The Road to Carnegie Hall

New York’s Carnegie Hall is one of the most prestigious concert halls in the world. Some of the most famous musicians in the last century have played there: the Beatles, New York Philharmonic, Yoyo Ma and Louis Armstrong to name a few. It is where Leonard Bernstein, one of America’s most famous and honored conductors, got his start. Carnegie Hall is said to have “perfect sound” and many have tried and failed to duplicate the infrastructure. It takes artists years of dedication and practice to be invited to play in Carnegie Hall. It took the Leigh High School Wind Ensemble three years to get there. Through a lengthy audition process, an amazing amount of fund-raising, and hours upon hours of practice, my band made it (and performed very well, I must admit) to Carnegie Hall’s first annual wind festival.
It takes a long time to plan a festival that is going to be bringing bands from all over the world to compete. In fact, the company that was funding and pl...