Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center Stage Band

Join us for a performance by Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center Stage Band in collaboration with exhibiting artists Angel Nevarez and Valerie Tevere that reimagines music through experimentation, improvisation, and collective listening. Organized as part of the exhibition As far as the ear can hear and shaped by the artists' practice of reinterpreting musical traditions across genres and histories, the Stage Band will collaborate with Nevarez and Tevere to create a new composition that blends and reinterprets musical genres through collective experimentation and performance. Founded in 2012, Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center Stage Band is comprised of a diverse group of students, ranging from ages 11 to over 70. Under the directorship of Christopher Palmer, these dedicated musicians have developed an extensive repertoire of featuring original arrangements and compositions that showcase a blending in different styles including jazz, RnB, Latin, rock, pop, and more. Their repertoire highlights such composers as Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Stevie Wonder, amongst others. As an incubator for a next generation of Bronx music, musicians and creatives, the Stage Band has proudly been presented in several venues throughout New York City and the Bronx. Several members have blossomed into budding composers, with original songs integrated into the Band's repertoire, and alum have gone on to pursue continued education in music in schools such as Purchase College. The Mind-Builders Stage Band is proudly known as the reigning champions of the High Note Festival and the Music in the Parks competitions, bringing home the gold trophies for four consecutive years.