Artistic Director of the Vintage Band Festival Dr. Paul Niemisto was interviewed by John Birge of Minnesota Public Radio. MPR references the Vintage Band Festival in Northfield as a “musical time machine” … with over 30 bands performing, the festival offers everything from “alphorns to zydeco – A to Z.” Listen to the interview here.
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“Band festival restores vintage sounds” via the Rochester Post-Bulletin
The Vintage Band Festival was recently mentioned in the Rochester Post-Bulletin. Read the article here.
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“Recalling History Through Its Sights and Sounds” via the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota
Read a recent blog post about the Vintage Band Festival via the Preservation Alliance of Minnesota here.
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“Northfield’s Vintage Band Festival” via Minnesota Journeys
The Vintage Band Festival was recently mentioned in Minnesota Monthly as one of the top music events to attend this coming month, Aug. 1-4, under their calendar section titled, “The Agenda – What you need to do, see, and hear this month.” You can also read a full article on the upcoming festival here, compliments of writer Joel Schettler, of Minnesota Monthly’s Minnesota Journeys.
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Chicago Tribune’s Midwest Travel Calendar Section includes VBF
The Vintage Band Festival, located in Minnesota, is on Chicago Tribune’s events calendar for Midwest travel suggestions. Read more here.
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New Donors Get VBF Programs In Advance
If we receive your DONATION before July 15th, we will mail you a copy of the OFFICIAL VBF PROGRAM before the festival starts. How to donate: Click on the “Donate Now” button on the VBF Homepage, or send your check to “Vintage Band Festival” at 204 W Seventh St #130, Northfield, MN 55057; or you can stop at “By All Means” on Bridge Square and donate in person. Pledge on the phone? 507-321-1250. Thanks for your support in advance. Each new donor also receives a classy cloisonné lapel pin.
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Early Reservation of VBF 2013 Special Event Tickets
Coming Soon: early availability of VBF special event TICKETS: (all with limited seating)
• Lunch, Listen and Learn at Contented Cow for Wednesday July 31, Thursday August 1, Friday August 2, Saturday August 3: $10.00 each (food and music)
• German Food and Music: with Bavarian Musikmeisters, Sunday afternoon, August 4. Northfield Senior Center. Cost: tba
• 19th Century Cotillion Ball with Dodworth Saxhorn Band; Northfield Armory. Saturday, August 3, 8:00 PM- Tickets free to donors who request them.
• North Star Cinema Orchestra- Vaudeville Entertainment and Silent Moving Pictures. Sunday, August 4, Grand Entertainment Center, 7:00 P.M. Tickets free to donors who request them.
To reserve tickets contact VBF HQ at 507-321-1250 or <vintagebandfestival@gmail.com
>. Tickets can also be obtained in person at HQ (CHM 117 St. Olaf College) or at the VBF Booth- Northfield Riverwalk Marketfair on Saturday mornings (we also have shirts, hats, info, etc). VBF HQ will open on Bridge Square on Saturday, July 27th,
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Celebrating Music over the Centuries and across the Nations
Visit our press page for information on a special Media Day and more.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NORTHFIELD, MN, July 2013 – Time will stand still as the Vintage Band Festival takes the stage Aug. 1-4 with a multitude of period-inspired performances celebrating the music and instruments of past eras. More than 100 concerts will take place this summer in Northfield and surrounding satellite concert sites for an unforgettable experience recalling music in history.
The Vintage Band Festival – a historic account of its own – brings with it a vast repertoire, dating as far back as the Baroque era and offers cultural performances in a full range of genres. Hear marches, ballads, jazz, polkas and alphorn songs…or as the Brass Messengers from Minneapolis/St. Paul who play Caribbean and Balkan music say, “anything that fits in the twisted brass tubing from originals to covers from around the globe, as long as it’s making joyful noise.”
Festival-goers will be able to step back in time and experience a musical documentary, of sorts, all in one weekend. “The whole town becomes a theater set,” said Festival’s Artistic Director Dr. Paul Niemisto, describing the bands’ different genres and ethnicities to be represented at open-air venues of parks, pubs, restaurants and other public spaces. “It’s not only the music, period instruments and authentic costumes viewers will be experiencing – we’re playing the space.” For example, attendees to the free festival can witness Civil War reenactment bands, dressed in period clothing, using restored instruments at a Battle of the Bands across the Cannon River followed by a massed concert.
The Vintage Band Festival serves as a portal into different eras with additional auxiliary events offered, such as ballroom dancing, a vintage “base ball” game, vaudeville entertainment and more.
This larger-than-life musical event spans the centuries, from primitive pieces to classic arrangements to old-time favorites to present-day smash hits, and it bridges across the country and overseas with more than 30 bands participating.
The Kentucky Baroque Trumpets will be performing signal calls dating back to 1240 from Krakow, Poland. This band offers a series of cavalry fanfares, solos, and duets, primarily from the 1600 and 1700s and has just recently recorded, for the first time ever, and with some of the finest trumpeters in the world, a facsimile from Composer Cesare Bendinelli that was transcribed into modern notation, according to Kentucky Baroque’s Artistic Director Don Johnson.
Dr. Niemisto also notes several European performances planned for Aug 1-4 that are indigenous to their place of origin such as: the Swedish band Medevi Brunnsorkester, a brass sextet with music dating back to 1870; the Oktetten Ehnstedts Eftr., a Swedish wind band, that hails from Stockholm; the Original Drachenfelser Musikanten, a quartet from Germany; and Eine Kleine DorfMusik Kapelle that harkens back its age-old scores from small villages in Austria. “Each one is conscientiously trying to preserve and present a style of music that is indigenous to a very specific part of their country. Even within these countries, there are still differences and one might find it culturally interesting to hear contrasting interpretations, within one language group.”
Dr. Niemisto added, “It’s also culturally compelling to hear the bands from the United States that are creating music that is not indigenously American, such as The Brass Messengers, Klezmerica, and Mariachi mi Tierra.”
Progressing along the musical timeline, the Copper Street Brass Quintet out of the Twin Cities has a tour program called the “Evolution of the Brass Quintet” that is aimed at education and offered to communities across the nation.
A headliner at the Vintage Band Festival that reinvents old to new is an extraordinary musical family – the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble. The eight brothers from the south side of Chicago have played all over the world. A recent press release from the band says, “Every step taken by these ambassadors of brass, has been to fuse the better parts of every musical genre, into a legacy to share the future of music.”
Another noteworthy band is Kenny Carr and the Tigers, a trombone shout band from North Carolina. Kenneth Carr shared these words: “The Vintage Band Festival and the city of Northfield is a great venue and place for us to display our love for the brass sound. We are elated to be part of such a historic event.”
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For a complete band roster, go to https://vintagebandfestival.org/bands/. Music samplers and a full event schedule can be found at vintagebandfestival.org. Press information can be found at https://vintagebandfestival.org/press/.
Find VBF on Facebook at “Vintage Band Festival” and Twitter at @vintagebandfest.
Festival inquiries and photo requests, contact Amy Acheson at 651-470-0028 or amy@achesoncreative.com.
