There are approximately 811 miles between Oglethorpe County’s northwestern border and New York’s iconic Carnegie Hall, but for four Oglethorpe County musicians, the gap felt much closer.
Performing with the Classic City Band, the residents — Michael Brewer, Jesse and Kassie Mathews, and Matt Latocha — received the opportunity of a lifetime to take the iconic Perelman Stage on June 28, serving as the opening act for the New England Symphonic Ensemble (NESE).
“The people that we took up to New York — those were regular people,” said Brewer, the band’s principal conductor. “There were four or five actual professionals, but it’s really just professors and teachers and folks that work at Lowe’s; it could be anyone. We do this so that regular people can enrich their lives and the lives of audience members.”
The opportunity to perform at Carnegie came in 2025 after Mid-America Productions, NESE’s parent organization, contacted Brewer about a future choir opportunity.
“A friend of mine was conducting something, I think, next summer in Europe and had reached out to me, and I was kind of smirkily replying that I had a band that might do it, and they’re like, ‘Oh, you know, send us a recording.’ ”
Brewer, who graduated from Oglethorpe County High School in 1987, submitted a recording from the Classic City Band’s 2024 spring performance. After a favorable review, Mid-America Productions offered the ensemble a chance to perform this season.
After receiving approval from the band’s board of directors, Brewer announced the opportunity to the ensemble. To play, the ensemble needed 50 musicians on stage. Additionally, each musician was required to pay a performance fee of $1,200.
“It was a little bit of a push for the group; usually you get two years to prepare for this, but we decided to go ahead and do it anyway,” Brewer said.
Winterville’s Jesse Mathews and his daughter, Kassie Mathews, “committed right away.”
“We had never been to New York before, and right when Michael brought up the possibility of going, we said yes,” Jesse said. “For one, it’s a great opportunity that we will probably never have again. It’s pretty rare to be able to play at Carnegie Hall.”
Jesse joined Classic City Band in 2017 and plays the alto saxophone, while Kassie, who plays oboe, alto sax and clarinet, joined the ensemble in 2025. Kassie is a junior at OCHS and serves as the drum major for the OCHS marching band.
“I never thought that I’d have such a great opportunity to be able to do something like this before I’m even out of high school or in college,” Kassie said. “Even now, I’m still deciding what my career wants to be, but after this, music has always been a big part of my life, and with this experience it’s really brought more.”
Latocha, a Crawford resident who has performed with the ensemble since 2018, rounded out the county representatives.
Leading up to the trip, the ensemble met on Tuesdays around the Athens area for rehearsals, preparing an all-John Williams program, which included “Liberty Fanfare,” “Hymn to the Fallen” from “Saving Private Ryan,” “Raiders March” from “Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Star Wars (Main Title),” in addition to “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
“We kind of felt that if we were making everyone go to New York, they might as well have fun, and while they're having fun with the program,” Brewer said.
Each musician was responsible for their own travel costs and plans, leaving room for families to turn the occasion into a vacation, complete with sightseeing and Broadway shows.
“It was so amazing just to be able to look up at these big buildings with beautiful architecture,” Kassie said. “My mom mentioned that it felt like no one’s really looking at you, because there’s so many people, so it doesn’t really matter what you do or what you look like, and it was just so surreal.”
The band held two rehearsals, the first at a local music studio Saturday morning. The second came hours before the ensemble’s performance at Carnegie Hall. Members received a few minutes to take photos and enjoy the space before rehearsal began.
“I’ve done that kind of thing twice with the Athens Master Choir, and so I was familiar with how everything kind of looked,” Brewer said. “That being said, when I came out and saw that podium with the brass rail and the red velvet, that was what got me more emotional that morning; that’s when it really kind of hit me that this was different for me.”