The Lancaster British Brass Band

The Lancaster British Brass Band consists of 28 players including 3 percussionists. It draws its personnel from the four state region of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey. Originally conceived as a top-level, professional quality ensemble, it includes among its membership professional solo and ensemble players and music teacher/performers. The band members bring years of playing and teaching experience to the organization from such diverse institutions as The Philadelphia Orchestra, The United States Marine Band, the Lancaster, Harrisburg, Reading and York Symphony Orchestras, and L’Orchestra del Maggio Musicale of Florence, Italy. Many Players are currently engaged as teachers in various public and private school venues and in such institutions of higher learning as West Chester and Millersville Universities, Lebanon Valley College, The University of Delaware and Towson University.

The group was founded in 2004 by Paul Belser, Walter Blackburn and Rick Staherski, three well-known Lancaster, Pennsylvania, musicians. They saw the need for and the potential of a highly professional musical ensemble of this type for the region. A roster of first-rank professional brass and percussion players from a four state region was drawn up, music chosen, and a concert schedule with appropriate rehearsals established. The premier concert was given on April 30, 2005, in downtown Lancaster at the historic First Presbyterian Church to an enthusiastic and overflowing crowd.

The band continues to draw large and enthusiastic audiences, continuing the brass band tradition which began over a century and a half ago in the British Isles. The Lancaster British Brass Band follows the path first laid down in the smoky mill and mining towns of mid-nineteenth century Britain. Gradually evolving into a fixed instrumentation of 28 players (and 1 conductor), the brass band flourished under the sponsorship of mill and mine owners bent on “morale and spiritual uplift”. Thus laying the groundwork for a later time when the Salvation Army began capitalizing on the success of the bands by establishing brass bands as part of their outreach through music.

This site is designed and maintained by Alpha-Omega Computer Services.

Please contact us if you have any problems with this site.