Heights
Concert
Band
Highlights:
The Compton Heights Band in Tower Grove Park
Photo by L.T.Spence, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Whether it’s an antique clock or a stately old house, perhaps you have felt the sense of satisfaction that comes from restoring and breathing life into some relic of a bygone day. That same preservationist philosophy is the driving force behind the Compton Heights Concert Band of St. Louis and our efforts to promote and perform the fine concert band literature of yesteryear.
The band was organized in 1976 by band President, Harry Swanger, who formed the band to provide music for Compton Heights neighborhood events. The band started in his livingroom with just a handful of musicians. Today, the band numbers over 50 volunteer, student and professional musicians who annually present 25 concerts in St. Louis and outstate Missouri.
The band began an eight week summer concert series in 1980 in Tower Grove Park and added a sister series in Francis Park in 1986. These concerts, dubbed Sunday Serenades & Musical Mondays, attract 50,000 listeners annually. Under the auspices of the Missouri Arts Council Touring Program the band annually tours in outstate Missouri and has been acclaimed by audiences in Hermann, Joplin, Farmington, St. Peters, Cape Girardeau, and Ste. Genevieve. In 1997, the Band added annual Powell Symphony Hall December pops concerts.
Featuring John Philip Sousa-style programs, each concert includes outstanding soloists. Some of the nation’s most talented musicians have appeared, including Peter Nero; Arturo Sandoval; Nicole Cabell, Soprano (2005 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World); Keith Brion, world-renowned Sousa portrayer, Sigrun Hjalmtysdottir, Icelandic soprano; Sukay-music of the Andes, Pachamama, Bolivian, and Cuban Band; Doc Severensen; Ricardo Morales; Robert Ellison; the late William Warfield; Debbye Turner; Buckwheat Zydeco; the Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra; The BNFL British Brass Band; Beverly Stewart Anderson; Gail Lennon & the Lennon Brothers; and tenor, Hugh Smith.
Edward Dolbashian, conductor, is the orchestra and opera conductor at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He also conducts the Alton Symphony Orchestra, Alton, Ill. and Clayton Symphony. He was appointed conductor of the Compton Heights Concert Band in September, 1998. He is also a professional oboe and english horn player.
The announcer is Lucy Schroeder, wife of band vice-president and tubist Jon Schroeder. Lucy injects a lively sense of humor and energy into concerts and helps the audience gain a deeper appreciation of the music the band is presenting.
Volunteers in the band contribute over 15,000 hours annually to make the concerts possible. In addition to weekly rehearsals and the busy concert schedule, many members have devoted thousands of volunteer hours at the Band's charity bingos at Bandwagon Hall, 2151 Lemay Ferry Road. The band is also supported by the Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis Parks & Recreation Department, Southwest Bank, Foot and Ankle Associates, Clifford Willard Gaylord Foundation, Catherine Manley Gaylord Foundation, the Adams Mark Hotels, and the Missouri Arts Council.
