Past Reading Community Concert Band Concerts

===== 2013 =====

Reading Fall Street Faire Sunday, September 8, 2013 3pm
Town Hall, Reading

The show featured a number of delightful pieces, which we kept as a surprise. Still, it was just perfect for a warm almost-Fall afternoon! The music was great!

Summer Concert in the Park August 11, 2013 at 6pm
Town Hall, Reading

The show featured tunes from the movies. It was just perfect for a warm Summer's evening!   We played...

At The Movies	John Philip Sousa
The Serenaders
The Crafty Villain And The Timid Maid
Balance All And Swing Partners
Carousel	Richard Rogers
Gigi	Frederick Lowe
Sweet Charity	Cy Coleman, arr Billl Holcombe
Theme from Blazing Saddles	John Morris, arr Jay Bocook
The Music of James Bond	Bono & Dave Evans, Monty Norma, Sheryl Crowe &Mitchell Froom, arr Jay Bocook
Fantasy of Flight	John Williams
The Lion King Soundtrack Highlights	Hans Zimmer, Elton John, arr Valvin Custer
Pirates of the Caribbean Symphonic Suite	Klaus Badelt, arr John Wasson
The Stars & Stripes Forever	John Philip Sousa

Mothers Day Concert May 12, 2013 at 3pm
Wood End School Auditorium

The show, titled "RCCB Plays Between the Lines", wove the music playlist into a behind-the-scenes look at the makings of a concert.  Along the way we poked fun at musical culture in general, and the foibles of life in a civic band in particular.  The audience learned about: The Instruments, and how noise gets turned into tonal music; Rehearsals, and what makes them fun;  Musicians, and what makes them tick;  and about Conductors, and what gives them tics. We had a wonderful musical guest in Tomoko Iwamoto (a violinist in a concert band?). There were hijinks and visuals and sight gags.    The music was great!

Winter Concert March 3, 2013 at 3pm
Parker Middle School Auditorium

Our Winter concert was really a divine program. Literally.  We borrowed from a variety of spiritual texts – from the Christian Bible, the Lotus Sutra, the Torah and other sources. Stanley Hoffman was our guest soloist, singing The Song of Songs, and excitingly, he is the composer also! Our playlist was...

• Vashti - Henry Fillmore
• Danse Bacchanale fr Samson & Delilah - Camille Saint Saens
• Selections from The Song of Songs - Stanley M. Hoffman
• Highlights from Exodus - Ernest Gold
• Intermission
• Salome Intermezzo - William Loraine
• Three Revelations from the Lotus Sutra - Alfred Reed
• Ashokan Farewell - Jay Ungar

===== 2012 =====

Fall Concert November 18, 3 p.m.
Parker Middle School Auditorium

Our theme was Fiesta! South of the Border! We played music that was lively to solemn, from Mexico to Argentina. Our playlist was...

• Zacatecas                            Genero Codina, arranged by L.P. Laurendeau
• La Virgen de la Macarena  traditional, arr. by Charles Koff, featuring our trumpet player Arthur Zavarella
• Highlights from "Evita"     Andrew Lloyd Weber, arr. John Moss
• Symphonic Dance No. 3: "Fiesta"   Clifton Williams, Briana Polan, Assistant Conductor
• --Intermission --
• Amparita Roca                    Jaime Tescidor
• Night in the Tropics            Louis M. Gottschalk, arr. Mark Williams
• La Fiesta Mexicana            H. Owen Reed
•     I.    Prelude and Aztec Dance
•     II.   Mass
•     III.  Carnival

 

Olde Reading Faire Saturday, September 29, 11:00 A.M.
First Congregational Church of Reading

This was a variation on our traditional summer concert with popular pieces, perfect for a warm Fall day. Even though the weather was cold and cloudy, it was still perfect, with stirring marches to keep us warm. And the concertgoers were also able to enjoy all the other craftspeople and events at the church.

Reading Fall Street Fair Sunday, September 9, 12:20 P.M.
Woburn Street Stage

This was our traditional summer concert with popular pieces, perfect for a warm summer's day. And of course, the concert was free.

Please note that we did not play for Reading Friends and Family Day.

Spring Concert May 13, 3 p.m.
Wood End School

This was a fun concert of good music and good times. Being our annual Mother’s Day interactive concert, we played a game of “Where’s That Tune?” using Spring as the the concept and the first line of “Country Gardens” as the theme that the audience listened for. Each piece we played had a fragment from Country Gardens inserted in it.

We played...

• Country Gardens (of course)
• Voices of Spring (Johann Strauss)
• April in Paris
• Selections from Carousel
• The Producers
• King Cotton (Sousa)
• The Sun Will Rise Again (A new piece by Philip Sparke, very lovely)
• Flower Girl (a turn-of-the-century pit intermezzo, nicely written by Percy Wenrich)

Winter Concert February 26, 3 p.m.
Reading Memorial High School Auditorium

February was Black History Month. To celebrate it, we had a great concert of music by African-American composers. From swing rhythms to classical harmonies, we heard the rich contribution these composers have given us. And we had a special treat with pianist Virginia Eskin, who you might remember from our March 2008 concert. She performed Yamakraw by James P. Johnson. This was a spectacular concert!

===== 2011 =====

Fall Concert December 11, 3 p.m.
Parker Middle School Auditorium

We had a great concert with trumpet soloist Tom Palance , who was our soloist for The Rose Variations, a very special centerpiece for our concert. Back in time 114 years, Reading celebrated its 250^th birthday by hosting a weekend gala of parades and concerts, called “Reading Incorporation Day”. The musical fare was all-American, drawn from local bands and composers as close by as Woburn, and as far away as Rhode Island. Lucinda Ellert researched this event and assembled a concert that took us ‘Back To The 90s’.

We played:

• The Rose Variations by Robert Russell Bennett
  Light Cavalry Overture by Franz von Suppe, arr. Henry Fillmore
  The Beau Ideal March by John Phillip Sousa
  Second Connecticut March by D.W.Reeves
  The Chocolate Soldier by Oscar Strauss, arr. J.Bodewalt Lampe
  Southern Blossoms by Arthur Pryor

Olde Redding Faire October 1, 11 a.m.
First Congregational Church of Reading

Because of the rain (this seems to be a recurring theme), we played in the sanctuary at FCCR. Today's playlist was based on requests from the band members. In spite of the rain, we had a nice audience that got to listen to us play...

• March "Grandioso", Roland F. Seitz, arr Alfred Reed
• Benny Goodman: The King of Swing, arr Paul Murtha
• Lassus Trombone, Henry Fillmore
• Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon, arr Percy Grainger
• Country Gardens, arr Percy Grainger
• An American Elegy, Frank Ticheli
• Dan Walker and the trombone section had a great time "struting their stuff" in Lassus Trombone.

Reading Street Fair, September 11, noon

The playlist for September 11 was ...
Sounds From the Hudson, Herbert L. Clarke, soloist Tom Palance
Beau Ideal March, J.P. Sousa
Light Cavalry Overture, von Suppe, arr Henry Fillmore
6th Massachusetts March, Jean Missud
Battle Cry of Freedom, George F. Root

Summer Concert in the Park (cancelled), Sunday, August 14

This concert was scheduled for 6pm at the Reading Town Hall. Because Reading repeatedly did its best imitation of a Seattle rainforest, alas our summer concert was cancelled.  We would have played...

• March Grandioso
• Country Gardens
• Ye Banks and Braes
• Molly on the Shore
• Benny Goodman Suite
• Lassus Trombone
• America the Beautiful
• Music for a Darkened Theater
• American Elegy
• Harry Potter Suite
• Stars & Stripes 

Reading Friends & Family Day, June 18

Noon-ish, Birch Meadow Drive

On June 18 we performed as part of Reading's Friends and Family Day. There is a lot of music before and after us. Also, the entire area around Coolidge Middle School was filled with activities for all ages. 

We played...

• A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight, Theo A. Metz
• Paul Bunyan (A Lumberjack Rhapsody), Clare Hounsell
• The Belle of Chicago, John Philip Sousa
• Chorale From "Jupiter", Gustav Holst
• Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, John Philip Sousa
• Strike Up The Band, George & Ira Gershwin
• The Simpsons, Danny Elfman
• Ashokan Farewell, Jay Ungar

Mothers Day Concert, May 8

On May 8th at we performed our annual Mothers Day concert . The concert was at the Wood End School at 3pm.

This year's concert theme was games – particularly Board games. We had a Bingo night for our concertgoers! We played...

John Phillip Sousa - Belle of Chicago
Gustav Holst - First Suite
George Gershwin - Porgy and Bess
Scott Joplin - Cakewalk
Richard Rodgers - Carousel
Frank Ticheli - Abcadabra
Leonard Bernstein - Slava
Jay Ungar - Ashokan Farewell

Winter Concert, March 6, 2011

On March 6th at 3:00pm we performed our Winter Concert at Parker Middle School. Our theme was Myths, Fables, and Tall Tales. Harry Potter, Peer Gynt, and other stories were presented, along with dramatic readings from Reading drama students. Lucinda selected some exciting and challenging music for us!

The program was:

Apollo March	Anton Bruckner	*	Ode on ink-glass dried in the sun - Maeve Ryan
Scenes from the Louvre             1. The Portals     2. The Children's Gallery     3. The Kings of France     4. The Nativity: Paintings     5. Finale	Norman Dello Joio	*	An Ultrviolet Flyover - Paul Sanford Aphrodite & Eve - Maeve Ryan A Kingly Debate - Maya Ellert & Alex Waltham In Dulce Jubilo - Paul Sanford Kingly Debate part 2 - Maya Ellert & Alex Witham
Peer Gynt                               1. Ingrid's Lament     2. Arabian Dance     3. Solveig's Song	Edvard Grieg	*	Peer Gynt's Youth - Paul Sanford Peer Gynt's Middle Years - Maeve Ryan Peer Gynt's Old Age - Alex Witham
Suite from Harry Potter	John Williams, Briana Polan cond.	*	A List of Essentials - Maya Ellert
Hiawatha	Neil Moret, arr. L. Ellert	*	Excerpt from Longfellow's Poem - Alex Witham
Danse Bacchanale	Camille Saint-Saens	*	Judges 13-16 - Maeve Ryan
Brigadoon	Alan Lerner & Frederick Lowe	*	The Tale of Two Lads - Maya Ellert
A Symphony of Fables     1. The Lion & the Mouse     2. The Pied Piper of Hamelin     3. The Tortoise & the Hare     4. The Ugly Duckling     5. Three Billy Goats Gruff	Julie Giroux	*	A Fable of Aesop - Alex Witham A Fable of Brothers Grimm - Paul Sanford A Fable of Aesop - Paul Sanford A Fable of Hans Christan Andersen - Maeve Ryan A Scandanavian Fable - Alex Witham
Jabberwocky	Harold L. Walters	*	Subversive last words from Lewis Carroll - Maya Ellert

===== 2010 =====

First Congregational Church Olde Redding Faire, September 25, 2010

At 11am we performed on the lawn outside the First Congregational Church. The weather was perfect and the audience, delightfully including a number of chldren, was enthusiastic!

Summer Concert in the Park, August 15, 2010

At 6pm we performed in Reading's Town Square as part of the Reading Summer Concert Series. Our theme was a concert completely of marches. People brought their lawn chairs, coolers, even the dog (most of which were large and affectionate)! It was a great early evening in the summer of American music at it's best.

Respendent in our Hawaiian shirts, we played...

American Patrol -- F.W. Meacham
Zapfenstreich -- L.V. Beethoven
Pageant -- Vincent Persichetti
Commando March -- Samuel Barber
Spartakiade -- Sergei Prokofiev
Intermission
Midway March -- John Williams
Little English Girl (L'Inglesina) -- Davide Delle Cese
Strenuous Life -- Scott Joplin
March from Symphonic Metamorphsis -- Paul Hindemith
Stars and Stripes -- John Phillip Sousa

Friends & Family Day, June 19, 2010

We had a delightful time playing at Birch Meadows Park. While we recycled some previous music, each time we sound a little bit better!

Spring Concert, May 9 at Wood End School

Our Spring Concert was at Reading's Wood End School, this past Sunday, May 9, at 3pm. The theme was music from TV and movies. Cartoons like the Flintstones, western movies, TV dramas all will made their appearence. But wait! Was that the musical theme of "Jeopardy"? When it sounded, the audience got to guess the show. And there were lots of prizes from generous local merchants! And what did Keith Pederson, one of our esteemed flutists, do with a duck call?

Our concert was a great treat for lots of Moms!

Winter Concert, February 28 at RMHS

Our Winter Concert was at Reading Memorial High School, Sunday, February 28, at 3pm. The theme was "Colors". Rhapsody in Blue? Greensleeves? Yellow Submarine? Something by Giuseppe Verdi? We had a full spectrum of music that delighted the audience.

===== 2009 =====

Fall Concert, December 6, 2009

A British Invasion hit our music! We had a delightful time playing at Parker Middle School while the Reading Festival of Trees was going on. We played...

• The Colonel Bogey march by Kenneth Alford
• selections from H.M.S.Pinafore by Arthur Sullivan
• Lincolnshire Posy by Percy Grainger
• overture to "Wasps" by Ralph Vaughan Williams
• The Bandwagon by Philip Sparke
• Sevillana by Sir Edward Elgar
• A Moorside Suite by Gustav Holst
• Irish Tune from County Derry by Percy Grainger

Friends & Family Day, June 20, 2009

We had a delightful time playing at Birch Meadows Park. While we recycled some previous music, it sounded even better this time!

We played...

• Victory at Sea
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• English Sea Song Suite (Sparke)
• Night in the Tropics
• Askokan Farewell

Mothers Day Concert

Our Mother's Day concert had the theme of "songs of the sea". The concert was held at the Wood End School on May 10th at 3:00pm. Also, this was our annual "Where's the Music?" concert - we hid the theme from "Gilligan's Island" in each of our pieces of music! The music had the audience floating with delight!

We played...

Sea Songs -- Vaughan William
Poems of the Sea -- Ernst Bloch
Pirates of the Caribbean -- selections
Hands Across the Sea -- Sousa
Victory at Sea -- Richard Rogers
Mayflower Overture -- Ron Nelson ...or...
English Sea Song Suite -- Philip Sparke

===== 2008 =====

Fall Concert

Our Fall concert was on Sunday, November 2nd and had the theme of Hallowe'en! The audience shivered to some of the scariest music ever written! A highlight was a performance of Symphony for Salem by D.M.McCoy.

We played...

• "A Symphony for Salem, 1692" - D.M.McCoy
• "Abracadabra" - Frank Ticheli
• "Music for a Darkened Theater" - Danny Eleman, arr. Michael Brown
• "Allerseelen" - Richard Strauss (Op.10,#8), arr. Albert Oliver Davix
• "The Inferno (from The Divine Comedy)" - Robert W. Smith
• INTERMISSION
• "Sine Nomine" - Ralph Vaughn Williams, arr. Alfred Reed
• "Night on Bald Mountain" - Modeste Moussorgsky, arr. William A. Schaeffer
• "March To The Scaffold (fr Symphonie Fantasique, Op 14)" - Hector berlioz, arr. Erik W. G. Leidzen
• "On a Hymnsong of Phillip Bliss" - David R. Holsinger

Olde Redding Faire

On Friday, October 26th, we played at the First Congregational Church's Olde Redding Faire. While downstairs was filled with artisans and all types of yummy food, we played in the sanctuary to a delightfully large crowd. A particular hit was Gabriel Faure's Pavanne.

We played...

• "March of the Dragon Masters" - Robert Jager
• "Chorale Prelude: Be Thou My Vision" - Jack Stamp
• "1988 Summer Olympics Theme" - John Williams, arr. Jay Bocook
• "Swanee" - George Gershwin, arr. Robert Russell Bennett
• "Pavane, Opus 50" - Gabriel Faure, arr. Larry Clark
• "Americans We" - Henry Fillmore, arr. Andrew Balent
• "Ashokan Farewell" - Jay Ungar, arr. Calvin Custer

Summer Concert in the Park

This past August 17 at 6pm we performed in Reading's Memorial Park as part of the Reading Summer Concert Series. People brought lawn chairs, coolers, we saw several dogs (mostly large and affectionate) and they all joined us for a great early evening in the summer of American music at it's best.

We played...

• "American Patrol" - F.W.Meacham, arr. Paul Yoder
• "Annie Get Your Gun" - Irving Berlin, arr. Erik Leidzen
• "The Homefront" - arr. James Christensen
• "Midway March" - John Williams, arr. John Moss
• "The King of Swing" - Benny Goodman, arr. Paul Murtha
• INTERMISSION
• "American Salute" - Morton Gould, arr. Phillip Lang
• "A Copland Tribute" - Aaron Copland, arr. Clare Grundman
• "In the Miller Mood" - Glenn Miller et al.
• "Stars & Strips" - John Philip Sousa, arr. Keith Brion

Spring Concert

Our Spring concert was on Mothers Day, Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 3pm. The concert was at the Wood End School.

The theme was "We've No Business in Show Business" and featured an exciting array of show tunes. Mom got a real treat, and the audience got to sing along with some of their favorite music!

Winter Concert

Our Winter concert was on Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 8pm at the new Reading Memorial High School. .

This was a very special concert, even for our usual Winter Gala. Our theme was "The Greatness of Gershwin and Grofe" -- two composers who were collaborators, friends and contemporaries. We explored their relationship and the juxtaposition of compositions that have no apparent connection, as well as performed the piece that both men are most famous for: Rhapsody in Blue.

We were very fortunate to be able to perform Rhapsody in Blue with concert pianist Virginia Eskin. Click here for Ms Eskin's website.

Virginia Eskin's concert appearances include the Annapolis, Buffalo, Louisville, New Hampshire, Rochester, San Francisco, Santa Barbara and Utah Symphony Orchestras, the Boston Classical, the Israel Sinfonietta, and the Boston Pops. She has also performed as a soloist with the New York City and Boston Ballet Companies, and at New York 's Morgan Library in New York.

Her concerto repertoire includes Rachmaninoff, Second Piano Concerto, Shostakovitch Concerto No. 1, Amy Beach Piano Concerto, and Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, all of which she has performed recently. During 2005-06 she performed MacDowell's Concerto in D minor in Athens with the National Orchestra of Greece, Beethoven's 3rd Concerto with Symphony by the Sea (MA), and Clara Schumann's piano concerto with the Atlanta (GA) Chamber Symphony. She continues to give recitals throughout the United States, including the Athenaeum in La Jolla and Sonoma (CA), Monadnock Music (NH), Mohonk Music (NY), and the Atherton Theatre in Honolulu.

Ms. Eskin recently created and hosted "First Ladies of Music", a 13-program radio series sponsored by Northeastern University and produced by WFMT, Chicago, carried by over 100 radio stations in the United States and abroad. She holds the appointment of Visiting Artist, Northeastern University Department of Music, and received an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Keene State College (NH) to recognize her contributions to women's music.

Music we played was...

• Campus March -- Grofe
• Strike up the Band -- Gershwin
• Three Shades of Blue -- Grofe (a concert band premiere with Eskin on piano)
• Gershwin! -- (a medley of Gershwin standards)
• On the Trail -- Grofe
• Overture to Porgy and Bess -- Gershwin
• Selection from Mississippi Suite -- Grofe
• Rhapsody in Blue (arr. by Donald Hunsberger)

===== 2007 =====

Fall Concert

In New England, not only were the leaves on fire with color, but so was our concert!. The theme for our Fall concert was "fire". The performance was on Sunday, November 18, at 3 p.m. at Parker Middle School in Reading. The flaming centerpiece was Stravinsky's "Firebird", but music ranged from that to popular pieces such as "There'll Be A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight".

Music we played was...

• A Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight - Theo Metz, G. Breigel & L Ellert arr.
• The Royal Fireworks Music - George Frederick Handel, Harvey Sartorius arr.
• Inferno - Robert W. Smith
• Selections from Bizet's Carmen - V.F. Safranck arr.
• Themes From Offenbach - arr. Claire Johnson
• --INTERMISSION--
• Fire House Special - Paul Yoder
• Tobasco - Charles L. Johnson.
• Suite from the Ballet The Firebird - Igor Stravinsky, Fredrick Fennell arr.
• The Stripper (encore) - David Rose

Summer Concert in the Park!

Our summer concert was on Sunday, August 12, at 6 p.m. at Memorial Park just off the center of Reading. The concert had an "all American" theme with music ranging from show tunes to Stars and Stripes Forever. People came, sat on the grass, enjoyed a warm summer evening, and heard some great music!

• Cake Walk
• Schottische
• Western One-Step
• Wallflower Waltz
• Rag

Mother's Day Concert

Our Mother's Day Concert was on Sunday, May 18, at 3 p.m. at the Wood End School in Reading. The theme of the concert was a musical variation on "Where's Waldo?" The audience enjoyed some great music, and tested their powers of musical observation!

Our Celebration of Black History Month!

On Saturday, February 17, the Reading Civic Concert Band shared the stage with a 40-person Gospel choir, the Boston Choral Society. We celebrated the rich and varied contributions that black performers and composers have given to American music. The program spanned Jazz, Ragtime, Spirituals, a tribute to Duke Ellington, and selections from The American Scene by William Grant Still. The concert began at 8:00pm in the new Reading Memorial High School auditorium. Tickets at the door were $15, $10 for seniors and students, 5 yrs and under were admitted free. Watch for a recording of the performance on RCTV and other neighboring public access television stations!