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Elena Yarritu is a DMA candidate at SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island.  Originally from San Jose, California, Yarritu has performed throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, in New York, and abroad in France, the Netherlands and in Eastern Europe.  She currently performs with the Stony Brook Baroque Ensemble under the direction of Arthur Haas.  In June, she will be a featured soloist at Merkin Hall performing Samuel Zyman's Flute Sonata with Ensemble Alma, a New York based chamber music group specializing in music of Latin America and Spain.  In November 2003, Ms. Yarritu gave her New York Recital Debut at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall as a recipient of a Special Presentation Award given by Artists International Presentations in New York City.  She has studied with Isabelle Chapuis Starr at San Jose State University in California, at Yale University with Ransom Wilson, in Paris with the Late Alain Marion, and currently studies with Ms. Carol Wincenc.

1st Runner-Up:

Naomi Seidman

Naomi Seidman has had a very successful spring of 2006.  In March, Ms. Seidman won first place in the Mid South Young Artist Competition.  She is also a semi-finalist in the upcoming Beijing Nicolet International Flute Competition which will take place in late April.  In 2005, Ms. Seidman won First Prize in the Frank Bowen Young Artist Competition; as the winner, she performed as a soloist with the Santa Fe Symphony in December 2005.  Ms. Siedman received her Bachelor of Music from the University of California at Santa Barbara, where she studied with Jill Felber, and her Master of Music degree from Yale University, where she studied with Ransom Wilson.  At Yale, she received the Lucy G. Moses Fellowship and participated in the Yale Philharmonia, the New Music New Haven Ensemble, and the NOW Ensemble.  In fall 2001, Ms. Seidman began her doctoral studies with Professor Gedigian in 2004, at the University of Texas at Austin, where she was awarded the prestigious Robert Freeman fellowship.