The Grand Street Community Band is an all-volunteer symphonic wind ensemble that rehearses and performs esteemed repertoire in a friendly setting. We help adult musicians improve their command of brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments while striving for a high level of craft and visibility. We support projects that encourage lifelong music-making through participation in symphonic wind ensembles. We strive to give every instrumental musician a place to play, regardless of ability level.
About Us
Our members come from all professions and walks of life; some of our seats are filled by alumni of the Grand Street Campus High Schools, from which the band takes its name. GSCB fills a huge void for symphonic wind ensembles in the New York City area.
Along with our emphasis on musicianship, we take pride in being a social, friendly group that encourages community values and gives our participants the opportunity to play together. GSCB’s efforts continue to surprise and delight both musicians and audiences, while keeping classical music alive and well within the Brooklyn community and beyond.
In addition to presenting our regular series at Grand Street High School, we have participated in Columbia University’s Festival of Winds, Make Music New York, McCarren Park Pumpkin Day, and Summer Starz at the East River State Park in our home neighborhood of Williamsburg. GSCB has also had the honor of performing at both Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall.
MMC Board of Directors
The Grand Street Community Band is governed by the MMC Board of Directors.
David Blumenthal
Artistic Director
David Blumenthal is a member of the instrumental music faculty at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City, where he conducts numerous ensembles and teaches courses in music theory, aural skills, music history and brass techniques. Blumenthal also teaches a seminar in conducting and orchestration. In December of 2023, the LaGuardia High School Wind Symphony was honored to perform at the 87th Annual NYSSMA Winter Conference in Rochester, New York.
This fall, Blumenthal began his fifth season as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Grand Street Community Band in Brooklyn, New York, along with serving on the Artistic Directors Board of the Metropolitan Music Community. Throughout his tenure, GSCB has welcomed guest artists, including composers Anthony Barfield and Michael Markowski to collaborate on their works. Guest soloists have included saxophonist Nicholas Natalie for a performance of John Williams’ Escapades, and the Hudson Brass, a brass quintet comprised of members of the West Point Band, for a performance of Leonard Bernstein’s Suite from MASS. In addition to Blumenthal's conducting obligations, in the Fall of 2020, he curated the MMC Music Education Forum, broadly built upon the ideas of promoting and fostering inclusion, diversity, equity and identity in our school communities and music classrooms.
An advocate for new music and pushing the boundaries of the art-form, Blumenthal - with the LaGuardia High School Bands and Grand Street Community Band - is a member of numerous consortiums and commission projects, including those of composers Conni Ellisor, Cathy Likhuta, Michael Mikulka, Aakash Mittal, Joel Puckett, and Shruthi Rajasekar. Blumenthal is a collaborator with Anthony Barfield on his groundbreaking project, Symphony 808 - a symphony which melds classical music and hip hop beats, bringing two different cultures together to create an innovative new form - serving as the conductor for the recording session of the first movement which was released in January of 2024.
Blumenthal earned a Master of Music degree in wind band conducting from the University of California, Los Angeles and a Bachelor of Music degree in music performance and music education, as well as a B.A. in musical studies with a concentration in theory and history from the Crane School of Music at the State University of New York at Potsdam. His principal teachers were Travis J. Cross and Brian K. Doyle in conducting, Mark S. Hartman in trombone, and Timothy R. Sullivan as his thesis advisor for theory and history. During his studies at UCLA, Blumenthal served as assistant conductor for the UCLA Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Brass Ensemble, and Symphony, and coordinated the UCLA Wind Ensemble Invitational and the UCLA Wind Conducting Workshop.
Blumenthal continues his studies in conducting here in the U.S and abroad. Most recently, he has participated in conducting symposiums at Northwestern University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Michigan and the New England Conservatory of Music. Prior to his appointment at LaGuardia, he taught in Westchester County for three years as a band director at Harrison High School. Blumenthal began his career with the non-profit organization Education Through Music, and established a comprehensive music education program at P.S. 84 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
David currently resides in Inwood, Manhattan, with his wife Leah, and their two dogs Ziggy and Graham.