Grace Jeon Is This Year's Dezamba Violin Recipient

In 2016, a special violin was handcrafted in Kingston by local luthier Alberto Garcia for John Dezamba, former violinist of the Kingston Symphony for over 40 years. This beautifully resonant instrument, engraved with flowers and leaves, is a joy to play. In 2022, John graciously donated this professional violin to the Kingston Youth Orchestra to be loaned to deserving violinists of the ensemble, and thus a new tradition was born. Congratulations to Kingston Youth Orchestra member Grace Jeon for being this year's recipient of the Dezamba violin!

Grace has just finished her first year with the Kingston Youth Orchestra after moving through their string training groups, Kingston A-Strings and Kingston Youth Strings, under the direction of Kingston Symphony violinist Danielle Lennon. Grace is also a proud graduate of Sistema Kingston and is the first Sistema member to play in the Kingston Youth Orchestra, showing the full potential of the partnership between Sistema Kingston and Kingston Youth Orchestra that began five years ago. Grace studies violin with Kingston Symphony violinist Andrew Dicker and will be entering Grade 8 at Module Vanier this September.

Congratulations Grace! We can't wait to hear you play this coming season.

To learn more about John Dezamba's violin, please watch the following video on the Kingston Symphony's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKtNM_3tc5o