Division and Novice Division, and 1st place in the CAPMT Go for the Gold music competitions String Division, 1st place in the Great Composers Competition Series Best Bach Performance, and Honorable Mention in the Sejong Music Competition Violin Senior Division.
An avid chamber musician, Jenna plays violin in various piano trios, string quartets, and piano quintets. Her Borealis Trio received the SFCM Pre-College Chamber Music Award in 2024, and YCM’s Quartet Soleil advanced in Music Teachers’ Association of California VOCE Competition (Senior Instrumental Ensembles Division) statewide finals in 2025. As an orchestral violinist, Jenna has served as concertmaster and violinist in the Sacramento Youth Symphony (2016-2022), Davis All-City Elementary Orchestra (2019-2020), Holmes Junior High Intermediate & Advanced Orchestra (2020-2023), Davis High School Symphony Orchestra (2023-present), California All State Junior High String Orchestra (2022), All-State High School Symphony Orchestra (2023, 2024, 2025), and San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (2022-present).
Besides violin, Jenna started playing piano at age three with Melody Bober’s Grand Solos for Piano Book 1 and began piano lessons at age four with I-Hui Chen. Jenna continued lessons with Akiko Gaffney and received the MTAC Certificate of Merit Advanced Level (CM Level 10) with State Honor and top prizes in the Classical Masters Music Competition, JPTAG Piano Competition, CAPMT Go for the Gold Music Competition, and CAPMT Honors Competition. Jenna performed unaccompanied works by Johann Sebastian Bach at the Junior Bach Festival in Berkeley on both violin and piano in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. Jenna also loves to share her musical experiences with young students and patients in the local community through Lifting Spirits with Music, the DHS Strings Tutoring Program, the DHS Piano Tutoring Program, and the Back to Bach Project Davis, CA Region where she serves as Co-Regional Director. During her time at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Pre-College, Jenna completed three projects for the SFCM High School Certificate Program with Performance (2023), Scholar (2024), and Performance (2025) in addition to the core requirements of the Pre-College curriculum. Jenna’s violin solo recital at the Cha Chi Ming Recital Hall at SFCM Bowes Center was live streamed in April 2025.
In past summers, Jenna participated in the Heifetz International Music Institute, Mellon Music Festival, and Online Solo Strings Intensive where she had private lessons with Arnaud Sussmann and played in a masterclass for Augustin Hadelich. In the summer of 2025, Jenna will be performing at Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage of Carnegie Hall and the Edinburgh International Festival in Scotland, UK as part of Carnegie Hall’s NYO2.
