March 28, 2024

Professional Musicians of the Southcoast Elects New Leaders

Posted

Professional Musicians of the Southcoast Local 216 has announced the election of its leadership team for 2023. The organization is a member of the American Federation of Musicians, AFL-CIO which is comprised of 80,000 members throughout the United States and Canada who perform in orchestras, backup bands, festivals, clubs and theaters. AFM members also make music for films, television, commercials and sound recordings. It is the largest labor union of musicians in the world.

Local 216 represents musicians from Fall River, New Bedford, Taunton and many other communities throughout Bristol County and Norfolk County as well as Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and several communities within the East Bay of Rhode Island.

Newly elected Local 216 President Tom Rose, a Rehoboth resident, began playing in his mid-teens, joining Taunton Local 231 and performing in the Taunton City Band and the Taunton Municipal Band. It was bandleader Lou Perry who inspired Tom to join the AFM. Prior to the merger with Local 216, Tom served on Local 231’s Executive Board.

He graduated from University of Lowell (Now UMass Lowell) with a bachelor’s in music education and has played saxophone, clarinet, and flute in a wide variety of local settings over the last 45 years, serving as bandleader in several. He has shared the stage with the late Arthur Fiedler, as well as Henny Youngman, Freda Payne, Martha Reeves, and Tiny Tim, to name a few. Tom looks forward to leading Local 216 into the future as an effective advocate of live music.

Newly elected Vice President Scott Abrahamson, a lifelong resident of Rehoboth, began his musical journey when he picked up a trumpet in fourth grade. In his teens, Scott played for church services, weddings, and with Lou Perry’s Taunton City Band, eventually joining Local 231. Following the merger with Local 216, Scott served on the Executive Board there as well.

An accomplished music educator and music industry businessman, Scott has not only performed throughout the region, but extensively throughout the East Coast as well as in the Mid-West, Canada, and Europe. Recent projects include solo work and leading his own jazz quartet and a brass quintet. Scott is an artist and educational clinician for Jupiter Band Instruments/XO Professional Brass, a leading manufacturer of world class instruments, and is also the owner of The Music Wagon, LLC. Local 216, along with the other Locals within the American Federation of Music, strongly advocates for the performance of live music and for the musicians who create it.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here

Share!
Truly local news delivered to every home in town