Mr. Carl Rieke graduated from St. Olaf College (Northfield, Minnesota) in 1997, receiving his Bachelor of Arts in Music Education. He received his Masters Degree in Instrumental Conducting from Georgia State University in 2003.

Mr. Rieke has served as the music director at the Red Wing Theater Company in Red Wing, Minnesota. He has also performed with a variety of orchestras, including the Mankato Symphony Orchestra, the Owatonna Chamber Orchestra, the New Ulm Civic Orchestra, the Southern Crescent Symphony Orchestra, and the North Georgia Symphony. For nine years he served as a co-director of the Southern Crescent Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Rieke is also the director of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Philharmonia Orchestra.

From 1999 until 2006, Mr. Rieke was Director of Orchestras at Shiloh High School in Gwinnett County. Under Mr. Rieke’s direction, Gwinnett County Youth Symphony, Metropolitan Youth Symphony Philharmonia, and the Southern Crescent Symphony were featured at the Georgia Music Educators Association (GMEA) state conference. From 2006-2015, Mr. Rieke taught at Ola Middle School in Henry County where he was named Teacher of the Year for the 2011-2012 school year. That same year, his program received the GMEA Exemplary Program Award. In 2013, Mr. Rieke was named a “Class Act” teacher by Atlanta’s WXIA-TV—11 Alive News. He is currently the director of orchestras at Frank N. Osborne Middle School in Gwinnett County where he was named the 2017-2018 Teacher of the Year. The Osborne Middle School Orchestra program received the GMEA Exemplary Program Award for the 2015-2016 school year.

Mr. Rieke is a sought-after clinician, adjudicator, and conductor at orchestra events around the metro area, and State. He has also conducted the Minnesota summer pops camp, the east Tennessee all regional orchestra, one of the 2009 Alabama All-State Orchestras, and one of the 2020 Minnesota All-State Orchestras.

Mr. Rieke has been a Georgia All-State Orchestra organizing chair for eleven years, served as the GMEA Orchestra division chair (2007-2009), the GMEA Vice President for Performance Evaluations (2012-2014) and most recently as the GMEA President (2018-2020). Mr. Rieke has also served as secretary and treasurer for the Georgia Chapter of ASTA and was named the Georgia ASTA “Orchestra Director of the Year” in 2010. Mr. Rieke has presented sessions at the GMEA in-service Conference and the ASTA National Conference.

Mr. Rieke resides in Tucker, Georgia, with his wife Stacy.

A native of Cremona, Italy, Luca Lombardi enjoys a dynamic career as a performer and educator. Equally comfortable in jazz, classical and pop settings, he has played for various orchestras, albums, TV shows, and musicals.

Dr. Lombardi regularly performs with several orchestras including Augusta Symphony, Chattanooga Symphony, Ensemble ‘900, Teatro alla Scala, and had the opportunity to share the stage with superb artists such as Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel, Lang Lang, and Shlomo Mintz. In chamber music settings he regularly collaborates with various ensembles including Modular Ensemble, Lombardi Scibelli Duo, and the Parker String Quartet. Active and in demand as a jazz musician, he has performed and recorded with Calvert Fountain, Kenosha Kid, Louis Romanos Quartet, The Whitehall Jazz Collective, and many other projects. Passionate about new music, Dr. Lombardi has premiered works written for him by David Peoples, regularly performed at contemporary music festivals, and composed music for bass solo.

As an educator, Dr. Lombardi has worked with a variety of students, having presented masterclasses in the United States, Italy, and Argentina, directed the Giuseppe Verdi school of music in Castelleone, Italy, and assisted with the University of Georgia bass studio and study abroad. He also serves as Adjunct Faculty at the University of North Georgia where he teaches the double bass studio and directs the jazz band.

Dr. Lombardi holds degrees in double bass performance from the Conservatory “Giuseppe Verdi” of Milan, Italy, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in double bass performance from The University of Georgia.