News - Maine POPS Concert Band

Save The Date: Maine Pops Holiday Benefit Concert Slated for December 14 in Westbrook.

Each Christmas holiday season, the Maine Pops Concert Band partners with local organizations to perform holiday benefit concerts for local charities.

This year, the Maine Pops returns to the Westbrook Performing Arts Center in Westbrook, ME to perform its 2025 holiday benefit concert on Sunday, December 14 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. This year, the beneficiaries is Project G.R.A.C.E. and the Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland’s Pet Food Pantry.

It is the second consecutive year the band has conducted its holiday benefit at Westbrook. With the growth of the Maine Pops Concert Band to a membership of over 100 musicians, fitting the entire band into a small or mid-sized chapel/sanctuary, as was done in past years, is no longer possible.

The band is currently rehearsing 14 holiday selections for the performance. Included in the line-up are selections from Leroy Anderson, Irving Berlin, James Curnow, Percy Faith, George Frederic Handel, John Holcombe, John Rutter, Edward Pola and George Wyle.

A donation of $15 per person will get you into the concert. Students are admitted free of change.

The Maine POPS Concert Band is a 501(c)3 education charity.

Maine Pops Concert Band Completes 2025 Fall Concert, Two Holiday Performances Scheduled

The Maine Pops Concert Band conducted its 2025 Fall Concert “Who We Are” on Sunday, November 2 in front of nearly 300 attendees at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center in Westbrook, ME.

The 102-member band performed seven selections by musicians and composers who influenced the band’s members’ desires to pick up an instrument and learn to perform. In planning the concert, Maine Pops Director David Watts surveyed members on what band members listened to, what they enjoyed, and what motivated them to pick up an instrument. Watts then compiled information and developed a concert with a program that challenged the band’s talents and showed the audience “Who We Are.”

The band performed the following compositions during their 85-minute concert:

Soaring with John Williams – John Williams (arranged by Robert W. Smith)
Original Dixieland Concerto – John Warrington
Mambo (from West Side Story) – Leonard Bernstein (arranged by Michael Sweeney)
The Beatles: Love – John Lennon and Paul McCartney (arranged by Jay Babcock)
Ellington! – Arranged by Stephen Bulla
The Best of Earth, Wind and Fire – Arranged by Peter Kleine Schaars
Selection from Les Miserables – Arranged by Warren Barker

The concert video is now available on the band’s YouTube channel. Many thanks to John Cranton of Scarborough Community Access Television for producing the video that will also air on the town’s Spectrum Community Access Channel 2.

Upcoming Concerts

With the fall concert completed, the band is now focusing on two holiday performances in December. The first involves the Beach Street Big Band – one of the 10 Maine Pops small ensembles – will perform a holiday big band concert on Thursday, December 4 at the 1st Parish Congregation Church in Saco. The concert begins at 7 p.m. Under the direction of Tom Lizotte, the 20-member jazz band is slated to combine traditional big band charts with a selection of holiday favorites.

On December 14, the Maine Pops Concert Band returns to the Westbrook Performing Arts Center for its annual Christmas benefit concert, beginning at 2:30 p.m. Watts has selected 14 holiday compositions which are currently in rehearsal. The concert will benefit selected charities in the greater Portland area.

Admission to both holiday concerts is a $15 donation per person. Students are admitted free of charge.

For more information on concerts and other Maine Pops Concert Band events, please visit our website at www.mainepops.org or our public Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/mainepops.

Maine Pops Concert Band Fall Concert Slated for November 2 in Westbrook

The Maine Pops Concert Band will conduct its annual fall concert on Sunday, November 2 from 2:30 p.m. at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center in Westbrook, ME. This will the first performance of the 100-member concert band since mid-August.

The concert theme is “Who We Are: The Music that Shaped Us” and will feature music from Leonard Bernstein, John Williams, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and John Warrington. The music will also include arrangements by Warren Barker, Stephen Bulla, and Peter Kleine Schaars. The music covers a wide variety ranging from big band and movie/theater themes to classic rock and R&B.

The suggested donation to attend is $15 per person, with students granted free admission.

For more information on the Maine Pops, please visit the web site at www.mainepops.org.

Video of Maine Pops Concert Band’s Scarborough Summerfest performance is now available.

The video of the Maine Pops Concert Band’s final 2025 summer performance at Scarborough Summerfest is now available for viewing through band’s YouTube channel. The performance capped off a seven-engagement concert series where the band performed publicly in Kennebunk, Scarborough, Portland, Bath, and Cape Elizabeth. It also conducted private performances in Scarborough and Portland.

“Our final performance was AMAZING!,” said Watts after the season-ending Scarborough performance. “When people holler and stand up after performances, you know you’ve made a connection. When you pull people in who just happened to be passing by, you know you’ve made a connection. When you see teenagers start dancing and singing along with your performance, you know you’ve made a connection. And that’s what we did in our final performance of the season.”

Music for the summer season included the following works:
• The Star-Spangled Banner,
• Eighties Flashback
• Light Cavalry Overture
• The Rakes of Mallow
• Seventy-Six Trombones
• Summer of ‘69
• An American in Paris
• Fuego del Alma
• Finlandia
• Galop
• (Back Home in) Indiana
• The Pathfinder of Panama
• Star Trek Symphonic Suite
• Three Celtic Dances
• Travellin’ Music
• The Stars and Stripes Forever

Many thanks to John Cranton and his team at Scarborough Community Access Television for recording the performance and providing a copy to the band.

The Maine Pops will resume rehearsals on Wednesday, September 3 and September 10 at Scarborough’s Ketcha Outdoors from 7 to 9 p.m. On September 17, the band resumes rehearsals at Scarborough High School in preparation for the annual Maine Pops fall concert slated for Sunday, November 2 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center in Westbrook, Maine.

Maine Pops Concert Band Closes 2025 Summer Season at Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough

The summer season has closed for the Maine Pops Concert Band, concluding a seven-concert summer with performances August 13 at the Cape Elizabeth Town Green and at the annual Scarborough Summerfest event August 15.

Under the direction of David Watts, the band held five public and two private performances in 2025, playing material from the band’s fall 2024 and spring 2025 concerts as well as a couple of extra patriotic favorites. In all cases, the band drew enthusiastic support from many bringing lawn chairs, blankets, and picnic dinners to listen to the variety of concert band music. In the case of Scarborough Summerfest, the audience included hundreds of food truck patrons gathering meals while the band performed its program from a nearby festival tent.

In addition to the shows in Cape Elizabeth and Scarborough, the band held public concerts in St. David’s Episcopal Church in Kennebunk (June 25), Portland’s Heseltine Park (July 16), and the Bath Library Gazebo (August 1). They also had private engagements for Scarborough’s Ketcha Outdoors (July 2) and for the residents of Portland’s 100 State Street senior housing center (August 6).

The Maine Pops is now completing a three-week break. The band will resume rehearsals on Wednesday, September 3 at Scarborough’s Ketcha Outdoors and will conduct a second session at Ketcha on September 10. After September 15, the band will be able to return to the Scarborough High School band room from 7 to 9 p.m., with the first session slated for September 17.

The annual Maine Pops fall concert is slated for Sunday, November 2 from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center in Westbrook, Maine.

2025-07-16 Maine Pops Entertains Large Heseltine Park Audience in Portland

The third concert of the 2025 Maine Pops Concert Band summer season took place Wednesday, July 16 at Heseltine Park, located in the Woodfords Corner Community of Portland, ME. This was the second of five public concert performances for the Scarborough-based concert band and entertained a very large crowd that filled the park. About 80 members of the band performed, under the direction of David Watts.

The concert drew a large crowd at Heseltine, small community park and playground that serves residents of Portland’s Woodfords Corner Community. The concert was a “lawn chair” performance with most audience members bring chairs and blankets to hear the nine-selection show.

The evening’s program:
1. The Star-Spangled Banner
2. Travellin’ Music
3. Summer of ’69
4. The Pathfinder of Panama
5. Indiana
6. An American in Paris
7. Eighties Flashback
8. Seventy-Six Trombones
9. The Stars and Stripes Forever.

2025-07-10 Maine Pops French Horn Ensemble Performs Floating Quintet Concert in Raymond

Residents and vacationers relaxing around Raymond’s Panther Pond got a surprise 90-minute musical performance on July 9 from one of the Maine Pops Concert Band’s newly formed small ensembles. The performance involved a pontoon boat, five French horn players from the band’s “Uniquehorns” ensemble, and a half-dozen stops around the pond to play to appreciating shoreline audiences.

The ensemble’s “Pon-Tunes” performance brought waves of comments from those ashore who were watching and listening to the group’s music. Diane McClanahan, who leads the Uniquehorns ensemble, said the pond-sailing adventure brought many on-site kudos and congratulatory emails, praising the floating stage performance that Wednesday evening.

“The ‘pon-tunes’ we played as we circled the lake in our pontoon boat were met with cheers and applause by folks on the shoreline and docks who were awaiting our arrival,” said McClanahan. She added that one neighbor commented that the ensemble should do it more often, recommending the ensemble conduct regular “Pon-tune Tuesdays” for the community.

Piloted around the lake by Diane’s husband, Arthur, Wednesday’s performing musicians were McClanahan, Barbara Vladenides Wolejko, Rosetta Iannaconne, Denis Drobinski, and Charlie Lessard – all members of the Scarborough-based Maine Pops Concert Band. The music performed consisted of:
1) A Drobinski four-part French horn arrangement of “Air” and “Alla Hornpipe” from G.F. Handel’s Water Music,
2) Summer Song, F. Mendelssohn Op.50, No.31, arranged by H. Voxman, and
3) March Brisk, Milton Dieterich

The Uniquehorns French horn ensemble is one of nine Maine Pops ensembles – a recent expansion of groups that are bringing small group performances to local communities. The floating performance is only the second for the ensemble since forming in January. The ensemble had its premier performance at the inaugural Maine Pops small ensemble concert held May 28 in Saco, ME.

McClanahan said the experience was “…a great opportunity for us to live into the Maine Pops mission of ‘Building Community through Music;’ adding that agreed that Panther Pond residents and vacationers may experience “pon-tunes” again during the summer. Taking from another email she received, McClanahan echoed the comment that “…these are the types of things that strengthen a community.”

2025-07-05 Maine Pops Percussionist Receives Major League Baseball “Home Run Service” Award

Congratulations to Maine Pops Concert Band percussionist Mark Munson on receiving an award from Major League Baseball for providing “Home Run Service” to fans attending Portland Sea Dogs baseball games at Hadlock Field. Your customer service efforts with the Sea Dogs, the Eastern League, and all the fans who attend games are greatly appreciated.

The band sends its congratulations to you, and thanks the Portland Sea Dogs, the Eastern League, and Major League Baseball for recognizing and honoring your work for the team and baseball. (Photo courtesy of the Portland Sea Dogs.)

2025-06-25 Maine Pops Kicks Off Summer Concert Series with at St. David’s Epicopal Church in Kennebunk

The first of the Maine Pops Concert Band’s summer concert series got a wonderful start when the band performed before a fairly large community crowd at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Kennebunk, ME on June 25.

Nearly 80 members of the Maine Pops made the trek to the church grounds located between Kennebunk and Wells to perform 10 pieces from its fall 2024 and spring 2025 concerts. Video of the concert is now available via the band’s YouTube Channel.

Under the Direction of David Watts, the band performed:

The Star-Spangled Banner
Rakes of Mallow
Summer of ’69
Travelin’ Music
Three Celtic Dances
Indiana
The Pathfinder of Panama
Star Trek Symphonic Suite
An American in Paris
Seventy-Six Trombones.

The Maine Pops has four public and three private performances slated between now and August 15. The band’s next public concert is Wednesday, July 16 at Portland’s Heseltine Park, located in the Woodfords Corner neighborhood of Portland, ME. Concert begins at 7 p.m. In August, the band has public performances at the Bath Library Gazebo Park on August 1 at 6:30 p.m., followed by an August 13 concert at 7 p.m. at the Cape Elizabeth Green in Cape Elizabeth, ME. The Maine Pops concludes its public performance season with a 6 p.m. concert at the annual Scarborough (ME) Summerfest on August 15.

Maine Pops Concert Band Conducts Board of Directors Elections for 2025-2026 season.

The Maine Pops Concert Band held its annual board of director elections June 11 during its final 2024-2025 band rehearsal held at Falmouth High School in Falmouth, Maine.

The band splits electing its board of directors election annually, voting on half of the board during “odd” years, and the other half in “even” years. This year, three board officers and five board at-large positions were up for election.

Reelected to the board until June of 2027 were clarinetist Bob Swerdlow as Maine Pops president and saxophonist Jeff Shedd as treasurer. Both trumpeter Steve Barrett and clarinetist Rick Wacksman were reelected as at-large board members. Trombonist Gretchen Ascher was elected vice president, replacing flautist/percussionist Yvonne Wentz. Clarinetist Anton Bodor, trombonist Kyle Neugebauer, and bass clarinetist Gregory J. Stone were elected to at-large board positions, replacing clarinetists Kara Larochelle and Kathleen Martin, and saxophonist Gary MacWhinnie.

The remaining board members – slated for reelection in June 2026 are: flautist Lily King (secretary), bassoonist Christina McCarthy (venue coordinator/past president), and at-large members Nanci Goudey (flute), Jane Ross (clarinet), Patty Gatrost Lawson (flute) and Jim McDonough (trumpet). David Watts – the director of the Maine Pops Concert Band is a non-voting member of the Maine Pops Board of Directors.