Yesterday WHEELS music students performed at the kick-off event for WQXR's instrument drive for NYC public schools! Our students spoke eloquently about why music is important in interviews with WQXR and Telemundo. Thank you to the NYC Department of Education, Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, Lincoln Center, WQXR and all the other organizations and individuals who are supporting NYC public school students through the instrument drive.

WHEELS music student Saudy Familia played drums in Carnegie Hall with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Youth Orchestra last Sunday. This incredible concert of Duke Ellington's sacred music featured conductor David Berger, tenor saxophone legend Jimmy Heath, trumpeter Sean Jones, trombonist Vincent Gardner, clarinetist and tenor saxophonist Ken Peplowski, tap dancer Jason Samuels Smith, six youth choirs from around New York City, and singers Nicole Cabell, Lalah Hathaway, Damien Sneed, and Rufus Bonds Jr. We could not be more proud of Saudy's hard work and excellent performance. We are very grateful to Jazz at Lincoln Center for giving our students such amazing opportunities. Click here to read a review of the concert in the New York Times.

Last weekend six WHEELS students auditioned for the Summer Arts Institute at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts! During the past week we also had 16 of our 6th and 7th graders audition for the Jazz at Lincoln Center Middle School Jazz Academy! We are very proud of all of our students for taking on these challenges, representing WHEELS well, and being reflective and learning from these experiences.

WHEELS music students are helping to promote the WQXR Instrument Drive! Check out this video featuring WHEELS students. Thank you to WQXR for supporting music programs in NYC public schools, and to all who decide to donate instruments!

WHEELS music students provided entertainment for the second annual WHEELS Up! fundraiser last week. The band broadened its repertoire by adding James Brown, Bruno Mars, Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams to its set consisting of pop, Latin and jazz standards.

Last weekend 14 WHEELS students auditioned for a competitive summer music program at the Manhattan School of Music called Camp MSM. We're very proud of all our students who represented our school so well and learned from this audition experience. Our students are continuing to practice hard for several more auditions for competitive music programs coming up in the next couple of months.

Our seniors are in the final stretch of the college application process. Last week one of our drummers auditioned for the jazz program at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music!

Last week we celebrated our students' hard work throughout the first semester with an awards ceremony for the middle school. Congratulations to all the students that received awards, and to the band students that put on a great performance at the ceremony!