Mr. Reyes moved to Southern California from New York. He has always dreamed of becoming a music teacher ever since he was 12 years old so he
studied Music Education at one of America's finest music conservatories, the Eastman
School of Music. He received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees
there. While at Eastman, he was involved in various research projects, with a focus
on developing a data-driven music program under the advisement of Dr. Richard Grunow,
Dr. Christopher
Azzara, and Dr. Ann Marie
Stanley. Mr. Reyes is also an avid pianist
and conductor. He studied with piano pedagogues such as Toti Alvarez, Rebecca Penneys, and Tony Caramia. He has played in Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall
twice, being featured as a junior AMTL (NYC) performing artist. He has extensive experience in conducting vocal & wind ensembles, chamber groups, and the Eastman
Graduate Conducting Orchestra under the tutelage of Dr. William
Weinert, Dr.
Mark Scatterday, and Brad Lubman.
Mr. Reyes worked in an inner-city school district in
Rochester, NY, after
graduating from Eastman. While there, he founded the Rochester Prep
Chorus. His elementary choir became locally well-known for his scholars were featured in a TEDx event,
and became a mini-YouTube sensation having worked with the University of
Rochester’s premier A Capella group - the Yellow
Jackets!
Mr. Reyes has shared his passion for music with students of various ethnic and
socioeconomic backgrounds. He aims to empower his students through
music-making. He found himself a great match with Huntington
Beach City School District (HBCSD) because of their commitment to the Performing
Arts.
In his first year as a certificated music teacher at HBCSD, he founded the Singing
Surfers (Agnes L. Smith’s elementary choir), and received the PTA’s
Outstanding Supportive Teacher award in 2016. In his first full year with Ethel Dwyer
Middle School’s Chamber Choir (formerly known as Concert Choir), his scholars achieved unanimous superior ratings in vocal performance and sight-singing after participating
in their first Southern California Vocal Association (SCVA) festival in 2017. Dwyer's Chamber Choir maintained their all-superior ratings for their 2018 SCVA festival. Dwyer's Chamber Choir has been invited to perform in a CA state festival hosted by the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) in March of 2019, where only a handful of middle schools are picked as Dwyer beat hundreds of other schools that qualified. Mr. Reyes is also a recent recipient of the CA State Outstanding Teacher Award presented by the PTA in 2018.