Band, orchestra and choir students from Jordan High School invited to play at Carnegie Hall
Many students say it's going to be an expensive journey to get to New York and they need help raising funds to get there.
LONG BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- The smooth sounds of trumpets, flutes and violins fill the classroom at Jordan High School in Long Beach as students rehearse their music for their big performance.
"I feel really excited and I feel like it's a new opportunity for us to have," said choir and orchestra student Kaylah Palomera.
The students from the school's orchestra, band and choir have been invited to play at Carnegie Hall in New York for two separate performances this spring.
"For our event, there are four ensembles across the nation that have been invited to participate. So, we will have an entire 25 minutes on stage by ourselves to perform our music for an audience of other festival performances as well as the New York community," said Band and Orchestra Director Amanda Chavez.
Chavez says students have been practicing every day ever since they heard the news. She says in her ten years of teaching; students have never been invited to a performance like this before.
"I heard it's like really magical because there's a lot of professionals and I heard you get to ask questions as well," said orchestra student Enzo Jauregui.
"I never thought this would happen to me. I never even thought of me going to New York," Palomera said.
Many students say this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it's going to be an expensive journey to get to New York. To help raise funds, they've been selling chocolates and coffee in hopes they can raise enough money to get there.
"I think we're doing pretty well, but we are trying to raise a lot of money because it is very far and we are going to stay there for a while," said band and orchestra student Ema Hernandez.
"We have a 40-person minimum just to make sure we have enough sound on stage. So for us, it's around $2,000 per student. So we're looking at fundraising about $100,000 if not more," Chavez said.
People can also help support the students by donating on the school website at jordan.myschoolcentral.com. .
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