Big Band Wins Spirit Award at Mingus Competition in NYC

The Rivers Big Band was honored with the prestigious Spirit Award at the 2012 Charles Mingus High School Competition and Festival in New York City last weekend. This is the fourth year of the Mingus Competition and the Rivers Big Band has been a finalist all four years, winning Best Big Band in 2010 and Best Combo in 2011. According to Director Philippe Crettien, however, the excitement about winning the Spirit Award is the greatest yet.

“This is the most amazing award in my opinion,” said Crettien. “It shows how much we understand Mingus’ music and how well we can perform it as a band. We took risks and it paid off.”

The Spirit Award is given to one school out of more than 80 performing arts schools and regular schools entered in the festival nationwide. Sue Mingus, founder and coordinator of the festival, even took time to compliment the Rivers band in front of all of the members of the audience and renowned adjudicators.

“The Rivers Big Band was able to cover the whole history of jazz in their rendition of Jelly Roll – from Dixieland jazz to bebop to contemporary jazz – they did a fantastic job,” she said.

In addition to garnering recognition as an ensemble, Jeremiah Campanelli ’12 and James Hotchkiss ’14 were recognized with outstanding soloist awards on drums and bass, respectively. Both were honored among talented nationwide competition.

Crettien said he is ecstatic about the band’s hard work and success at Mingus, although qualifying for the festival was a significant honor in itself. Despite the fact that they are a young ensemble in which all members are day school students participating in a variety of activities, the Rivers Big Band still came out on top among schools that focus solely on performing arts.

“It was really an eye-opener for these students to be included as finalists and to be recognized with the Spirit Award,” said Crettien. “They saw the incredible level of musicianship required to be there, and they were a part of it. It was such a deep experience for me and for the students. We’ve changed as musicians and human beings because of it, and that’s the whole goal of the arts.”

The band returned to campus with a newfound energy. With two competitions in March, they will bring what they learned at the competition to each practice and performance.

“The students came back on fire,” said Crettien. “They are already picking pieces and preparing for next year’s competition.”