Join us for Summer 2025, Season 29!
Begins June 10
Music Director and Conductor Danny Lewis spent the last 9 years as Director of Bands at McCluer High School in the Ferguson Florissant School District and served as the District's Fine Arts Curriculum Coordinator for the last 3 years. In fall 2025, he will start a new position Prior to teaching in the Ferguson Florissant District, Danny taught for three years at Mark Twain High School in the Ralls Co RII School District in Center, Missouri. He received a Bachelor's of Music degree from Truman State University in 2011 and a Master's in Education from Truman State University in 2013. Dannny has had the pleasure of playing with many local St. Louis musicians and, as an educator, has had the opportunity to collaborate with artists and administrators from Jazz St. Louis and the St. Louis Symphony. He's looking forward to his 3rd year as Director of the University City Summer Band.
Essential monetary donations to support the U City Summer Band come from businesses and friends like you! We want to continue and expand our efforts to play with and mentor St. Louis area high school musicians. In making a financial donation to the band, you are supporting these efforts and supporting our community. Your financial support also helps us bring in guest artists. You can donate online with PayPal or Venmo or by check at the donations page. You can donate online using a credit card, debit card or PayPal. To donate by check, please see more information on the donation page.
The University City Summer Band is a production of the University City Music Company, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Donations may be tax deductible. Thank you for keeping the music going!
Opening Fanfare.....Daniel Lewis
*Fanfare for the 3rd Planet.....Richard L. Saucedo
*Amparito Roca (Spanish March).....Jaime Texidor, arr Gary Fugan
Last Ride of the Pony Express.....David Shaffer
Till Earth and Heaven Ring.....Ayatey Shabazz
Pirates of the Caribbean.....Klaus Badelt, arr John Wasson
INTERMISSION
**The New World.....Dvorak, arr Michael Story
Winter Milky Way.....Yukiko Nishimura
Anthem for Winds and Percussion.....Claude T. Smith
Incredibles 2.....Michael Giacchino, arr Paul Murtha
On the Mall.....Edwin Franko Goldman
Student Night Guests
Sophia Ackerman - Bass Clarinet
Robert Chancey - Tenor Saxophone
Adam Darek - Trumpet
Keegan Hogan - Trombone
Cherish Humphrey - Clarinet
Alene Jia - French Horn
Tristen Kirkman - Percussion
Camden Litzler - Alto Saxophone
Jamie Lum - Trumpet
Joey Lum - Percussion
Jackson Runion - Percussion
Tennisha Russ - Trumpet
Harrison Seeker - Baritone
Chelsea Smith - Clarinet
Nova Thompson - Tuba
Payten Travis-Newson - Percussion
Dylan Vo - Flute
Marcel Williford - Trumpet
*Guest Conductor Stephenie Grass is the Director of Bands and Music Department Chair at Grand Center Arts Academy. She began teaching in South Florida as the Associate Director of Instrumental Arts at the Kings Academy in 2012 and joined the faculty at GCAA in 2020. Under her leadership the band program has tripled in size, received its first ever straight superior rating, and has collaborated frequently with arts organizations such as the St. Louis Symphony, Jazz St. Louis, and Opera Theater St. Louis. In 2023 she was awarded teacher of the year award for GCAA. Stephenie received her Bachelor's Degree in Music Education from Palm Beach Atlantic University as the Outstanding Graduate honoree for the college of Music and Arts in 2017. In 2022 she received her Masters in Music Education Degree from Vandercook College of Music.
**Guest Conductor Brittney Dickson is the Director of Bands at Jennings High School and has also been affiliated with the Riverview Gardens and University City School Districts. She holds a Master’s in Educational Leadership with Principal’s Certification from Northwest Missouri State. Brittney member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc as well as Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity for Women. Brittney has been an active member of the UCity Summer Band over the last 9 years and has been instrumental in encouraging high school students to join the band for Student Night and pursue music at the college level.
Opening Fanfare.....Daniel Lewis
America the Beautiful
An American Fanfare.....Rick Kirby
The Bride of the Waves
Z's Blues.....John Zdechilk
Blue Tango
INTERMISSION
St. Louis Blues
Armed Forces Salute.....Bob Lowden
Glenn Miller in Concert
Stars and Stripes Forever.....John Philip Sousa
On the Mall.....Edwin Frankco Goldman
2025 concerts will take place in Heman Park (Midland & Shaftesbury Entrance)
SUMMER 2025!!
The 60-member (give or take) U City Summer Band is... Light Classics, Marches, Patriotic Music, Show Tunes, Popular Music, Jazz, and Original Music for Band.
Concerts are held at our venue in Heman Park, 1028 Midland Blvd, University City, MO 63130 (park entrance is off Midland, opposite Shaftesbury).
All concerts start at 7PM, last about 60 minutes, and include a short intermission. Seating is on the lawn. Bring a lawn chair or blanket as available seating is limited. Bring your children! Bring a picnic! There is shade for the audience (beneath the trees). There is a nearby playground and restrooms.
For our last piece at each concert, we play "On the Mall." Children are invited to come up to the front and conduct the band and receive their very own U City Summer Band pencil!
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U City Summer Band Vidoes on YouTube!
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The U City Summer Band was featured in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
COMPLETE ARTICLE
“It’s unlike anything else, this atmosphere,” said Frank Chross of University City, lounging in his lawn chair with about 150 others for the first University City Summer Band concert of the season.
“There’s something about live music,” said Danny Lewis, a trumpeter who took over as director of the U. City Summer Band this year. “It’s a magical thing.”
“I’m of the mindset that I want everybody to play,” said U. City’s Lewis, who teaches band in the Ferguson-Florissant School District. “We’ll find a place for you.” Recruiting and retaining younger players can be a challenge. Most band members are closer to Social Security eligibility than to their college days.
The University City Summer Band designates its second concert of the season as Student Night, inviting high school band members from across the region to accompany it. Song selection helps to both engage performers and turn first-time audience members into regulars, said Lewis. “I want there to be music that you’ve never heard and some that you know,” he said. Military marches, Broadway scores and patriotic tunes are constants. But reimagined billboard hits and blockbuster movie soundtracks also get their due. “My 8-year-old will be singing along to ‘Hakuna Matata,’” said Lewis, who himself favors “Irish Tune from County Derry,” better known as “Danny Boy.”
U. City is just a few members shy of its full pre-pandemic roster of about 90. But at the end of every concert, its ranks swell. Lewis invites the kids in the audience to the podium to grab a pencil. A dozen new conductors are born as the band closes out the show with one final march.
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Our first High School Student Night on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 was a HUGE SUCCESS!
Thank you to those who joined and we look forward to making music with St. Louis area high school musicians again next year!
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