NMSU student takes third

New Mexico State University graduate student Maria Bernal won third prize at the Jackie McGehee Young Artists’ Competition for Piano and Strings, sponsored by the Music Guild of New Mexico. Bernal earned a position in the “Filarmónica Juvenil de Cámara de la Filarmónica de Bogotá” in 2018, and she performed as a soloist with the Colombian Orchestra “Bacatá.” In 2020, she won an NMSU Philharmonic soloist competition, and she performed with the orchestra. As part of “La Filarmónica Jóven de Colombia,” Bernal toured Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Panamá, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Colombia. Bernal is a graduate student of Simon Gollo, who is NMSU’s Philharmonic Orchestra conductor and an assistant professor of violin. He also is founder and artistic director of Las Cruces Youth Orchestra.