During the February break, a Rio group was in New York City to participate in the Charles Mingus Festival, put on annually at The New School by the Let My Children Hear Music Foundation to promote and honor the music of one of America’s greatest Jazz musicians and composers. Many of the greatest young musicians from across the country gathered to perform for each other and a panel of judges including contemporaries of Mingus, members of the current Mingus Big Band, and Eric Mingus- Charles’s son.
When it came time for the awards, Rio cleaned up. Here are the honors garnered by our students:
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Our group was the winner of the Combo category. Congratulations to James Sidebotham, Aaron Holst, Salome Ospina, Joel Cooper, Ezra Erickson, Henry Dall-Parker and Sofia Bo Ix-Siu!!!
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Rio bassist Ezra Erickson was chosen for the “Mingus Spirit” Award, given to the most inspirational musicians at the festival.
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Pianist Salome Ospina and vocalist Sofia Bo Ix-Siu were both awarded 4-year, $30,000 per year scholarships to The New School’s vaunted Mannes School of Music. These scholarships were awarded to 3 musicians of the over 200 who performed at the festival, and 2 were from Rio!
Here’s a link to the press release from the Mingus Fest: https://static1.squarespace.
Here’s a link to the video of the performance. Rio begins at about 1 hour, 27 minutes- https://www.youtube.com/watch?