History

The Bakersfield High School Instrumental Music program has history. Over 110 years of history! Beginning as Kern County High School in 1893 and changing its name to Bakersfield High School in 1953, there have been many students in Kern County touched by our program. There aren't that many high school music programs in the State of California with that kind of tradition are there?

KCHS and BHS are proud of the fact that thousands of students over the years have continued on to college and beyond with their musical endeavors. We have professional educator musicians working at elementary, junior and senior high schools, community colleges, state colleges and universities all over the country. Equally impressive, we have professional performance musicians working for various record labels, community musical organizations, national touring companies, symphony orchestras and on the road with major musical stars. All of these outstanding people have been influenced by their high school music director and others... just as you have!

The following is a list of directors and their years of service to our school. We thank them for serving the musical needs of our students and carrying on our musical heritage. If you know of others and their time of service, please email the webmaster with your information. We'd love to hear from you!

Date	Director	Groups Directed
1893 - 1902	(unknown at this time)
1902 - 1909	George W. Taylor	All music classes.
1909 - 1916	Mr. Cross	All music classes.
1916 - 1921	Theodore Hand	All music classes.

Orchestra		Band
1921 - 1956	Harold Burt	1921 - 1946	Harold Burt
1956 - 1966	Raymond Van Diest	1946 - 1979	Wesley Moore
1966 - 1971	John Koshak	1979 - 1981	Lloyd Shires
1971 - 1983	Archie Rader, Jr.	1981 - 1983	Paul Hoagland
1983 - 2002	John Briscoe	1983 - 1990	John Briscoe
2002 - 2005	Mark McGuire	1990 - 2005	Mark McGuire
2005 - Present	Tony Moreno	2005 - Present	Tony Moreno