Nashoba Symphonic Band opens 11th season

BOLTON — The Nashoba Symphonic Band (NSB) under the direction of David Wayne Bailey is pleased to announce its 2026-27 season.

Performances will take place in the auditorium of Nashoba Regional High School in Bolton and admission to all concerts is free, open to the public, and wheelchair accessible. The upcoming season provides a wide variety of musical offerings including “Hallowe’en Revisited” on Sunday, Nov. 1 at 3 p.m., which will feature “The Masquerade Suite” by Aram Khachaturian, Barbara York’s “Encountering Baba Yaga” featuring Andy Kern on alto saxophone, and Mussorgsky’s “A Night On Bald Mountain,” as well as other spooky works.

The concert on Sunday, Feb. 7, 2027, at 2 p.m. titled “Tales of Day’s Past” will showcase W. Francis McBeth’s suite “Beowulf,” with Cesar Franck’s “Psyche and Eros,” and the iconic “Sketches on a Tudor Hymn by Fisher Tull” with additional music by Leo Delibes and Karl King.

Sunday, May 1, 2027, brings “SOUSA!” at 3 p.m. with the entire “Symphony on Themes by John Philip Sousa” by Ira Hearshen. The incredible four-movement work is based on music from some of the “March King’s” most beloved melodies — “The Washington Post,” “The Thunderer,” “Fairest of the Fair,” and “Hands Across the Sea.”

The last show of the season on Thursday, June 10, 2027, at 7:30 p.m. is a special one as the NSB’s final performance in the school’s auditorium before moving to the new high school building that is currently being constructed. The event will also salute graduating seniors and Nashoba Regional High School alumni with performances of Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture,” the NSB-commissioned “Wolves of Nashoba,” and solos by graduating seniors.

In other NSB news, the band produces a series of chamber concerts performed by mixed groups of band members. Those concerts will be on three Saturday afternoons at the high school — Dec. 5, April 10, and April 30 — with more information on those programs being announced in the fall.

The Nashoba Symphonic Band welcomes new players at the beginning of each season and at rehearsals immediately following each concert. There are no auditions, but adult membership is limited to a certain number within each section and students in grades eight and above are required to present a recommendation from their school instrumental director or private instructor.

Current openings include oboe 1, two clarinet 3, one alto sax 2, two section trumpet 2, two French horn, and two or more tuba. NSB rehearsals are held on Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. in the band room at the high school at 12 Green Rd. in Bolton, with the first rehearsal for the upcoming season Sept 3. Registration for all new and returning members will begin at 6 p.m. that evening in the auditorium lobby and those wishing to become members should contact David Wayne Bailey at [email protected] in advance.

Nashoba Symphonic Band is a program of the Nashoba Friends of Music and supported in part by grants from the Ashby, Berlin, Bolton, Lancaster, and Stow Cultural Councils, local agencies supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. For more information follow Nashoba Symphonic Band on Facebook.