Jeannette Community Band cabaret concert to honor late director

Terri Miller of Hempfield remembers watching her father, Carl Masciantonio, directing the Jeannette Community Band from his podium. She can remember watching him onstage playing tuba. And she remembers playing under his direction as a Jeannette student.

Those memories will come flooding back Sunday, Oct. 15, when the Jeannette Community Band presents its annual Cabaret Concert in memory of her father and to raise money for its annual scholarship.

“He was one of the original group that started the band,” Miller said. “He had a lot of colleagues and students who were members over the years.”

Following Masciantonio’s death in 2017, the family was pondering what to do with memorial donations, and Miller’s sister suggested the scholarship.

“That’s what we did,” Miller said. “I had no idea that next year, the band would surprise us by deciding to host a concert every year to keep funding the scholarship.”

Far from your standard community-band concert setup, the show at the Jeannette American Legion will be broken into acts, with small groups and occasional solo performers, vocal and instrumental.

“We highlight different people in the band,” said clarinetist Sherrie Wood. “Our saxophone section will do its own number, the flute section as well. And a couple individuals will put their own acts on. I really like that part. The band will only play about four or five songs.”

Wood said the audience setup is also completely different, switching things up for the cabaret theme with roundtable seating.

The event is free to attend, and proceeds for the scholarship are generated through raffles, a 50-50 drawing, Chinese auction and more.

“It’s wonderful that they donate their time and energy to help keep it going,” Miller said.

The Jeannette Community Band Cabaret Concert will be at 7 p.m. at American Legion Post 344, 109 South Fifth St. in Jeannette.

For more, see JCBweb.com.