From Burt Wood to Netflix: Former student joins new reality TV show

MIDDLEBORO — Peter Carboni was 14 when he first took the stage at the Burt Wood School of Performing Arts in Middleboro. Now 30, the Wareham native has made his Netflix debut.

Carboni appeared on the first season of Building the Band, a new Netflix reality singing competition. The show began with 50 singers, each auditioning anonymously from soundproof booths.

Instead of judges picking the performers, the contestants voted on who they wanted to form a band with. Those who earned enough votes moved on to create six self-selected groups.

Once formed, the bands met for the first time and performed in front of celebrity judges — including AJ McLean of the Backstreet Boys and Liam Payne of One Direction. The top band, chosen by the judges, walked away with a $500,000 prize.

While Carboni was ultimately not selected to join a band, he did get to perform and was not eliminated until the fifth episode of the 10-episode series.

Carboni sang Benson Boone’s pop-rock title “Slow It Down” and said having his voice featured on the show was “more than enough for me.”

“Millions of people have heard me sing. I got to share my voice with the world because of Netflix,” he said.

Carboni’s musical journey began in Middleboro when his father — who grew up with Burt Wood School founder Lorna Brunelle — suggested he try the arts.

“I tried everything before — sports I was terrible at, pretty tragically bad,” Carboni said with a laugh.

His first show at the Burt Wood School was Godspell, and he continued performing in Middleboro through high school.

Carboni attended the University of Massachusetts, where he studied psychology. However, he said his most formative college experience was joining the university a cappella group, the Doo Wop Shop.

“I spent a lot of the time that I should have been studying working on things for the a cappella group. I realized that I was having a lot of fun doing it, and it was something I could turn into a career, if I’m lucky enough,” he said.

After the Doo Wop Shop, Carboni joined the Hyannis Sound, another a cappella group based in Cape Cod.

However, it was Brunelle and the Burt Wood School who gave him his first solo performance.

“I’d never gone on stage all by myself,” Carboni said of the experience. “It was a small audience, but it was like family and friends — it was lovely. Not having anybody else there to lean on definitely helped me grow as a performer.”

A self-described nomad, Carboni worked on cruise ships in between a cappella gigs, playing rock music with a five-piece band.

His first brush with reality TV came in high school, when he auditioned — but was not selected — for American Idol and The Voice. His recent breakthrough came after searching for “#castingcalls” on Instagram.

“I connected with a casting director there and started sending in tapes. It was a long process,” he said.

He first auditioned in February 2024 and learned he was cast that June. From there, it was off to Manchester, England, to film. He said the minute he stepped off the plane, he was quarantined from the other contestants.

“Everything about it was so clean and so precise. We had aliases, and they made sure that nobody saw each other,” he said.

“When the cameras are on, it definitely feels like you’re alone, just talking to yourself,” he added. “What you see on screen is exactly what it looks like. All of a sudden, a voice will come over and it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s AJ McLean.’”

Once the show wrapped, Carboni had a chance to connect with some of his co-stars and said his plan now is to “just keep riding the wave.”

He has an original single scheduled for release on Labor Day titled “No Good at Falling in Love.”

Summing up his experience on the show, Carboni said he’s glad he had “the opportunity to connect with some of the most incredible artists.”

“I’m just really, really grateful that I had the entire experience,” he said.