Gloria Ferry-Brennan, an award-winning 17-year-old violinist, will be joining the Skagit Symphony for the opening of their 35th, 2014-15 season at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at McIntyre Hall in Mount Vernon.

Ferry-Brennan is currently studying under Simon James and pianist Hiro David of the Coleman Violin Studio in Seattle. She also studied with the Brian Lewis Young Artist Program in Kansas and at the Aspen Music Festival.

She has served as concertmaster for the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra and has appeared in the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Avanti Orchestra, Saratoga Orchestra, Seattle Festival Orchestra, Phiharmonia Northwest, Sammamish Symphony Orchestra and others.

She has been featured on National Public Radio and was chosen as one of 10 young violinists to participate in the Starling DeLay Symposium on Violin Studies at the Juilliard School, among other accomplishments.

She plays regularly on and around Whidbey with her gypsy-jazz band 3 Cent Stamp, including performances at DjangoFest Northwest.

Conductor Roupen Shakarian heard Ferry-Brennan while conducting the Saratoga Strings in 2013, when, according to a recent press release, he realized that she would be an ideal choice for the Skagit Symphony opener.