New Providence Holds 2nd
Summer Concert
By: Vivek Singh
On Thursday, July 17, 2008, New
Providence kicked off its second summer concert, this time
featuring Across the Floor and the Chatham Community Band. The Chatham Community Band is led by director
Brian Conti who is a music education major from William
Paterson University
and currently the music director at Chatham
High School. This is their 23rd season as a
community band with roughly 55 musicians ranging from “people who have not
played an instrument in 20 years to people who simply cannot stop
playing.” The Chatham Community Band
rehearses once a week and performs at least 15 times a year depending on how
many performances they can fit into their schedule. The band practices for most of the year,
except for August, which is their month off.
The ensemble has performed at many local venues in Maplewood,
Summit, and New
Providence.
The band
played a variety of music on July 17th ranging from jazz to big band
to classical to patriotic tunes. The
crowd roared with applause after each song and at the end of the performance, a
large group of pleased spectators surrounded Mr. Conti to congratulate him on
the night’s performance. At the end of
the night, Mr. Conti kindly agreed to speak with The Alternative Press before
calling it a night. He said, “I think it
was a very entertaining night. It seemed like we had a big sound that everyone
could hear, which is always a good thing.”
“Our band enjoys playing a wide range of music and we all love music.
Some of us haven’t played in a while and some of us never stopped, but we all
have a passion for music and that’s what makes this so enjoyable,” Mr. Conti
added.
New Providence
will be hosting three more concerts: on July 24, July 31, and August 7. The
concerts start at 7:30 PM and are
held at Centennial Park
off of Springfield Avenue
in New Providence. The concerts are free to the
public. It is recommended that audience
members bring lawn-chairs.
The Chatham Community Band has one
performance remaining for the year. All
of their events are listed at www.chathamcommunityband.org.