MoBand Organization
MoBand is managed by a group of thirteen civic minded volunteers who contribute their time and talent during the year to create a successful concert season each summer. There are four salaried employees: a conductor, assistant conductor/manager and two librarians. If you would like to support the board and help in planning fundraisers or helping in other ways, send us a message from our main page. Thanks!
Board Members:
Chris Murphy, President
Tony Pinheiro, Co-Vice President
Diane Hinkley, Treasurer
Olga Weddle, Secretary
Susanna Beasley
Tracy Bondi
Charles Christensen
Bruce Hinkley
Janice Leer
Jeff Mangar
Steve Perry
George Gardner – Band Director
Matthew Cover – Band Manager, Asst. Director
Cindy Davis – Librarian
Kathy Rau – Librarian
Board Members:
Chris Murphy, President
Tony Pinheiro, Co-Vice President
Diane Hinkley, Treasurer
Olga Weddle, Secretary
Susanna Beasley
Tracy Bondi
Charles Christensen
Bruce Hinkley
Janice Leer
Jeff Mangar
Steve Perry
George Gardner – Band Director
Matthew Cover – Band Manager, Asst. Director
Cindy Davis – Librarian
Kathy Rau – Librarian
George Gardner, Conductor
George Gardner is a graduate of Davis High School, Modesto Junior College, and California State University, Stanislaus. He has recently retired from Modesto City Schools after 41 years of teaching instrumental music. During that time he taught band, jazz band, and orchestra at all levels – elementary, junior high school, and high school. For his last 22 years of teaching, he also served as chairman of the K-8 Instrumental Music Department.
Mr. Gardner’s ensembles have performed throughout the United States and Europe. In 1978, his Downey High School Jazz Band toured Europe and performed at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. A 1984 A MoBand tour of Europe included concerts in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Luxembourg. He has also served as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator throughout the state.
Mr. Gardner began playing in MoBand in high school, and became the band’s manager in 1972. He took over the conducting duties in 1979. In 2004, he received the Stanislaus Arts Council’s “Excellence in Arts Award” for Music, and in 2005, he received the prestigious “Modesto Area Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award”.
Mr. Gardner’s professional affiliations include: California Music Educators Conference, Music Educators National Conference, and Pacific Coast Judges Association. His hobbies include reading and traveling with his wife Dawn, who is also a member of MoBand’s percussion section.
Mr. Gardner’s ensembles have performed throughout the United States and Europe. In 1978, his Downey High School Jazz Band toured Europe and performed at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. A 1984 A MoBand tour of Europe included concerts in London, Paris, Amsterdam and Luxembourg. He has also served as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator throughout the state.
Mr. Gardner began playing in MoBand in high school, and became the band’s manager in 1972. He took over the conducting duties in 1979. In 2004, he received the Stanislaus Arts Council’s “Excellence in Arts Award” for Music, and in 2005, he received the prestigious “Modesto Area Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award”.
Mr. Gardner’s professional affiliations include: California Music Educators Conference, Music Educators National Conference, and Pacific Coast Judges Association. His hobbies include reading and traveling with his wife Dawn, who is also a member of MoBand’s percussion section.
Matthew Cover, Band Manager and Asst. Conductor
Matthew Cover was born and raised here in Modesto. He attended Hart-Ransom Elementary School where he first started studying piano and clarinet and continued at Modesto High School. He went on to study music in college where he received his Associates Degree in Music from Modesto Junior College, his Bachelors from CSU East Bay in Hayward, and his Masters in Music Education with an emphasis in conducting from the University of Michigan.
He is a professional clarinetist, performing mostly in Central Valley, and also performs on the flute, piccolo, oboe, english horn, alto and tenor saxophones, recorder, trumpet, tuba and piano. He has performed on his clarinet extensively across the United States as well as in Canada, England, France, Germany, Amsterdam and Belgium. He additionally sings with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra’s Chorus in his free time. During the summer - after MoBand of course, Matthew has also been the Music Director for Modesto Performing Arts. All of these opportunities would not have been possible if he hadn't started studying music in grammar school. Music takes you places!
Matthew is currently the Instrumental Music Director at Modesto High School but has taught at Davis High School and the Hickman School District.
Mr. Cover is proud to belong to the California Music Educators Assoc., Music Educators National Conference, and both the Northern California and California Band Directors Assoc. and several others. (Music is his hobby; his life... When he's not doing music - he's doing something music adjacent!)
He is a professional clarinetist, performing mostly in Central Valley, and also performs on the flute, piccolo, oboe, english horn, alto and tenor saxophones, recorder, trumpet, tuba and piano. He has performed on his clarinet extensively across the United States as well as in Canada, England, France, Germany, Amsterdam and Belgium. He additionally sings with the Modesto Symphony Orchestra’s Chorus in his free time. During the summer - after MoBand of course, Matthew has also been the Music Director for Modesto Performing Arts. All of these opportunities would not have been possible if he hadn't started studying music in grammar school. Music takes you places!
Matthew is currently the Instrumental Music Director at Modesto High School but has taught at Davis High School and the Hickman School District.
Mr. Cover is proud to belong to the California Music Educators Assoc., Music Educators National Conference, and both the Northern California and California Band Directors Assoc. and several others. (Music is his hobby; his life... When he's not doing music - he's doing something music adjacent!)
