Joni Swenson was the longtime Director of Orchestras, serving from 2002 until her retirement in 2020. A UCLA graduate, she had previously taught orchestra in the Sacramento and San Jose school districts, including at Castillero Middle School and Lincoln High School. During her years at Samohi, Swenson expanded the orchestra program from four ensembles to seven and led the Symphony and Chamber Orchestras in performances throughout the United States and abroad, including concerts in New York, Argentina, Uruguay, China, the Czech Republic and Austria. She also served in leadership roles with the California Orchestra Directors Association and California Music Educators Association and frequently conducted honor orchestras around the state.

Under Swenson, the Samohi Symphony Orchestra achieved some of the most significant milestones in the school’s performing-arts history. In 2005, the Symphony was named Grand Champion at the ASTA National Orchestra Festival, and on February 19, 2006, it became the first public high school ensemble to perform at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Sounds About Town series; Swenson later brought the orchestra back to Disney Hall on additional occasions. Her honors include KDFC’s Music Educator of the Year in 2001, the California Music Educators Association’s Le Blanc Outstanding Orchestra Educator Award in 2004, the American String Teachers Association’s Elizabeth A. H. Green School Educator Award in 2016, and CMEA’s Richard L. Levin Orchestra Educator Award in 2020. In 2022, SMMUSD honored her with its Stairway Honor Award for her contributions to music education in the district.

Joni Swenson

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