Curt Ryan Cassingham, Acting Music Director
Curt’s mother is a talented classical pianist, so you might say he was listening to music at her keyboard even before he was born. He took a year of piano lessons in first grade. By third grade, he was playing his grandfather’s flute in his school orchestra, and continued eventually with own flute. His first exposure to band music was in his early teens, in the award-winning Burbank (California) Police Boys’ Band, playing in concerts and marching in many parades including the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade. In high school, he learned the guitar and bass guitar. He also grew up singing in church choirs. As a young adult, Curt produced and directed his church’s long-running Living Christmas Tree program, whose choir comprised of high school-aged girls and boys.
After moving to the Portland area in 1978, Curt and a business partner opened and ran a recording studio, providing its services to local musicians and bands. Curt honed his listening and performing skills during the studio’s many recording sessions. Besides flutes and guitars, he plays Irish whistles.
Curt and his flutes joined the Portland Metro Concert Band in its 2011-2012 season. He began serving as Assistant Music Director in fall, 2018, and assumed the baton as Acting Musical Director upon director Glenn Taylor’s death in 2023. Curt plays flute and piccolo with the East County Community Orchestra, and is Assistant Music Director there as well. He is the conductor of the American Legion City of Roses Musician’s Post 185. His latest adventure is with The Katie Jane Band, and The Celtic Light Orchestra, playing his flutes and whistles.