As it bids farewell to the class of 2026, SFCM's Pre-College has some up-and-comers to celebrate: The Onde Trio, who advanced to the semifinals in the prestigious Fischoff Competition in May.

Fischoff is the largest and longest-running chamber music competition in the nation, and SFCM has a long tradition of students and faculty competing in it: Not only the Onde Trio, but the Cambiata String Quartet, the Breshears Quartet—featuring cello prodigy Starla Breshears, recently hired by the San Francisco Symphony (SFS) as one of its youngest-ever players. Woodwinds Chair Jerome Simas (bass clarinetist for SFS) is a Fischoff Grand Prize winner, as is Associate Chair of String and Piano Chamber Music Julio Elizalde.

by longtime Bay Area chamber and violin educator Doris Fukawa, the Onde Trio had a banner year in 2024. They received First Prize in the US International Music Competition's Young Artist Award in Classical Chamber Music; second place in the MIMA Young Artist Competition for Chamber Music/String Solo, and second prize in the under-18 category in the ENKOR International Music Competition.

The members of the Onde Trio met at the SFCM Pre-College in 2023, making their string of 2024 wins all the more impressive. Violinist Sydney Li-Jenkins, from Sausalito, studies with Elbert Tsai; cellist Elan Dorman Mackenzie, from Berkeley, studies with Jonathan Koh, and pianist Kamil-Iny Woods from Oakland, studies with Arkadi Y. Serper.

The Onde Trio. From left: Elan Dorman Mackenzie, Kamil-Iny Woods, and Sydney Li-Jenkins.

Recently featured on NPR's From the Top, the Trio has been featured in SFCM's Black Student Union concerts for the past two years. Interviewed by San Francisco Classical Voice in February, Mackenzie said, "Having the support of SFCM — coaching and masterclasses with world-class chamber musicians — helps us so much as we develop our collaborative voice." Recently, the Trio was coached on Georgy Sviridov's Piano Trio in a minor, Op. 6 by an SFCM Pre-College alum, internationally renowned violinist Stella Chen.

"Onde" is the Italian word for "waves," which has a double resonance for the Trio: Aside from being a nod to their shared Bay Area background, as Black and Latinx musicians, it also references their hair. Li-Jenkins, talking to SFCV, said what a joy it was to be featured in the Black Student Union concert: "It's such an empowering experience to share the stage with so many people who look like me."

Learn more about studying String and Piano Chamber Music at SFCM or the Conservatory's Pre-College.