The Golden Gate Park Band is back in full swing for its 2026 season.
Dr. German Gonzalez loves many aspects of his role as music director and conductor of the Band, a job he’s had for two years. First, there are the musicians – more than 30 professionals who love band music. Then there’s the location — the Spreckels Temple of Music in the park, colloquially known as the bandshell.
“It’s awe inspiring. I’ve been there when nobody's playing, and it's still awe inspiring,” he said. “The acoustics are really quite phenomenal.”
Gonzalez proudly carries the baton of the Band’s legacy. Since its founding in 1882, the Band has put on free concerts every Sunday from April through September. Gonzalez, who grew up in Pacifica and saw the band as a kid, often meets others who came with their parents and grandparents when they were little. Some now bring their own kids.
The 2026 season celebrates Mexican, Hungarian, Irish, and Armenian cultures. Concerts also mark occasions, including Pride Month and Juneteenth. Gonzalez started curating this season last January.
“I'm always looking for music by women composers because those old, white, dead guys have plenty already,” he said. “It's music from the native Mexicans, not your average mix of Spanish and Mexican.”
When Gonzalez stepped into the role of music director, the Band didn’t have a Mexican heritage program, so he was excited to start one. For the September 13 concert, “¡Viva Mexico! Bailamos con la Musica,” Gonzalez found a composer that’s new to him: Nubia Jaime-Donjuan. Like last year, the Ballet Folklorico Mexicano de Carlos Moreno will perform along with the band.
Another popular performance from last year was KDFC morning DJ Maggie Clennon Reberg narrating Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. She is returning for “Around the World in 90 Minutes” on June 28 to reprise last year’s performance, and will also include many different types of music, including Caribbean and the Beatles.
“She’s the funniest DJ,” Gonzalez said about Reberg. “That's a pretty tough piece, and oh my goodness, the soloists just nailed it, doing all the different characters.”
For Aug. 2’s “Say Thank You to our First Responders!” concert, the Band will play as much local music as possible, including I Left My Heart in San Francisco, and other music from California.
Piccolo and flute player Dr. Kris Palmer, who has been with the band since 2017, says she enjoys the music and likes the challenge of having only one hour of rehearsal before the Band play each Sunday. She is particularly excited about this season’s “Trombonology!” concert scheduled for June 14.
“It features the trombone section, however, I, on piccolo, am crashing it because there's one piece that we're doing called The Elephant and the Fly,” she said. “I’m looking forward to that one. There's a lot of notes for the piccolo.”
Being a member of the band has meant a lot to trumpet player Mark Nemoyten over the years. He started as a substitute in the band in 1981, when he was a graduate student at San Francisco State, and became the principal trumpet/coronet player in 1996.
For this season, Nemoyten’s anticipating the “Juneteenth and Father’s Day” concert on June 21, where for the first time, members from Lorraine Hansberry Theatre’s choir will join the band. He’s also looking forward to the “Happy 250th America!” concert.
“We’re going to do something special this year on the Fourth of July that we've never done before,” he said. “That's probably our most well-attended concert. We're going to add some audience involvement and also a fundraiser.”
When the financial future of the band was threatened a few years ago, Nemoyten did what he could to help.
According to Nemoyten, the GGP Band was grandfathered into an agreement with Grants for the Arts. They received funding for many years until Public Works director Mohammed Nuru was arrested in 2020 due to alleged corruption. When a change in leadership took place, with scandal fresh on the mind, the Band’s grant was questioned.
“They just freaked out because they looked at the criteria for the grant, and we didn't meet any of it,” Nemoyten said. “I called up the head of the Grants for the Arts and explained to him the situation. I said, ‘Do you want to be responsible for sinking this group that's been going since 1882 and giving these free concerts in San Francisco and has all these community partners?’ His response to me was, ‘Are you threatening me?’ And I was just flabbergasted.”
The pandemic hit right after that, and the Band didn’t play that year, so it didn’t need funding. Eventually, the Band was reorganized by the musicians as a 501(c)3 nonprofit.
Nemoyten calls the Band the best free entertainment in San Francisco and one of its best kept secrets. He would like the secret to get out more, so everyone knows about it — and supports it.
Gonzalez feels the same way. He talks to everyone he can to let them know about the Golden Gate Park Band. When he gets to work on Sunday mornings, he puts up sandwich boards across the street from the bandshell to let people know there is a free concert at 1.
“I’m hoping we'll draw two or three or five more people for each concert,” he said. “I'd like to see if we can get 500 people at every single concert. I’m teaching the world one person at a time to come to the concerts.”
