Mendham Students Named Outstanding Violinists By Mayo PAC

MENDHAM, NJ — The Mayo Performing Arts Center recognized two Mendham students as Outstanding Violinists for March, a news release says.

Indra Balakrishnan and Saya Neff, both 8th-grade students at Mountain View Middle School, were nominated by their teacher Leigh Carpenter.

Carpenter said Balakrishnan is "a consummate scholar" who plays with emotion and passion.

"Indra is always willing to share her expertise and passion for music with her classmates," Carpenter wrote. "She helps teach them accelerated techniques and shares with them her very advanced level of insight into critique and music theory. She does this in such a thoughtful and kind way, that it encourages her peers, lifting them up."

Carpenter said Neff is "very creative in her musicality."

"She recently tried her hand at arranging a popular song in duet form for herself and a fellow student," Carpenter said. "The harmonies were very beautiful and Saya and her friend did a great job performing it.