STAFF

aehernandez@riversideunified.org

Ms. Arwen Hernandez is the band director at Riverside Poly High School.  Ms. Hernandez studied choral education at California State University, Los Angeles.  She came to Poly after teaching at Edison High School in Huntington Beach and Palisades Charter High School in Pacific Palisades.  Ms. Hernandez marched with the Santa Clara Vanguard and was a member of the original London cast of Blast!.  She has instructed open and world class drum and bugle corps, including Santa Clara Vanguard Cadets and Spirit Drum and Bugle Corps.  From 2005 to 2010, she was a member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale.  Ms. Hernandez’ husband, Matt Matthews, is the band director at Colony High School.  They live in Riverside with their 5-year old son, Teddy Thomas Matthews.

Tate Kinsella is an active drum set player, and percussionist in the Southern California area. Since discovering his passion for music at an early age, Tate has been pursuing music relentlessly. Since his recent graduation from the University of Redlands School of Music with a B.M. In Drum set Performance, Tate has studied with some of the greatest musicians in SoCal such as: Joel Taylor, Dan Schnell, Nicholas Semrad, Bill Schlitt, David Scott, Yuri Inoo, Scott Worthington, and Jody Fisher. Besides his studies, Tate has also worked as a touring, session, and Live drumset player performing with artists and groups such as : Tru-Lee, CARLY, Sophia Bollman (as seen on NBC’s The Voice), The national tour of “How to succeed in business without really trying”, Joe Bagg, and his new trio project Polyfeels. Tate has also been actively teaching private lessons and high school ensembles for the last 5 years. He has served as the Percussion Caption Head and Arranger for San Gorgonio High School, Percussion Director for Riverside Poly High School, Kaiser High School, and Riverside North High School. He just recently took the position of Percussion and drum set head for the Keyboard Arts School of Music in Wrightwood.