Classic City Band of Athens-Clarke

     Classic City Band is proud to be Georgia's oldest continuously operating community band. Celebrating over forty years of musicianship, we exist to preserve the rich, cultural significance of the American Concert Band. 

     Established in 1976, the band began with around fifty members. The very first concert was a patriotic performance scheduled that summer on July 18th at Memorial Park in Athens, conducted by John M. Corina. Currently, the band is conducted by Michael Brewer & Associate Conductor Ed Schwartz, and is comprised of seventy highly astute wind and percussion players who volunteer their time with the ensemble. In fact, some of the band's founding members are still with us, today. We are very fortunate to have such talent within our band. An overwhelming percentage of our players were/are music educators. We also have quite a few former and current participants of The University of Georgia Redcoat Marching Band. Many of us also "double" and sometimes "triple" by participating in the Athens Symphony Orchestra, Athens Master Chorale, Athens Choral Society, Athens Flute Choir, Athens Brass Choir, as well as, provide pit ensembles for both Town & Gown and Athens Creative Theatre.

     Throughout the year, Classic City Band provides six free concerts to the Athens and surrounding area. These include programs for the Holidays, both Spring & Fall, Memorial Day, and two for the Fourth of July. In addition to the large group, we also host three small ensembles of approximately twenty members each. These are Big Band Athens, a forties-style swing band, Classic City Dixie Dawgs, a New Orleans dixieland band, and the Classic City Polka Band, a German folk band. None of these subsidiaries are for-profit organizations. We exist to simply share our love of music across a vast array of cultures and heritages. We also do our best to give back to our community by providing small ensemble Christmas concerts to a collection of retirement facilities around the area, as well as, provide instrument demonstrations for the youth within the local schools and libraries. This a special time for us to personally connect to our audiences and, hopefully, carve a pathway for another forty years of music.

     Thank you so much for spending time with us, today. We appreciate each and every one of you reading our story. Without our supporters, we recognize that we wouldn't be able to do any of the things we do. If you are in the Athens or surrounding area, we would like to personally invite you to attend one of our concerts. More information about the band can be found on our website at www.classiccityband.org including our upcoming performance schedules, information to join our band, and a more detailed history of the ensemble - including both photo and audio archives. Please, check us out, and consider contributing to the continuation of a legacy that is the Classic City Band.