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Junior earns Superior rating at state music performance assessment

Pianist Sofia Rakhimi ’25 earned a Superior rating – with a rare grade of straight A-plusses – at the Florida Bandmasters Association State Solo and Ensemble Music Performance Assessment in West Palm Beach at the A.W. Dreyfoos School for the Arts on March 20-21. She performed Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 in C minor, Op. 13, commonly known as "Sonata Pathétique."
Rakhimi also recently received the California Certificate of Merit with State Honors for piano at the
highest level. This includes an evaluation of a four-piece repertoire, a sight-reading test and a
music theory test. She scored 98 out of 100 questions correct on the music theory exam.

She performs on jazz piano in the Blue Note Combo, which is co-directed by director of Arts
Shawn Costantino and Director of Instrumental Music Jon Hamm. She also co-leads the
percussion section and performs on multiple instruments in the RE Symphony, conducted by
Hamm. Rakhimi also studies with Hamm in AP Music Theory.
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Founded in 1903, Ransom Everglades School is a coeducational, college preparatory day school for grades 6 - 12 located on two campuses in Coconut Grove, Florida. Ransom Everglades School produces graduates who "believe that they are in the world not so much for what they can get out of it as for what they can put into it." The school provides rigorous college preparation that promotes the student's sense of identity, community, personal integrity and values for a productive and satisfying life, and prepares the student to lead and to contribute to society.