The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Northside music program aims for diverse curriculum, talent
Music by Tritone features ensembles, camps, musical theater from rock band to orchestra.
For Joshua Chari and his two sisters, music was an integral part of their family life in Ohio.
“By the time we were 3 or 4, we were all playing instruments,” he said. “We grew up going to concerts, playing, performing and taking lessons. It was a part of the way we lived.”
In 2002, the Roswell resident and his siblings launched Music by Tritone,a music school with the goal of exposing students across the Northside to a lifestyle infused with sound.
“We were all doing music independently, giving lessons and performing in the Atlanta area,” he said. “But we weren’t happy with the options available for classical lessons. A lot of teaching methods were either boring, tedious or unstructured. We set out to inspire and motivate students while they were learning the fundamentals.”
Fast forward to 2024, and the school has flourished with yearround ensembles, musical theater programs, a youth orchestra and camps that cover genres from rock band to orchestra. Recently, Tritone solidified a partnership with the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, where it will perform fall and spring concerts.
The staff has grown to more than 20 teachers, many of whom play several instruments.
“We work to get a collection of teachers with specializations in their specific category but who can relate on that human level and make the music personal,” said Chari, a cellist. “For instance, we have one teacher who is very focused on the competitive, classical piano curriculum, while another is focused on youth education. Others specialize in voice in either the operatic tradition or pop.”
The curriculum’s diversity attracts students of all ages, Chari said.
“It’s pretty exciting to work with students 4 years old up to students in their 80s,” he said. “It’s pretty special to see music mean something different to each of those groups.”
Tritone teachers also work directly with school orchestras in Fulton and Cobb counties, and they lead the program’s own youth orchestra that has about 50 members; all play at varying levels of proficiency.
“The Atlanta area has some great youth orchestras, but they’re very exclusionary because of the high level of what they do,” Chari said. “We have beginner orchestras geared toward new students, and we also create arrangements that allow ... (students) of various ages and levels to play side by side to create something that sounds really good at the end.”
This summer, Tritone will conduct five-day camp programs in Roswell and East Cobb. Each session focuses on various themes, including rock band, ensembles, voice and drama.
“They’re geared specifically to what each student is interested in,” Chari said. “We’re very passionate about music, from classical to rock and jazz.”
Electric vehicle maker Rivian, which in March paused vertical construction of its Georgia factory, is getting a nine-figure package of incentives to expand production in Illinois and start assembly of a crossover that was to have launched in the Peach State.
California-based Rivian said Thursday that Illinois has agreed to provide $827 million in subsidies to support expansion of its plant in Normal, in central Illinois, to build the R2, a two-row vehicle that the automaker expects to be a volume seller.
Nearly two months ago, Rivian pumped the brakes on its Georgia factory east of Atlanta in a move the company said would save it more than $2.2 billion in the near term and help the company get the vehicle to market faster.
Rivian has weathered criticism from some Georgia lawmakers who have sought to punish the company for putting the project on hold. Gov. Brian Kemp has said Georgia will honor its commitments to the state’s second-largest economic development project, and he expects Rivian to honor its promises.
Local and state leaders in Georgia provided Rivian with an incentive package of land, tax breaks, credits and other inducements valued at $1.5 billion in exchange for the company building the factory and hiring 7,500 workers. Most of the incentives accrue to Rivian only if it meets its obligations. The company has said it will still build the plant near
Rivian said it still plans to build a huge facility near Rutledge. “We are not abandoning Georgia,” says Tony Sanger, Rivian’s vice president of facilities.
Rutledge and meet its commitment to hire 7,500 workers by 2030.
“These incentives support Rivian’s work to bring R2 to market quicker through our production ramp in Normal, allowing us to transition and quickly resume work in Georgia when the time is right,” Rivian spokesman Peebles Squire said Thursday.
WEEK-TV in Peoria, Illinois, reported the incentives span 30 years, with most of the support coming from tax credits. The station reported that Rivian must retain 6,000 workers in Normal during the term of the agreement.
Rivian expects to begin customer deliveries of the R2 in the first half of 2026. Rivian officials last Saturday said at an Atlanta event that the company will expand R2 production and build two other smaller crossovers when it develops its factory along I-20 in southern Walton and Morgan counties. But the company has not given a firm date to restart development.
“By pivoting to Normal,
we created some concern in the market, and certainly with the legislators, as to that we were abandoning Georgia,” said Tony Sanger, Rivian vice president of facilities. “And that’s not the case. The news here is we are not abandoning Georgia. We will be back.”
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe also has said Georgia remains important to the company’s expansion plans.
In Illinois, Rivian’s sole manufacturing plant produces the R1T truck, R1S SUV and electric delivery vans. The company has said it will expand the facility to produce the initial line of R2 crossovers.
Rivian has spent more than $2 billion to acquire and renovate a former Mitsubishi factory. WEEK reported that the company said it will spend another $1.5 billion and expand capacity to 215,000 vehicles per year. “Illinois is positioned to be a powerhouse in this market for years to come, bringing quality jobs and revitalizing communities across the state,” Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in a news release. “I want to thank our partners at Rivian, who have doubled down on their investment in Illinois. Together, we’re taking a tremendous step forward — for our electric vehicle ecosystem, for our economy, and for our state. Each and every dollar invested in this market is a win for the working people of Illinois and brings us a step closer to meeting our ambitious climate goals.”
Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe also has said Georgia remains important to the company’s expansion plans.Since Rivian it put the Georgia project on hold, the state has pushed the EV maker to divulge how it will comply with terms of its land lease and incentive agreement amid the stoppage. These issues include site security, stabilizing graded land with vegetation and stormwater management.
On Saturday, Sanger said at the Atlanta event that the factory site is not dormant, with workers performing some grading and other work to prepare for the restart of construction.
State Rep. Tim Fleming, R-Covington, who represents the area near the Rivian site, said he’d like a firm timeline for the restart of the Georgia factory.
“I appreciate the fact that Rivian now wants to be transparent with Georgia, as they sent a letter last week reaffirming their commitment to build the R2 and R3 in Georgia,” Fleming said.
Cox Enterprises, which owns The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, owns about a 3% stake in Rivian.