• Home
  • News
  • Obituaries
  • Police & Fire
  • Sports
  • Education
  • Business
  • Real Estate
  • Advertise
  • Town
    • Westborough
    • Shrewsbury
    • Northborough
    • Marlborough
    • Hudson
    • Southborough
    • Grafton
  • Print Edition
Sign in
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Password recovery
Recover your password
Search
Thursday, January 26, 2023
  • Events
  • Contact us
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
Community Advocate news and events Community Advocate
  • Shrewsbury
  • Westborough
  • Northborough
  • Southborough
  • Grafton
  • Marlborough/Hudson Edition
  • Home
  • News
  • Obituaries
  • Police & Fire
  • Sports
  • Education
  • Business
  • Real Estate
  • Advertise
  • Town
    • Westborough
    • Shrewsbury
    • Northborough
    • Marlborough
    • Hudson
    • Southborough
    • Grafton
  • Print Edition
How can the Community Advocate help you promote your business?
Advertising Info
Suggest a Story
Free Subscription
Home Byline Stories - News Hudson musician trumpets the value of performing artists
  • Byline Stories - News
  • Hudson
  • People and Places

Hudson musician trumpets the value of performing artists

By
Ed Karvoski Jr.
-
March 10, 2020
739
Facebook
Twitter
Email

    By Ed Karvoski Jr., Contributing Writer

    Hudson musician trumpets the value of performing artists
    Barbara Hall-Siktberg

    Hudson – The dictionary by Merriam-Webster defines “artist” in part as “one who professes and practices an imaginative art” and “a skilled performer.” Prolific trumpeter Barbara Hall-Siktberg of Hudson personifies the definition.

    While raised in North Jersey, she played trumpet as well as sang in church and school choirs. Her appreciation for various musical styles came about when she saw television appearances of acclaimed trumpeters, ranging from jazz legends Louis Armstrong and Maynard Ferguson to classical icon Maurice Andre.

    “I was born loving music,” Hall-Siktberg declared. “I started playing trumpet as a kid and stuck with it. Growing up in the New York, New Jersey area, I had great teachers. All my life I’ve been involved with music – listening and performing.”

    Hall-Siktberg moved from North Jersey to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in music education in 1987. For much of the following three decades she worked days as a music educator at private and public schools while playing trumpet nights and weekends with bands and community theaters.

    Hudson musician trumpets the value of performing artists
    Quintessential Brass, circa 1989 (l to r): Daniel Walker, Barbara Hall-Siktberg, Marshall Sealy, Leslie Havens and Paul Tomashefsky

    Soon after graduating from Berklee, Hall-Siktberg began teaching music at Immaculate Conception School in Marlborough in 1987. Subsequently, she worked at public schools in Boylston, Hudson, Sharon and Westwood as a trumpet and instrumental teacher, and choir and band director.

    From 2003 to 2008, Hall-Siktberg instructed music and movement classes with Apple Country Music Together in Hopkinton, Northborough, Shrewsbury and Westborough. Additionally, she taught after-school instrument lessons with the Hudson-based River’s Edge Arts Alliance from 2002 to 2012. Concurrently, she taught private lessons.

    “I enjoy helping kids learn about music and performing,” she noted. “I love teaching them from the very beginning how to read and understand music, and then to play an instrument and perform on it. It’s important to instill in the next generation an appreciation for music and live performance.”

    As for performing as a musician herself, she and trombonist Leslie Havens founded the five-piece band Quintessential Brass in 1989. Hall-Siktberg performed with the band for about six years at outdoor summer concerts throughout New England. Her most memorable gigs with them were entertaining at the opening of CambridgeSide Galleria, a Flag Day observance at Boston’s Rowes Wharf, and First Night in Boston and other cities.

    Now, Hall-Siktberg plays trumpet with several ensembles of various sizes including the Hudson-based Symphony Pro Musica, Bolton-based Nashoba Symphonic Band and the region’s popular Tom Nutile Big Band. This past February, she performed with the orchestra accompanying the Sudbury Savoyards’ two week-run of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera “H.M.S. Pinafore.” 

    Her community theater orchestra credits in recent years are 2017’s “The Producers” at Concord Players and 2016’s “Hair” at Emerson Umbrella (now known as the Umbrella Arts Center), also located in Concord. Furthermore, she served for three years on the Hudson Cultural Council.

    In June 2018, Hall-Siktberg completed her most recent job as a public school music teacher in Boylston. About a year ago, she began working as an Avidia Bank teller at its Marlborough branch. She’s still scheduling time to play trumpet nights and weekends with bands and community theaters.

    “Artists need to follow our passions,” she said. “When you’re passionate about something, you need to do it – you don’t have a choice. I just manage to find the time to make music.”

    Photos/submitted

    • TAGS
    • Apple Country Music Together
    • Barbara Hall-Siktberg
    • Berklee College of Music
    • Ed Karvoski Jr.
    • hudson cultural council
    • Immaculate Conception School
    • Nashoba Symphonic Band
    • River"s Edge Arts Alliance
    • Symphony Pro Musica
    • Tom Nutile Big Band
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Email
      Previous articleWestborough veterans presented with ‘Quilts of Valor’
      Next articleSouthborough noise bylaw added to Town Meeting Warrant
      Ed Karvoski Jr.
      After working 12 years as a nationally-syndicated entertainment journalist, Ed Karvoski Jr. began writing feature articles for Community Advocate in 2000. He started writing for Fifty Plus Advocate in April 2015 and became its culture editor in December 2017.

      RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

      Hudson

      Hudson High stages ‘Bring It On!’

      Hudson

      Community members gather for Ruck March to Hudson Food Pantry

      Hudson

      Hudson Select Board discusses Jake brake prohibition

      Featured News

      Winter storm update: classes canceled

      Hudson

      Hudson Cultural Council receives state funding

      Hudson

      Cummings program grants $43,000 to local nonprofits

      Featured News

      • State Rep. Gentile plans virtual office hours

      • Semeter, Carpenter lead Westborough basketball to win over Marlborough

      • Marlborough Hudson January 27, 2023

      Follow Us

      Sign Up For Our Newsletter

      [mc4wp_form id="241018"]

      Archives

      community advocate logo
      ABOUT US

      The Community Advocate is an independently owned newspaper with a legacy of over 40 years serving the communities of Westborough, Hudson, Marlborough, Northborough, Shrewsbury, Southborough and Grafton. It is also the number-one circulated paper in those communities. We cover a wide variety of breaking news, municipal issues, human interest features and sports stories.

      For Advertising Inquiries:
      [email protected]

      For editorial inquiries:
      [email protected]

      Contact us: [email protected]
      FOLLOW US
      • Events
      • Contact us
      © Community Advocate. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy