Music comes to Hampton’s gazebo

By Nancy Rineman

Atlantic News, Thursday, August 21, 2003

Band Concert at the Gazebo
THE BAND STRIKES UP. Tony Cyrus directs the members of the Greater Hampton Community Band
last Friday at the first concert held at the gazebo in downtown Hampton.
Atlantic News photo by Nancy Rineman

HAMPTON – Downtown Hampton was alive with music Friday evening, as the newly formed Greater Hampton Community Band kicked off the first concert event to be held at the Gazebo at Marelli Park.

A crowd of more than 80 people set up lawn chairs and baby strollers and spread out blankets to join in what David Schwab, owner of Funny Bones Toys, described as a new chapter in Hampton history. Schwab, a member of Hampton’s Destination Downtown Committee, told the applauding crowd that it was “only fitting” that a band of local origin perform the first concert at the new Gazebo.

Directed by Winnacunnet Band Director Tony Cyrus, Friday’s concert featured the musical talents of community members, both students and adults, performing such selections as a “Mancini Spectacular,” highlights from “The Music Man,’ “Star Wars Medley” by John Williams, “Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin, as well as a number of well known marches by John Philip Sousa.

Friday’s concert was the second of three concerts to be performed by Cyrus and his musicians, who all in all had only four rehearsals as a group before their debut in Hampton Falls earlier that week.

“I’m really pleased with what they’re doing and I’m pleased to see so many people here,” Cyrus said at the start of the concert.

Following the concert, Schwab said that the evening reminded him of a Norman Rockwell scene of a typical town in New Hampshire. He said that he found it an emotional moment when the National Anthem was played, and that he was “so proud to be a part of it.”

With a return to more comfortable weather that afternoon, and the grill smells of hot dogs and hamburgers wafting through the air, many in the crowd commented on the success of the evening and a hope for more concerts in the future.

Musicians participating in the first Marelli Park Bandstand concert included Amy Calderwood, Joanne O’Connor, Jane Shaub, Kathryn Wood, Jennalynn Coulp-Yu, Cassie Heinrich, Sean Berry, Debra Eaton, Edward M. Green, Heather Macomber, Robert O’Brien, Matthew Oliver, Laurel Weatherbee, Jeremy Shaw, Rachel Green, Gerhard Blume, Hoban Blume, Tory Miller, Ben Roesch, Ed Cyrus, Jonathan Cyrus, Stephen Healey, Jeffrey Frese, Amy Carlino, Joanna Cyrus, Brett Gallo and Mary Oliver.

[See also, Community Band Makes Musicr This Summer and Students, area residents band together for concert.]