Blacksburg Community Band Music Directors
The Blacksburg Community Band is directed by Ed Schwartz. A native of the Chicago area, Ed is a graduate of the University of Illinois School of Music with degrees in music education.
Ed has played trombone for numerous bands and orchestras. He was a soloist and trombone section leader in the 84th Army Band in Stuttgart, West Germany and principal trombonist for the Illini Symphony. Before coming to Blacksburg, Ed was the founder and director of the Newark Community Band in Newark, Delaware.
Currently on the faculty at Virginia Tech in Educational Technologies and director of the New Media Center, Ed works with the application of interactive optical and digital multimedia technologies to education. Some of his other activities include: The Sauerkraut Band (German music); The Riverboat Ramblers (Dixieland music); The New River Valley Summer Musical Enterprise; Editor of the Expressions Magazine of the New River Valley; and Past President of the New River Arts Council .
Ed can be reached by E-Mail: ed.schwartz@vt.edu; or office phone: (540) 231-4975; or New Media Center phone: (540) 231-4826; or home phone: (540) 382-3707.
The Blacksburg Community Band's Associate Director is Steve Brown. A Seattle, Washington Native who grew up on the West Coast. He spent 21 years in the Navy, retiring as Chief Petty Officer. He is mostly self-taught as composer and conductor, but he did study composition with Roger Nixon at San Francisco State College.
He has written music for band, orchestra, Broadway-style shows, chorus (two cantatas and a Requiem), and many other ensembles. He has also written the book, music, lyrics and orchestrations for musicals ("The Prisoner Of Zenda" and "Road To Paradise"), and written straight plays ("Seance On A Dark Afernoon"). His compositions have been played by college, high school, military, and community bands around the country and the world.
Theatergoers from the New River Valley and Roanoke may have seen Steve in many community theater productions, including Tevye in "Fiddler On The Roof," Buffalo Bill in "Annie Get Your Gun," the title character in "The Man Who Came To Dinner," and Daddy Warbucks in "Annie." He is currently a classical announcer on the local NPR station, WVTF.