Carleton Place and District Community Band Concert in Gemmill Park – July 15, 2024

Press Release – Carleton Place & District Community Band

The Carleton Place and District Community Band (CPDCB) kicked off its 2024 Concert Season with our Spring Concert entitled “Swingin’ Into Spring.”

The concert took place at the Carambeck Community Centre, on Sunday, June 2 to a sold-out house. Swing was the theme of this year’s concert bringing back many memories of the big band era with the sounds of the Benny Goodman and the Glenn Miller bands. As an additional feature, this year the band was joined by the Ottawa Vintage Swing Dancers who put on a spectacular performance to the music of the band.  

Over the past nine years, under the direction of our Conductor Gary Payne, the band has grown from 18 to 48 musicians performing an expanded and more advanced selection of music. With the support and generous donations from the Carleton Place community and businesses, the band has been able to acquire many new percussion instruments, increasing the diversity and quality of our performances. This year we were also fortunate to receive corporate donation from Exit Realty Vision, which allowed the band to purchase new uniform shirts.

The band is extremely fortunate to have many very talented musicians who go above and beyond in their contribution to our performances. Mr. Peter Archibald continues to write and orchestrate wonderful musical selections for the band and Mike Emberson (Tenor) and April Fergusson (Soprano) provide truly professional vocal performances.

This summer the band will be presenting a series of free outdoor concerts on Monday evenings, including one in Almonte. The band is excited to be performing our first outdoor concert in Almonte on Monday, July 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Gemmill Park. Come on out on a summer evening and enjoy music in the park. 

The Carleton Place band also performs yearly on Remembrance Day and holds a Christmas concert in early December in support of Lanark County Hunger Stop food bank.

The Carleton Place and District Community Band is a community-based band which draws its membership from as far away as Ottawa and Arnprior and everywhere in between, including Mississippi Mills. Our musicians range in age and experience from those currently playing in high school to those retired from a career of performing music professionally.

If you play an instrument now or if you have played in a band years ago, come out and enjoy playing music again. There are no fees to join and if you have two or three years of experience or more the CPDCB will be a great fit for you. Rehearsals take place on Monday evenings from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at 137 John Street in Carleton Place.

Please contact Mike Peckett at mpeckett@sympatico.ca for further information or visit http://www.facebook.com/cpadcb.