Roosevelt High’s band has a big date in the Big Apple – at Carnegie Hall!

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Roosevelt High School’s band is heading to the Big Apple to perform in one of the world’s most prestigious music venues ― Carnegie Hall.

The Rough Riders 60-piece band will play in the New York Wind Band Festival on March 13.

“The amount of history that hall has, and the amount of famous people that have performed in there, I think that’s just an honor in itself to be selected,” Band Director Gregg Abe said.

Abe submitted an application to the festival last May.

He found out in September that Roosevelt was accepted, along with bands from three mainland high schools and two colleges.

The students are thrilled.

"It's really exciting and I really look forward to it," flutist Tiffany Kusano said.

“The name Carnegie Hall in the world of music, it’s a big name. To think that we’re going to play there as high-schoolers it’s just crazy,” saxophone soloist Harley Beltran said.

Roosevelt will perform two compositions.

One was written specifically for the school by Japanese composer Satoshi Yagisawa. It’s called “Four Seasons of Japan.”

"We wanted to do a piece that has some ties to Hawaii with Japan, because we have a big Japanese-American population here," Abe said.

This isn’t the school’s first appearance on a big stage. In 2003, the Rough Riders marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

But Abe calls Carnegie a whole different ballgame.

On Tuesday at 6:30 pm, the band will perform a free preview concert in Roosevelt’s Auditorium.

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