Riverwood Band To Perform at Carnegie Hall

From Riverwood International Charter School:

ATLANTA, GA - Carnegie Hall awaits the arrival of the Riverwood International Charter School Band. They are set to perform in March, 2017 at the Festival at Carnegie Hall National Instrumental Festival. The school expects 60 musicians from the band to attend. The growth and success of the Riverwood International Charter School Band Program continues with the invitation to perform at the prestigious, world renowned Carnegie Hall.

Fresh out of college, Carlos Rodriguez joined the Riverwood faculty in 2013 with a band program of less than 50 participants. His first marching band camp had a mere six students. With no blueprint to follow and little to work with, he started from scratch and now has more than 200 students in the band program, with more than 50 in the marching band. The performance, symphonic, and beginning bands are experiencing great success at Large Group Performance Evaluations, and the Marching Band even performed at the 2015 Russell Athletic Bowl Halftime show in Orlando.

In 2015, Rodriguez added the Mastery Band class to the curriculum, a higher level class to accommodate the more passionate students wishing to challenge themselves. In its first year, the Mastery Band performed at the May 2016 spring school concert held at Kennesaw State University. They chose “Arabesque” as their showcase piece and performed it almost flawlessly, stunning the audience with its brilliance. A tape of the performance served as the audition submitted to festival organizers for the March 2017 trip to Carnegie Hall.

“For a musician, performing on stage at Carnegie Hall represents arriving at place where few musicians can, said Rodriguez.” “With the tremendous growth and success that our band program has had in just four years, I feel that this is a huge accomplishment for our program, school, and community.” Riverwood is committed to its music programs, creating opportunities outside of the classroom to to benefit the students’ overall music experience and education. Look for the Raider band to continue their brilliance when they perform at Carnegie Hall in 2017!

Photo 1: Carlos Rodriguez, RICS Band Director leading a concert performed at Kennesaw State University

Photo 2: Carlos Rodriguez, RICS Band Director leading a concert performed at Kennesaw State University.

Photo 3: Band students from RICS perform at Kennesaw State University.

Images via Riverwood International Charter School.