Enjoy the Music and Meet New Friends
The Maynard Community Band (MCB) is a 50 piece ensemble founded in 1947. We are an all-volunteer self-sufficient band that does not require any fees or dues and does not require any auditions.
Band music has long been an integral part of the Maynard community and originally included three previous musical organizations, the Maynard Military Brass Band, the Imatra Band and the National Band. A true community band was born in 1947 when Mr. Louis Koski, a professional conductor and composer, facilitated the amalgamation of these three musical groups. He was eventually succeeded by Mr. Ilmari Junno who continued developing the Band into a fine musical organization until the mid-1950’s when Mr. Alexander DeGrappo became the conductor and gradually introduced more contemporary music into concert programs. Through the years, the Band continued to grow in numbers, attracting musicians from Maynard as well as surrounding communities with Mr. DeGrappo conducting the Band until 2003 when Mr. Michael Karpeichik was elected to take up the baton.
Our members hail from backgrounds as diverse as teachers, engineers, lawyers, real estate, housewives, seniors and entrepreneurs just to name a few. Our ages ranges from early-teens to mid-eighties. Abilities range from middle school students needing a more challenging repertoire, high school and college students, community members returning to their musical roots, music majors and semi pro’s. Many members have had a 15 to 20 year break before dusting off their old instrument and joining our musical family. It’s never too late to join.
Under Mr. Karpeichik’s leadership, the MCB now includes musicians from Maynard and surrounding towns as well as from Brighton, Medford, Billerica, Framingham, Lincoln and Lancaster just to name a few. A typical rehearsal draws 30 – 40 musicians and the level of enthusiasm, musicianship and quality of performances has multiplied over recent years.
The band plays a wide variety of band literature, focusing on quality concert music, standard band repertoire and modern compositions. Performances include 10-12 annual outdoor summer concerts as well as spring and fall performances ending with our Holiday Christmas concert in mid-December.