Our History
The Freeport Community Band: Celebrating 100 Years of Music
The Freeport Concert Band can trace its roots back to the early twentieth century and the Freeport Fire Department Band. In 1921, a marching band emerged from the group. Bill Dayton led and conducted this band which called Freeport, New York its home.
At the conclusion of his amazing fifty years of service, Dayton, in 1971, stepped aside and Ned Mahoney, the band’s Conductor Emeritus, took over the role of conductor. It was under his leadership that the Freeport Fire Department Band began slowly morphing into a concert band. Mahoney stepped down as conductor in 1976 at which point Kazimier (Casey) Albinsky took the baton. It was under Albinsky’s leadership that the band moved, in the fall of 1983, and took up temporary residence in the nearby hamlet of Franklin Square where it became known as the Franklin Square-Munson Fire Department Band. In the spring of 1986, Albinsky resigned for health reasons and Ted Mordoff took over. Later in the year, the band relocated again, this time to Rockville Centre, where it took on the name Rockville Centre Community Band. Mordoff conducted until 1998.
Mordoff’s replacement was Raoul Camus (Conductor Laureate) who led and conducted the band until December 2010. It was under his leadership that the band grew significantly in size from fourteen members to over fifty and a concert schedule was developed (the inaugural concert of the Freeport Community Band occurred on May 17, 2009). In January 2009, the band moved back to Freeport. In 2010, Sandra Vigliotti became the next and current conductor. The band is currently affiliated with the Adult Education Department of the Freeport school district.
As its 100th anniversary approached, the band looked with excitement toward the future. But first, it was faced with the challenge of operating in the age of the coronavirus. Although COVID-19 brought in person rehearsals to a temporary halt in March 2020, the band pivoted and began hosting monthly online Zoom meetings first aimed at keeping members connected.
Eventually the Zoom sessions became educational workshops. The first of these educational programs was a presentation by Michael Lasorsa, Director of Bands, at the Freeport High School. The second program featured John Russo, Program Director of Music and Memory, who spoke about how music has a positive effect on seniors with dementia. The third in the series was a historical trip through the Freeport Community Band’s past with former band director and noted music historian Raoul Camus. The final program was a discussion, direct from Bruges, Belgium, with Karel Goetghebeur, the founder of Adolphe Sax & Cie and the driving force behind SAX4PAX a program whereby discarded weapons and ammunition are converted into saxophones.
In addition, under the guidance of the Band’s Board of Directors, lead by President Bill Rothchild, the Freeport Community Band in 2021 became a member of the Association of Concert Bands (https://www.acbands.org/).
The Band held its first concert of its centennial year on Sunday, August 8 at the John Phillip Sousa Memorial Band Shell in Port Washington, New York close to the former home of Sousa and overlooking the beautiful Manhasset Bay.
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