Nov 5, 2020 2 min read

A popular student-musician band in the Mon Valley will hold its annual concert virtually this year.

The Twin Coaches Jr. Stage Band concert will take place from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

While the concert will take place at the Stockdale VFD Social Hall, it will also be streamed live, for free, on the Facebook page for Mon Valley Academy for the Arts (MVAA), which will present the concert.

Mark Smith, president of MVAA, said the band normally plays outdoor venues along with other bands presented by the MVAA, as the academy receives an annual grant from the EQT Foundation to put on 10 concerts per year. Those concerts typically attract between 300 and 500 people, but the pandemic forced the organization to present the shows online.

“We went completely online starting in June,” Smith said – and they found an even broader audience for their shows. One brought in 26,000 viewers, he noted.

“It’s gone very well,” he said.

Now in its fifth year, the Twin Coaches Jr. Stage Band gives student musicians in grades seven through 12 the opportunity to work with seasoned professional musicians and to perform for an audience.

Smith said they normally have a 17-piece band tailored after the old Twin Coaches Supper Club Orchestra. This year the academy increased the size to a 20-piece band, including a vocalist.

The show’s runtime is an hour, consisting of hand-picked selections from contemporary and big-band tunes, to rock and jazz.

During the show, Phil Fachine, the CEO of Frick Financial FCU, will present each student with a $200 scholarship for attending and participating in 11 weeks of rehearsals in Charleroi.

Overall, response to the virtual concerts has been positive – so positive, Smith said, that MVAA just received money from the Washington County Community Foundation to purchase equipment that will help them live-stream events, which they plan to do even after COVID-19 is under control.

Although the show will be streamed and made available to view after the show, Smith said they have limited seating of 100 at the Stockdale VFD Social Hall with around 20 tickets remaining at $10 each. The hall opens at 3 p.m., and tickets will not be sold at the door.

Unlike the band’s past couple of performances, this show will not include a dinner and dancing.

For more information, call 724-565-1687 or email info@monvalleyacacdeemyforthearts.org