{"id":255474,"date":"2026-07-30T13:24:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255474\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T13:24:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T13:24:06","slug":"pitts-new-summer-concert-band-is-a-community-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255474\/","title":{"rendered":"Pitt\u2019s new Summer Concert Band is a community effort"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"margin-bottom:11px\">On July 25, the University of Pittsburgh Summer Concert Band held its inaugural performance in Bellefield Hall. The 88-member ensemble was made up of past and current members of the Pitt Band, University faculty and staff, and local Pittsburgh musicians, including high school students and high school band directors. The band played a repertoire of songs by American composers, including John Philip Sousa and Leonard Bernstein, in honor of the United States\u2019 250th anniversary.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat draws people to play in summer concert bands is the camaraderie,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/pittsburghpanthers.com\/staff-directory\/dr-brad-townsend\/20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brad Townsend<\/a>, director of bands.<\/p>\n<p>That was the impetus behind establishing the new band: to create a place for connection between the University and the surrounding community \u2014 a place to come together, united by an appreciation of music, Townsend noted.<\/p>\n<p>Community bands also create valuable spaces for former students to continue playing music, said <a href=\"https:\/\/pittsburghpanthers.com\/staff-directory\/michael-buckstein\/4064\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Michael Buckstein<\/a>, assistant director of bands.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to foster a belief that you can play your entire life,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>That sentiment rang true for summer concert band player Denver Perdomo, a custodial staff member. He said picking up the bassoon after a 13-year hiatus was \u201clike embracing an old friend.\u201d After learning to play in high school, Perdomo pivoted to singing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m surprised how much I remember, but I\u2019ve gone right back to playing the bassoon. It\u2019s been a part of my musical journey that I haven\u2019t touched in so long.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On July 25, the University of Pittsburgh Summer Concert Band held its inaugural performance in Bellefield Hall. The&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-255474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}