DOWNEY - Recent Warren High School graduate Emmanuel Rojas was one of three young people from Los Angeles County to be chosen for a 10-day jazz orchestra tour this summer.Rojas was selected for the Monterey Jazz Festival's Next Generation Jazz Orchestra, which uses the top high school orchestra members in the nation for a national tour. The tour kicks off June 30 in Cleveland with performances scheduled in Cleveland, Toronto, Montreal and New York. Rojas, 18, played bass trombone for Warren's Jazz I Ensemble and Wind Ensemble, and has been a member of the Los Angeles Youth Jazz Ensemble since 2007. He was selected to the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association Jazz All-Stars and Honor Jazz Ensembles, and has been a three-year member of the Hollywood Canteen Swing Band and Jr. Philharmonic Orchestra of California in Los Angeles. Rojas won the Judges Choice Award at the 2007 Play Days Festival in Monterey Park and, in 2008, he received Judges Recognition at the Esperanza, Irvine, Fullerton and Reno Jazz Festivals. He has also played at the Monterey and North Sea jazz festivals, the Kennedy Center and other venues. He will attend the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at Cal State Long Beach this fall.

********** Published: June 17, 2010 - Volume 9 - Issue 9