Our 3 Jazz Ensembles and 2 of our combos participated in the Folsom Jazz Festival over the weekend, along with 140 groups from schools throughout Northern and Central California. The showing from the Rio groups was very strong, and the adjudicators awarded many individual and collective accolades to our kids. Here’s a breakdown:
AM Jazz Ensemble- Chosen as Sweepstakes Winner: the top band at the entire festival!
Solo/Musicianship awards were given to: Grayson Cliff, Arthur Eriksson, Grady Flamm, Sam Flores, Carson Grimes, Toby Keys, Dale McMorris and Jake Nalangan
One of the other bands in the finals along with AM was Maria Carillo HS, directed by Rio Band alum Matt Bringedahl.
PM Jazz Ensemble- 2nd place in their division
Solo/musicianship awards: Ben Hansen, Jack Harris, Dylan West, Elie Wu
FM Jazz Ensemble- Solo/musicianship awards: Isaac Goodman, Molly Knepshield, Jackson McMorris, Jonah Prichard and Kesav Sreedharan
Combo 1 (Mingus)- 3rd place in their division
Solo/musicianship awards: Grayson Cliff, Grady Flamm, Carson Grimes and Jackson Irvine
Combo 2 (PM Trio)- 1st place in their division, and the highest score of all combos at the festival.
Solo/musicianship awards: All three of them! Antonio Lopes, Dylan West, Elie Wu
Also- Rio’s Michael Gilbert was awarded a summer jazz camp scholarship for his outstanding bass playing!
Congratulations to all our Band Students!
Our annual Rio/ Arden Dinner Dance is coming up on Saturday, March 2nd. This lavish event features all of the Rio Jazz Bands, as well as the Arden Middle School Jazz Band, playing sophisticated, groovy and funky music for dancing. It is also a major fundraiser for our band programs, and the money raised benefits EVERY member of Rio Band. This is a great opportunity to share an elegant, music-filled evening with a wonderful, welcoming group of band families. Don’t miss the fun and camaraderie as we support our students. We also need your donations for the silent auction as well as your help on the day of the event to make it a success. See links below to purchase tickets, donate items or volunteer.
TICKETS
Visit the Dinner Dance website to buy your tickets: Charityauction.bid/rioardendinnerdance
DONATIONS
Please donate items for the silent auction and raffle. Let’s make this the best Dinner Dance and Silent Auction yet! https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tiuFuinGswSF_8n1sh3jxuOKAN4X0XJ-/view?usp=sharing
VOLUNTEER
Please sign up to volunteer! We can’t do this without your help: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B094DAAAF28A5F85-2019
Congratulations to our “Mingus” Combo!
Once again Rio’s Mingus combo has been selected as one of only 3 national finalists for the 11th annual Charles Mingus Jazz Festival, to be held next month at The New School in NYC. All the details for the festival can be found here: http://mingusmingusmingus.com/jazz-education Way to go and good luck Mingus Combo
Awesome Concert on Sunday January 13
Levi Saelua’s Colossus Big Band will be putting on a show this Sunday at the Clara Auditorium, downtown Sacramento. Mr. Kiesner and Mr. Muarry are in the band, along with Rio Alums Levi Saelua, Lucas Bere and Devan Kortan. Info and tickets can be found here: www.colossuswest.com
Rio’s tRio Feature
Rio’s own tRio is featured in the Syncopated Times. Check out the article here: https://syncopatedtimes.com/rio-americano-jazz-trio/