City Council recognizes Sonoma cellist

At just 17, cellist Maya Harris already has caught the eye, and ear, of music aficionados.

The Sonoma resident recently was awarded one of the city’s highest honors for up-and-coming artists: the Sonoma Cultural and Fine Arts Commission’s 2014 Student Creative Arts Award. Harris was recognized for her achievement Monday by the City Council.

The award, open to Sonoma Valley residents between the ages of 16 and 21 “who demonstrate unusual promise in the visual, literary or performing arts,” comes with a $2,000 boost to encourage Harris along in her work on the cello.

“Maya joins an illustrious list of former CFAC Student Creative Arts Award winners,” said commission chair Lisa Carlsson. Past recipients of the award include Michael Starr, Esmeralda Chavez-Mata, Maya Smoot and Sarah Summers.

An “award of merit” in this year’s competition went to Siena Guerrazzi, a student at Justin-Siena High School in Napa. Guerrazzi was granted $500 by the commission.

“We were thrilled by the caliber of candidates we interviewed this year and it was a joy to see such talent in the Valley,” Carlsson said.

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