Boulder Concert Band, Inc.

The illustrious history of the Boulder Concert Band traces back to the ICC Silver Cornet Band of 1870, which performed weekly concerts in the pioneer town of Boulder. In 1897, the larger Boulder Citizen’s Band was formed, said to be the best of its type in Colorado. Its successor, the Boulder Municipal Band, was the first to include women musicians. Today’s Boulder Concert Band was organized in 1976 by Hugh McMillen, former Director of Bands at the University of Colorado. One of the foremost adult community bands in the United States, the Boulder Concert Band comprises more than fifty volunteer musicians from the Boulder, Longmont and Denver metro areas. The Boulder Concert Band endeavors to give back to our community in numerous ways. The band has been featured at annual conventions of both the Colorado Music Education Association and the American School Band Directors Association, both held in Colorado Springs. On July 4, 2018, the band played two concerts in the Boulder Chautauqua’s 120th birthday celebration. The Boulder Concert Band provides outstanding performances of traditional and new concert literature, striving to enrich the cultural experience of both audience and musicians. The band also offers a community organization for adults who wish to continue to play their instruments after high school or college. October to May, audiences enjoy concert band classics and contributions from guest artists in four to six concerts. June through August, we offer fare suitable for family gatherings in Boulder’s beautiful city parks, a patriotic concert in Louisville on the 4th of July and a private concert at the Frasier Meadows Retirement Community. During the summer series we invite talented high school students to join the band. During each summer concert, we also invite the children to help conduct a lively march, and every little conductor receives a commemorative “baton.” In 2020, the Boulder Concert Band was awarded The American Prize in Band Performance Community Division for 2019-2020. The American Prize celebrates American excellence in the arts. We received this honor in recognition of the quality of our recorded performance of John Williams’s "Escapades for Alto Saxophone and Concert Band", directed by Maestro Silas Nathaniel Huff, and featuring Tim Hughes on alto saxophone and Jordan Taylor on vibraphone, with Jordan Walters on string bass and Katie Hughes on piano. In June, 2021, the Boulder Concert Band was again selected as a finalist for The American Prize. We selected four of our best pieces from concerts in the years 2016 to 2019 to submit for judging. We were awarded third place in Band Performance Community Division, with The Acadian Wind Symphony (Acadia, LA) winning first place, and The Allentown Band (Allentown, PA), taking second place. We are again American Prize semi-finalists in 2023.

Boulder Concert Band, Inc. PO Box 18405, Boulder, CO 80308