Steve Barrett is a retired government public affairs official with 43 years of experience (23 military, 20 with Federal Government). Married since 1987. Twin daughters are high school language teachers. Hobbies include music photography as a USBands marching band competition photographer (2012-present), high school band/chorus/theater photography in Maryland from 2002-2017 and 2018-present in Maine, playing trumpet and flugelhorn, reading and Scrabble. Played trumpet/flugelhorn recreationally with the Anne Arundel Community College community jazz band from 2007-2017. Now performs recreationally with the Maine Pops Concert Band and is an elected member of the band's board of directors. Holds a Master of Arts Degree in Communication from the University of Oklahoma and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Journalism from the University of Maryland University College. Barrett is originally from Montour Falls, NY.
The last of the Maine Pops Concert Band private concerts took place at the senior community center located at 100 State Street in Portland.
About 55 members of the concert band squeezed into the performance terrace to entertain residents who sat either in the complex courtyard or listened from their apartments. The band performed 11 compositions under overcast skies and the threat of circling seagulls.
Tonight’s program:
The Star-Spangled Banner
Where Eagles Dare
Just A Closer Walk with Thee
633 Squadron
Italian Festival
Victory at Sea
The Dam Busters
The Rolling Stones on Tour
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Shipping up to Boston
The Stars and Stripes Forever
The band will take a two-week break, returning to performance on Wednesday, August 14 with a 6:30 p.m. concert at the Cape Elizabeth Village Green in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
Due to the arrival of potentially hazardous thunderstorms entering the Portland area this evening, the scheduled Maine Pops Concert Band July 17 performance at 7 p.m. in Portland’s Heseltine Park has been cancelled.
The band regrets not being able to perform tonight in the Woodfords Corner community park for its residents and the Portland community. However, safety of the residents and the members of band is most important. The band thanks you for understanding.
No date for a potential rescheduled performance has been set at this time.
The Maine Pops Concert Band’s outdoor concert at the Park Danforth Community Center in Portland was moved indoors due to the threat of rain. No rain occurred, but given the high humidity and heat alert conditions through the day, it was best the band and its audience stayed indoors.
About 60 member of the Maine Pops preformed for the senior citizens’ community, again filling the summer program with many of its 2024 spring concert compositions during the 65-minute performance.
Where Eagles Dare
Just A Closer Walk with Thee
633 Squadron
Italian Festival
Victory at Sea
Dam Busters March
The Rolling Stones On Tour
Battle Hymn of the Republic
Gallant Seventh
The Maine Pops’ next performance will be held Wednesday, July 17 at Heseltine Park in Portland, beginning at 7 p.m. This is second of four public concerts the band will conduct this summer. Admission is free, and audience members are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, picnic dinners and a love for music.
It was called "Pops and Popsicles"- the first of the Maine Pops Concert Band’s private concerts held July 3 at Ketcha Outdoors in Scarborough.
The band performed a series of music from both its 2023 Fall Concert and its 2024 Spring Concert before a private audience of Ketcha Outdoors parents and children enrolled in Ketcha’s summer programs. In performing at Ketcha, tonight’s 70-member band also provided thanks to the staff for their year-round support as one of the band’s back-up rehearsal sites.
Music performed at Ketcha Outdoors included:
Star Spangled Banner
Where Eagles Dare
Shipping up to Boston
Just A Closer Walk With Thee
Motown Portrait
The Rolling Stones On Tour
The Year 1812, Solemn Overture, Op. 49
Dam Busters March
Stars & Stripes Forever
The Maine Pops is conducting a private performance on Wednesday, July 10. It’s next public concert will be Wednesday, July 17 at 7 p.m. in Portland’s Heseltine Park.
The first summer performance of 2024 for the Maine Pops Concert Band occurred this morning at the annual Robert Browne Hall (R.B. Hall) festival on June 29. The event was held at Stevens Brook Elementary School in Bridgton and hosted by the Bridgton Community Band.
The Maine Pops took the "stage" at 11 a.m. and performed a series of compositions taken mostly from the band’s spring concert held last April. Our 45-minute performance included:
Where Eagles Dare
The Rolling Stones on Tour (medley)
633 Squadron
Battle Hymn of the Republic
The Dam Busters
Rapture
Veni, Vidi Vici
Once the Maine Pops concluded their performance, many remained in place and were joined by musicians from the other community bands for a performance of R.B. Hall marches conducted by Dennis Harrington.
Eleven community bands participated in the event, held traditionally on the final Saturday of June – a day designated annually as Robert Browne Hall Day in the State of Maine.
The summer season has arrived, and the Maine Pops Concert Band officially begins its 2024-2025 performance schedule with a series of concerts during June, July, and August.
Following a well-attendance performance of their 2023 Spring Concert at Scarborough High School on April 27, the band – which serves the greater Portland metropolitan area – will perform selections used during their 2023-2024 fall and spring concerts, plus one or two extra works for the 2024 summer season. Last year’s summer concert series was widely attended by audiences seeking live musical entertainment in their communities.
The band, under the direction of David Watts, is slated to perform in eight events during the summer concert series. Of the eight, four are private concerts being conducted in Portland and Scarborough in support of specific audiences and activities. Music for the concert is taken from the band’s fall and spring concerts, with extra compositions traditionally prepared and ready for concert performance.
The first of the four scheduled public performances will be held on Saturday, June 29 when the Maine Pops will join 10 other community bands for the annual R.B. Hall Music Festival being hosted this year at the Stevens Brook Elementary School in Bridgton, ME. The Maine Pops is scheduled to perform from 11 to 11:40 a.m. that day. In addition, some members of the Maine Pops will join musicians of the other bands at noon for a massed band performance of R.B. Hall marches.
R.B. Hall was a Maine-born march composer who is honored annually at the festival – traditionally held every year on the last Saturday in June. The event marks the second official R.B. Hall Festival since performances were halted for three years due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The band’s public performance schedule has two additional confirmed performances and one tentative date in the greater Portland area. The first of the two confirmed concerts is a return visit to Portland’s Heseltine Park on Wednesday, July 17, beginning at 7 p.m. On Friday, August 16, the band will travel to Bath to perform at the city’s Library Park Gazebo at 6:30 p.m. In addition, the band is working to conduct one additional public performance and will announce that place, date, and time when arrangements are completed.
All public concerts are free to attend, but the band will accept donations to cover administrative costs.
The Maine Pops Concert Band encourages musicians of all ages – from school-age to senior citizens, and of all abilities to foster a life-long love of music, music history, performance, and our shared heritage. The band provides opportunities for musicians to enhance their musical skills and knowledge and serve the social welfare of our communities through the study, performance, and presentation of concert band music. The band is currently recruiting musicians from the greater Portland area in its efforts to fill positions in the trombone, French horn, euphonium, and percussion sections.
Information regarding the summer schedule is available on the Maine Pops website at www.mainepops.org, or through its Facebook page at www.facebook.com/mainepops.
For questions regarding the band’s summer events, contact president@mainepops.org.
The Maine Pops is a 501(c)3 educational non-profit corporation. Contributions may be tax-deductible.
The Maine Pops Concert held elections for half of its board of directors during the band’s end-of-season general membership meeting. The band conducted elections in conjunction with the band’s June 12 rehearsal at Scarborough High School.
Board members serve for two years and lead a variety of committees that support the band’s administrative, logical, financial, and outreach efforts. As a means of maintaining continuity with the board, the band staggers its band board terms so that half of the board members are up for reelection each year.
Reelected to board officer positions were flautist Lily King as secretary, and bassoonist Christina McCarthy as venue coordinator. McCarthy also has the dual role on the board as the Maine Pops’ past president. Elected as at-large board members are saxophonist Danielle Capozza, flautists Patty Lawson and Nanci Goudey, clarinetist Jane Ross and trombonist Gretchen Ascher.
Both Ross and Ascher at new to the board, replacing percussionist Leslie Oullette and saxophonist Sue Niemoeller.
The terms of board members elected June 12 will expire on June 30, 2026.
The remaining members of the Maine Pops board include clarinetist Robert Swerdlow as president, flautist/percussionist Yvonne Wentz as vice president, and percussionist Laura Merten as treasurer. Also serving as at-large board members are trumpeter Steve Barrett, clarinetists Rick Wacksman, Kara Larochelle, and Kathye Martin, and saxophonist Gary MacWhinnie.
Band director David Watts serves as a non-voting member of the Maine Pops Board.
The Maine Pops Concert Band’s April 27 Spring Concert – Music of War and Peace – is now posted to the Maine Pops Concert Band’s YouTube channel. The concert was performed at the Winslow Homer Center for the Arts inside Scarborough High School in Scarborough, ME.
Many thanks to videographer John Cranton and Scarborough Community Television for providing the recording. The performance has aired numerous times on Scarborough’s community access channel for those Spectrum subscribers with cable boxes in their homes.
April 17 found the Maine Pops Concert Band out at Scarborough’s Camp Ketcha for its weekly rehearsal. With 10 days remaining before our April 27 spring concert, Camp Ketcha once again served as a back-up rehearsal site due to the Scarborough Schools spring break this week.
Our thanks to Kara Larochelle and the Camp Ketcha staff for hosting the band tonight.
Director David Watts went straight to work on "Victory at Sea," followed by "The Dam Busters." The band spent again spent a majority of the session on "Overture 1812" before closing with "Where Eagles Dare" and the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."
On April 24, the band will be back at Scarborough High School for the final rehearsal before concert Saturday – a 2:30 p.m. performance at Scarborough High School’s Winslow Homer Center for the Arts. (All photos by Steve Barrett, Maine Pops Concert Band.)
The Maine Pops Concert Band is a 501(c)3 educational non-profit corporation. Contributors can donate to the band through the link below, and contributions may be tax-deductible.
“Music of War and Peace” – a collection of musical selections that include patriotic compositions, a rock and roll medley, a variety of symphonic movie soundtracks, and historic and current classical works – is the theme of the Maine Pops Concert Band’s 2024 spring concert. The performance is slated for Saturday, April 27, at 2:30 p.m. inside Scarborough High School’s Winslow Home Center for the Arts in Scarborough, ME.
The Scarborough-based concert band has spent the last four months revisiting material originally slated for performance in April of 2020. The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 cancelled all musical performances and sent the Maine Pops into inactive status for over a year. After a three-year effort of rebuilding its ranks and instrumentation, Maine Pops Director David Watts felt the band – now with nearly 100 musicians – was ready to return to some of the challenging compositions originally slated for the 2020 concert.
“I’ve chosen a program full of challenges, drama, moments of deep reflection, and great uplifting, “said Watts of the musical program. He said there are compositions from the original 2020 agenda, but he’s also inserted a few new works into the line-up to provide some balance and some fun to the performance. “The group is focused and playing their hearts out,” said Watts, and he hopes the greater Portland area community will attend.
Music for the 90-minute concert will feature work from a variety of composers which include Brian Balmages, Eric Coates, Ron Goodwin, Richard Rodgers, Peter Tchaikovsky, and Peter Wilhousky. Auditorium doors open at 2 p.m. and the band is asking for a donation of $15 per adult to attend. Students are exempt from donations, as the band continues to promote “Music in Our Schools” and encourage enrollment in school music programs.
The Maine Pops Concert Band spring concert serves as a kickoff to the band’s summer performance season. Once this concert concludes, the band will start preparations for a series of public and private summer performances in the greater Portland area from June to August. These performances include the band’s participation in the annual Robert Browne Hall Day Festival, slated this year for June 29 in Bridgton, Maine. Hall – a Maine music composer of march music – is honored annually on the last Saturday in June with a day of music from community concert bands throughout the state.
More details on the summer performance schedule will be released soon. concert date approaches. Please visit our website at www.mainepops.org and our social media pages for information about the band and its upcoming performances.
The Maine Pops Concert Band is a 501(c)3 educational non-profit corporation. Contributors can donate to the band through the link below, and contributions may be tax-deductible.
