About TubaChristmas

​TubaChristmas was conceived by world-renowned tubist Harvey Phillips in 1974 as a tribute to the late tuba artist and teacher William J. Bell, born on Christmas Day, 1902. Through this legendary performer and educator, we reflect on our heritage and honor all great artists and teachers whose legacy has given us high performance standards, well-structured pedagogy, professional integrity, personal values, and a camaraderie envied by all other instrumentalists.

The first TubaChristmas was conducted by the late Paul Lavalle in New York City's Rockefeller Plaza Ice Rink on Sunday, December 22, 1974. Traditional Christmas music performed at the first TubaChristmas—and every TubaChristmas thereafter—was arranged by American composer Alec Wilder, who ironically died on Christmas Eve, 1980. 

About Scott Wilkinson

​​Scott Wilkinson has been a student of music and physics throughout his life. A professional musician for 50 years, he has played tuba, euphonium, trombone, recorders, and other wind instruments in such diverse ensembles as the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, I Cantori, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Flying Karamazov Brothers, The Antiquarian Funk Consort, and Rakia, a Balkan brass band. He is a specialist in Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque music, and as the character Bartolomeo Tromboncino, he played sackbut in the Queen's Band at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Southern and Northern California for 20 years.

Scott also plays a wide variety of ethnic wind instruments, such as ocarina and didgeridoo, and has recorded two albums with his avant-garde world-music trio, Many Axes. He also engineered and played all wind instruments on Living Through History, the sixth album by his wife, singer-songwriter Joanna Cazden. He can be heard playing Tibetan temple horn, alphorn, and shofar on the soundtrack of the movie Gladiator as well as conch-shell trumpet on the soundtrack of White Squall and The Meg.

In addition to being a musician, Scott is also a journalist and author in the fields of consumer electronics and music technology. Over the last 30+ years, he has served as the editor of AVSForum.com and a senior editor of HomeTheater.com and Home Theater magazine, UltimateAVmag.com, The Perfect Vision, Stereophile Guide to Home Theater, Audio/Video Interiors, Electronic Musician, Home & Studio Recording, and Music Technology magazines. In addition, he is the author of two books: Anatomy of a Home Studio and Tuning In: Microtonality in Electronic Music.

ABOUT THE WATSONVILLE COMMUNITY BAND

The Watsonville Community Band is a non-profit public-benefit corporation comprised of all volunteers. It is organized for the specific purpose of providing members the opportunity to play music for their enjoyment and education as well as the entertainment of our community.

The Watsonville Community Band is one of the few adult community bands in the United States that performs on a regular basis: marching and concert, with all performances free to the public.

The Band has appeared in almost every major parade on the West Coast. It has played at fairs, parks, hospitals, festivals, and several televised concerts.

In the past 70+ years the Band has given more than 1,500 public performances and amassed 325 First Place Awards out of the 337 times in parade competitions.