Central Jersey Wind Ensemble Features Families

At the Senior House on July 14, a family band will be taking the stage for the audience’s delight.  It won’t be The Patridge Family Band- it will be the Central Jersey Wind Ensemble, and they boast two families that play in the 35-musician group. 

The Santoro’s, who have been in the ensemble since its inception in 1993, and the Delli Paoli’s, who joined in 2003, will keep the concert a family act as Montville Recreation’s summer concert series continues.

“The band formed by putting some of the most talented musicians in the Central Jersey area together,” said Nicholas Santoro, the group’s conductor. 

     “These musicians were playing with professional orchestras and concert bands.  We [the band] decided we wanted to get together and play some really good music.  Once we performed our first concert at the Mason Gross School of the Performing Arts at Rutgers University in 1993, we knew we wanted to keep playing together.”

Central Jersey Wind Ensemble got its start by playing concerts in schools in East Brunswick, Newark, and Toms River.  The group would share the stage with the school’s band, where each would play 4-5 songs by themselves, and then collaborate on a few numbers.

Each year, the members of the group vary slightly.  Because of the talent involved, some of the members have other obligations when a concert comes around. 

“We constantly get a lot of great musicians to come with us because of the quality of our group,” Santoro said.  “Musicians come from places like Jersey City all the way from down the shore to join us.”

The ensemble, which plays overtures, show-tunes, marches, and even more serious pieces, is a true wind ensemble, which means the band features one musician for every part.  The only exception is that they have two clarinets.      

Although the group originally featured Santoro and his wife, Barbara, who plays the clarinet, the more family-oriented nature happened after several years of performing. 

“My daughter, Christina, and son, Jeffrey, who will be on vacation for this performance, joined the band, and it makes it much more like a family,” Santoro said.  “That’s how it should be.”

Don Delli Paoli joined the band in 2003, and his son, Evan, and daughter, Cara, quickly followed to round out the Delli Paoli trumpeters. 

“When we do town concerts, we try to sound like a band from the turn of the century,” Santoro said.

Central Jersey Wind Ensemble can be seen at Lincoln Park at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church for their Holiday Concert, something that the group has been doing for the past three years, as well as the East Brunswick Recreation Commission Concert, a two-year staple for the ensemble.    

The concert will take place at the on Thursday, July 14, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.