The Green Valley High School Band program has built an extensive history since it’s opening in 1991 and has been a musical leader for bands throughout the Southwestern United States. Green Valley High School has a proud history of excellence in the performing arts and has received the National Grammy Award for Performing Arts three times.

The Green Valley Bands are active within Green Valley High School and our community and include three Concert Bands, three Jazz Ensembles, a Jazz Combo, the award-winning Marching Band, Pep Band, Steel Drum Band, Winterguard, and several Chamber Ensembles. In addition to these ensembles, students have the opportunity to participate in our AP Music Theory program, Student Leadership program, and perform with our Orchestra in the Symphony Winds and in our Musical Pit Band for the Theater Department. These students are extremely hard-working and talented and the results are invitations to some of the most prestigious band events in the world.

The Green Valley Symphonic Wind Orchestra, the top concert band in the program, has performed at Carnegie Hall in New York City twice, at the International Band Conference (The Midwest Clinic) in Chicago—the first band from Nevada to ever receive this invitation, the Lincoln Center in New York, and Symphony Hall in Chicago. This group has performed internationally in Rome, Edinburgh, London, Paris, Shanghai, Madrid, Vancouver, and Ireland. This ensemble receives consistent superior ratings at festivals and the band students distinguish themselves through their individual efforts resulting in great representation in the District Honor Bands and the Nevada All-State Ensembles.

The GVHS Marching Band has performed in the world famous Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade (the 1st band in CCSD to do so), the Orlando Thanksgiving Parade, the London New Year’s Day Parade, and parades in Paris, Rome, China, Spain, and the Hollywood Christmas Parade. The Green Valley High School Marching Band was honored to be selected to march in the 1993 President Bill Clinton Inaugural Parade and 2009 President Barack Obama Inaugural Parade in Washington, DC. The Marching Band competes in shows throughout the Southwest and has also performed at college football bowl games.

The Green Valley High School Jazz Ensemble has a rich tradition and is a 2019 winner the Student Downbeat Award for the Outstanding High School Ensemble and was also invited to perform at the prestigious Monterey Next Generations Jazz Festival. The Jazz Bands have performed twice at the Jazz Education Networks annual international conference on the JENerations festival stage. The Jazz Bands and Jazz Combo are active in performing throughout our community and are some of the most sought after performance groups in our Las Vegas community.

At Green Valley High School, our motto is “Commitment to Excellence.” The Green Valley High School Choirs have executed this motto since their beginning in 1991 when the school opened. The choirs have performed in many festivals and events in Hawaii, California, Utah, Florida, Colorado, New York City, Oklahoma, and Washington D.C. The choirs consistently receive “superior” ratings at state, regional, and national festivals. The Madrigal Singers have received the honor of “Command Performance Vocal Ensemble” at the Nevada All-State Music Educators Conference ten times since 1995. In 1998, Concert Choir was featured at the Western Division American Choral Directors Association Conference in Reno. The Madrigals had the honor of performing at the ACDA National Conference in Los Angeles in 2005, the 50th Anniversary ACDA National Conference in Oklahoma City in 2009, and the ACDA Western Division Conference in Santa Barbara in 2014. The Madrigal Singers are invited annually to perform in the Chapman University Invitational Chamber Festival and recently have been invited to sing at the USC Invitational Chamber Festival. The choirs have performed at both the Walt Disney World and Disneyland Candlelight Processional multiple times. In 2013, choir students performed with world-renowned composer Eric Whitacre in Carnegie Hall. Students were featured on the Rolling Stones 50th Anniversary Tour in Las Vegas in 2013 and again in 2017. The Green Valley High School Music Department has received the National Grammy Signature School Award five times, most recently in 2012. This year we have the honor of celebrating our 28th anniversary of Green Valley High School.

Ms. Ritzer

Kimberly Barclay Ritzer is in her 28th year as director of the Green Valley High School Choirs in Henderson, Nevada, and in her 29th year as a teacher for the Clark County School District. She is a 1990 graduate of UNLV where she received a Bachelor of Music Degree in Music Education and a 2001 graduate of The University of Phoenix with a Masters Degree in Educational Administration. Mrs. Ritzer is currently the Task Force Chair for High School Choir and Facility Chair for the Clark County School District Secondary Fine Arts Programs, Green Valley High School Performing Arts Department Choir and has taught Secondary Choral Methods at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. She has served three terms as president of the Nevada Music Educators Association and two terms as Nevada ACDA president. Mrs. Ritzer just finished serving her third term as Nevada ACDA President. She is currently President-Elect of the American Choral Directors Western Division. Under her direction, the Green Valley High School Concert Choir performed at the 1998 ACDA Western Division Convention in Reno, the Madrigal Singers performed at the 2005 ACDA National Convention in Los Angeles, the 2009 ACDA National Convention in Oklahoma City, and the 2014 ACDA Western Division Conference in Santa Barbara. In November of 2001, Kim was named the Henderson Chamber of Commerce “Most Outstanding Educator” and in February of 2002 she was named “Nevada Music Educator of the Year”. In November of 2002, Kim was selected as a recipient of the “Clark County School District Excellence in Education” Award. In 2004, she was named “Outstanding Alumni for the College of Fine Arts” by the UNLV Alumni Association and was most recently a finalist in the “Heart of Education” Awards for the Clark County School District in 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Green Valley High School’s Dance program is under the direction of Mrs. Alexandria Harrison.

The Green Valley High School Guitar Program was added to our distinguished performing arts department in 2010 and has been under the direction of Mr. Michael Klein since 2014. Since then it has grown into one of the more competitive and accomplished programs in the Las Vegas valley. Students in guitar classes have had the opportunity to work with and perform for world renowned artists such as Ricardo Cobo, Stephen Mattingly, Grisha Goryachev, and Mak Grgić. Additionally, in 2019 they have traveled to Los Angeles to perform at the Loyola Marymount Guitar Festival and in 2017 performed at Chapman University in Orange County, California. The guitar program offers three levels of classes to accommodate students of any ability (including no ability!). These classes teach students proper guitar technique, how to read music, chord playing, ensemble playing, and more. Additionally, students in the guitar program may also join a curricular rock band who learn and perform popular rock songs at various events on and off campus.

The Green Valley High School Orchestras have accumulated many awards and accolades in their over twenty five years of performances. The orchestras receive consistent superior ratings at both local and national festivals. They have performed at prestigious venues worldwide including Chicago’s Symphony Hall, 2 performances at Carnegie Hall and in December 2017 they were one of five high school string orchestras invited to perform at the prestigious Midwest Clinic. Community outreach programs and school functions are common for the GVHS Orchestra schedule. The orchestra services over 200 students offering opportunities to play in any of the four orchestra classes in both string and full orchestra configurations. Students also have an opportunity to play chamber music in class and after school. You will find students of every culture and background on the GVHS Orchestra roster. These students are active student leaders participating in countless school activities, clubs sports and service organizations.

Green Valley High School is proud of traditions and “firsts” that comprise our renowned theatre program. The Purpose of the Green Valley Theatre Department is to provide the positive environment and opportunity to pursue individual and collective goals in the study, understanding, and development of skills in Theatre, Musical Theatre and Technical Theatre. All theatre classes are designed to assist students in developing a love for the arts as well as to prepare them for a post-secondary education or careers in theatre if desired.

Students enrolled in Theatre classes learn many transferable skills that serve them well and into the future. They learn how to analyze their class performances in order to improve; they develop confidence and the ability to memorize; assignments are also designed to increase writing skills.

Tech Theatre classes aim to enable students to design and implement all aspects of shows. Giving students the chance to learn through mistakes, but supported in finding the solution to fix the errors, is a mainstay of our teaching philosophy. It better prepares those wishing to continue in the tech arena post high school.

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