Gettysburg Brass Band Festival

In 1875, George F. Patton published A Practical Guide to the Arrangement of Band Music that includes this thought: When we see a town with flourishing enterprises, such as newspapers, schools, libraries, picture galleries, literary and scientific societies, concert halls, theaters, and brass bands, we need not be told that it is the dwelling place of intelligent and cultivated people.

The historic town of Gettysburg has now been home to the Gettysburg Brass Band Festival since 1998. In 2023, some 4,000 listeners from the Mid-Atlantic States  attended the event to enjoy the glorious sound of brass bands, community bands, jazz groups, and the unique Taps Tribute on the Gettysburg National Military Park. Over 650 musicians performed.

       Community Band Night is June 5 as we welcome the Adams County Community Band  and Generations Big Band(formerly Gettysburg Big Band).

      June 6 starts with the Tuba Open golf benefit held at the beautiful Carroll Golf Course. An evening benefit dinner and concert, Jazz al Fresco, will take place on the seminary mainstage featuring the Darden Purcell Group from the Washington, DC area.

      Bands in the Borough is on the evening of June 7 in downtown Gettysburg.  Gettysburg Brass performs on Dobbin House patio, the Lancers Drum and Bugle Corps will be at the Gettysburg Heritage Center, Three Fathoms brings its unique brand of traditional jazz to the Lincoln Square Arts Oasis Stage, and the Antebellum Marine Band will be featured next to Mr. G’s Ice Cream Parlor on Baltimore Street.

     Two days of brass music begins at noon on June 8 and 9. The Benfield, Spires, and Rockville Brass Bands from Maryland, Imperial Brass, Princeton Brass Band and Atlantic Brass Band from New Jersey, Virginia’s Cathedral Brass  and Brass Band of Northern Virginia, Ohio’s Dublin Silvern Band,  the Chesapeake Silver Concert Band from Delaware,  the Syracuse University(NY) Brass Ensemble and Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Brass Band and the Pennview Brass Band perform on the Main Stage at the United Lutheran Seminary. Saturday”s schedule concludes with the moving Taps Tribute at historic sites on the Gettysburg battlefield at sundown.

The 2024 Gettysburg Brass Band Festival is supported by individual and business donations and in part by the Robert C. Hoffman Charitable Endowment Trust; a grant from the PA Council for the Arts, a state agency funded by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the NEA, a federal agency; the Adams County Arts Council’s Star Grant Program which is funded by the Adams County Commissioners and Borough of Gettysburg.

This free event is organized by community volunteers in partnership with the United Lutheran Seminary Music Gettysburg! Concert Series and Destination Gettysburg.