Richard Gordon’s legacy:

The Woodside Village Band (WVB) got its start in 1988 with Woodside High School Principal, George Sellman, and his love for Broadway musicals. Mr. Sellman had the idea of producing Town musicals in the form of operettas to raise money for the Town’s schools. “Mame” was chosen as the first musical production and Richard Gordon was tapped to serve as the conductor of the orchestra. Working closely with Deborah Gordon and George Sellman, the three built this musical production from the ground up and it was a huge success!

The following year, the group produced “Music Man.” Based on its continued success, the Woodside Village Band decided to stay together with Richard Gordon serving as conductor.

Over the years, Richard and the band performed in countless eighth grade operettas, summer concerts and picnics in the amphitheatre, and performed regularly in the Woodside Village Church. The Band even played in Candlestick Park. In more recent years, the band has performed primarily at the church.

For decades, Richard Gordon was the glue that held the band together, recruiting new members including youth from the high school, and providing the community with opportunities to come together and celebrate with beloved music.

Following Richard’s death in 2016, the band successfully recruited Yessica Gallagher to carry on the band’s fine tradition of making music and building community.

Yessica’s new vision for the band:

The Woodside Village Band is a well-established band with strong musicians that currently perform four to five concerts a year. Our vision moving forward is to have the band perform at community events as we have done in the past, and to continue including our local high school students.

What donations will be used for:

Part of Richard’s vision was to offer free membership to its musicians and free concerts to its audience. Your donations will allow us to continue this tradition by covering basic costs such as rehearsal space, equipment space, advertisement, concert programs, and new music.

With additional funds, we will start awarding scholarships to high school seniors in the band that are pursuing musical careers. Once that is established, we would like to also offer scholarships for younger musicians to attend summer music camps.

How you can help:

Donate, attend a concert, or join the band. Our membership is open to wind players and percussionists.

Rehearsals are in the Woodside Village Church, Monday nights from 7:30-9:00pm.

Concert schedule can be found on our web site.

Contact information:

Yessica Gallagher

Email

Web site