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| Pottsgrove Community Band founder Thomas G. Roberts |
The Pottsgrove Community Band will celebrate its 60th anniversary by presenting free concert on Sunday, June 9 at 2 PM at Pottsgrove High School auditorium.
The performance will also be a tribute to the life and legacy of Thomas G. Roberts, the band’s founder, who passed away in January.
In 1959, Tom Roberts was the high school band director at Pottsgrove High School and had a dream of beginning a community band.
In 1959, Tom Roberts was the high school band director at Pottsgrove High School and had a dream of beginning a community band.
He felt it gave local musicians an opportunity to play their instruments, while at the same time enriching life in the community.
That summer, Roberts put his plan into action and created the Pottsgrove Community Band. The band consisted of high school band students and adult musicians from the community. The band performed its first concert under the portico of the new high school building. For many years, the band performed one concert a year.
Now 60 years later, the band has doubled in size to more than 60 instrumentalists and is made up of mostly adults. It has fulfilled an important niche in the area, performing both for formal concerts as well as outdoor summer concerts at churches, parks, fairs and nursing homes. The band performs an entire holiday series of concerts also.
The anniversary concert on June 9th, will feature a mix of old standards, such as marches, Broadway show tunes, movie themes, pop music and patriotic selections.
Many of the band’s musicians will appear as soloists. Chris Alutius will perform a beautiful trumpet solo entitled “The Maid and the Mist.” John Braun a trombonist will play a jazz solo, “Sweet and Lovely.” Alto Sax player Mike Deklava will also step up to the microphone and play a selection called “Nightfall.”
The band is currently under the direction of John Meko, who learned to play the trumpet as a student of Tom Roberts in the Pottsgrove School District. Meko, received a bachelors and masters degree in music education and followed Mr. Roberts as the Pottsgrove High School band director, retiring in 2002.
There will be a few guest conductors. Bruce Roberts, son of the late Tom Roberts and retired instrumental music teacher from Spring-Ford, will guest conduct some of his father’s favorite compositions. Also, Rodney Boyer, another former student of Tom Roberts and retired music teacher from Pottsgrove, will be featured at the podium too.
The Pottsgrove Community Band is unique, in that, people of all ages and all musical skills are united by the common bond of loving to play music. All instrumentalists are made to feel welcome, and the group is always looking for new members. Rehearsals are Monday evening, 7 p.m., at Pottsgrove High School. More information can be obtained at the Community Band’s Facebook page.
The concert is Sunday, June 9, at 2 p.m. in the Pottsgrove High School auditorium.
The band is currently under the direction of John Meko, who learned to play the trumpet as a student of Tom Roberts in the Pottsgrove School District. Meko, received a bachelors and masters degree in music education and followed Mr. Roberts as the Pottsgrove High School band director, retiring in 2002.
There will be a few guest conductors. Bruce Roberts, son of the late Tom Roberts and retired instrumental music teacher from Spring-Ford, will guest conduct some of his father’s favorite compositions. Also, Rodney Boyer, another former student of Tom Roberts and retired music teacher from Pottsgrove, will be featured at the podium too.
The Pottsgrove Community Band is unique, in that, people of all ages and all musical skills are united by the common bond of loving to play music. All instrumentalists are made to feel welcome, and the group is always looking for new members. Rehearsals are Monday evening, 7 p.m., at Pottsgrove High School. More information can be obtained at the Community Band’s Facebook page.
The concert is Sunday, June 9, at 2 p.m. in the Pottsgrove High School auditorium.
Hi Evan, thanks for promoting the band, the concert is actually June 9th 2019 and not 2020.
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