Directors

Message from the Directors:

You are about to embark on what will hopefully be one of the most memorable and fulfilling experiences of your high school career. We always enjoy meeting and getting to work with a new class. One of the most rewarding parts of our job is seeing these young people grow into young adults and watching the maturity process over 4 years.  The marching season is always one of our favorite times of the year.  We enjoy seeing the final product being put together for the first time at camp and watching the tremendous progress that is made over the course of the first two months of school.

Darren Kirsch

Mr. Darren Kirsch has served as the Director of Bands at Grafton High School since the school opened in the fall of 1996. He previously taught for one year at Glenvar High School and Middle School located in Roanoke County.  Mr. Kirsch graduated from Virginia Tech in 1995 where he received a Bachelor of Arts Degree with an emphasis in Music Education and Music Performance.  He is an active adjudicator and clinician in the Commonwealth and has worked for several spring festival companies that have festivals in the Williamsburg-Virginia Beach area. 

Mr. Kirsch’s responsibilities as the director at Grafton High School include directing the Wind Ensemble, Symphonic, and Concert Bands, as well as the Jazz Ensemble and the 150 member Grafton Clipper Marching Band.   He has also served as the Fine Arts Department chair for the past 20 years. The Grafton High School Wind Ensemble was selected to perform at the Virginia Music Educators Association Conference in 2007, 2014 and again in 2022.  The Grafton High School Band has been named a Virginia Honor Band 20 times. 

Mr. Kirsch is a member of VMEA and VBODA and is a past instrumental chairman of District VIII and is currently the President of the Virginia Band and Orchestra Directors Association. He has been inducted into Phi Beta Mu and the American School Band Director’s Association.  Mr. Kirsch was named Teacher of the Year in 2006-2007 at Grafton High School and was awarded the MIT Inspirational Teacher Award in 2014.

Gabe Stone

Mr. Stone has been a Band Director at Grafton High School since 2006. He teaches Concert Band Brass, Symphonic Band Brass and Percussion, Percussion Class/Ensemble, Guitar, and Music Appreciation. He holds a Master of Music Education degree from the University of South Carolina, a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education and Certificate in Tuba Performance from Shenandoah Conservatory. He studied tuba with Dr. Ron Davis and Michael Bunn and conducting with Dr. William Moody. e studied guitar with Shelley Brobst and Bob Morris.

Along with his teaching at Grafton High School Mr. Stone is a professor at the College of William & Mary. He directs the Early Music Ensemble and Brass Ensemble and teaches applied low brass lessons.

His professional memberships include VMEA and VBODA,Virginia Professional Educators, International Tuba and Euphonium Association, Early Music America, Historic Brass Society, and is a life member of Kappa Kappa Psi. Mr. Stone lives in Yorktown, VA with his wife Beth (Band Director at Grafton Middle School) and his twins Liam and Daphne.