(ATLANTA, Ga.) — When Jordan Johnson looks at the portraits along the entrance to Midtown Atlanta’s Symphony Hall, he can’t help it.

“It puts a very big smile on my face,” Jordan told WSB′s Berndt Petersen.

He’s been playing the bass trombone for more than a decade, and now he will perform with some of the very best of the best.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (ASO) has awarded its very first fellowships to Jordan, who is from Cobb County and a graduate of Columbus State University, and to Joshua Williams.

Williams is also from the Atlanta metro area and is a graduate of Julliard and the ASO’s Talent Development Program when he was in high school.

Directors of the symphony say they aim to change the future face of the American orchestra and build a more diverse one.

The ASO’s new fellows had to beat stiff competition from conservatories all over the country.

Jordan says he can’t wait to start and he can’t wait for members of the audience, especially children, to look at the portraits along the entrance to Symphony Hall and see his.

“I can only imagine what that means when I’m dressed up in a tux playing with the Atlanta Symphony and they’re like, ‘Wow! One of us is playing with them.’ It’s a lot to think about. Sometimes I’m at a loss for words of how awesome a feeling it is,” Johnson said.

Jordan and Wiliams will begin rehearsing with the symphony in September.

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