Now in its second year, the Lisa Bruna B-Major award is a county-wide competition in which Palm Beach Symphony awards one to three high school seniors in Palm Beach County with an advanced level instrument. Each student recipient works closely with Palm Beach Symphony to identify, test, and select the ideal instrument.

Lisa Bruna B-Major Award Winner

This year, our Lisa Bruna B-Major Award Winner is Abigail McNutt, a strings student at the Alexander W. Dreyfoos Highschool for the Arts.

The busy honor student holds a 4.2 GPA and serves as her school’s Black Student Union Secretary and String Department Vice President. She’s also a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra, among countless other accomplishments. For the past decade, Abby has participated in masterclasses and has gained valuable orchestral and chamber experience while playing with and learning from numerous noted musicians.

Abby was awarded an Ernst H. Roth 1957 violin thanks to the amazing support of patrons like you.

First Runner Up

Our first runner up was Samuel Soliz, a senior saxophone student at Lake Worth Community High School.

Sam spends his time after school performing with the Symphonic Band of Palm Beaches and participates in the Jazz on J Street jam sessions held in Lake Worth. He volunteers at Lake Worth middle and elementary schools to teach lessons and masterclasses to band students. Sam is also #16 out of 567 students in his senior class. He will be graduating with 31 college credits and a college GPA of a 3.8 from taking dual enrollment classes while in high school.

Sam was awarded a Yanagisawa Alto Saxophone and will be auditioning for Florida State University and University of Central Florida's music programs to pursue a degree in Music Education.