KENOSHA — As the Kenosha Pops Concert Band gets ready to open its landmark 100th season, the biggest change happens on the podium.
Kathy Ripley — the band director at Tremper High School — joins the band as its new assistant conductor.
She’s replacing Frank Germinaro, whose connection with the band goes back to the 1950s, when he joined as a member of the band’s clarinet section.
Germinaro was then assistant conductor under John Bunic for several years before being named the band’s musical director in the early 1990s.
Fifteen years after retiring as the Pops conductor, Germinaro returned to the band in 2018 as the assistant conductor, working with his former assistant, Craig Gall.
Now Germinaro has retired for the second time.
As for Gall, he’s starting his 20th season as the band’s musical director “and before that, I served as Frank’s assistant for seven years,” he said.
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A century of music
The band’s Wednesday night outdoor concerts this summer will celebrate the band’s first 100 years by taking audiences “through the decades” each week with songs from the past century, Gall said.
The season opens on June 15 with songs from the 1920s; June 22 brings the “Great American Songbook” with tunes from the 1930s, along with guest vocalist Lou Rugani; a salute to the big bands of the ’40s is on June 29; and the band’s patriotic programs are on July 4 and 6. On July 13, it’s rock ‘n’ roll with songs from the 1950s and ’60s, moving up to music from the 1970s and ’80s on July 20 and music from “the 1990s and beyond” on July 27.
The season finale on Aug. 3 features audience favorites from the summer season.
As time goes by
As he gets ready to start his 29th season with the Pops, Gall still sounds surprised he’s been with the group that long — and how fast that time has gone.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with the band so far,” he said. “It’s a great bunch of people and a very good band. That’s what keeps the audience coming back.”
He is quick to thank the city of Kenosha for its support.
“It says a lot for the city of Kenosha that they’ve supported this wonderful band for 100 years. I’m happy to be carrying on that tradition,” said Gall, who has been a school band director for three decades, first in Kenosha and now in Kimberly, near Appleton.
Pre-season concert
Before starting its outdoor season on June 15, the Kenosha Pops Concert Band is performing an indoor concert Saturday, June 11, at Kenosha’s Civil War Museum, 5400 First Ave.
The free hourlong concert starts at 1 pm and will feature “a nice mix of music from the Civil War era but not limited to that,” said Craig Gall, the Pops Band’s conductor.
The program will feature Max Steiner’s “Tara’s Theme” from “Gone with the Wind” and Clare Grundman’s “American Folk Rhapsody No. 2.” That medley contains traditional folk songs, including “Billy Boy,” “Skip to My Lou” and “Shenandoah.”
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