Since the beginning of Vintage Band Festival in 2006, the core of the multi-day event has been the appearance of historic reenactor bands from around the country. Vintage Band Festival 2022 will be no different.
Dodworth Saxhorn Band
Today’s Dodworth Saxhorn Band is modeled after the Dodworth Band of New York City, which was the premier brass band in the United States from the 1840s to the 1880s. The original Dodworth Band was directed by brothers Allen and Harvey Dodworth who were among the most highly respected musicians and bandmasters of the 19th Century. In 1985 musical instrument collector Alexander Pollock created the modern DSB as a living history project. The band performs 19th century music including compositions and arrangements from the Smithsonian Institute, the Library of Congress, private collections and university libraries as well as a few new arrangements by musicologists who are experts in 19th Century brass band style and instrumentation.
The DSB is led by Music Director Mark Felder and Artistic Director Lori Gould. Dodworth Saxhorn Band is returning to Vintage Band Festival after a nine year absence!
Independent Silver Band
In 1884 to 1889 the prosperous and energetic Illinois community of Mt.Vernon enjoyed the music of its own Independent Silver Band. In July, 2004, the music of the Independent Silver Band came to life once more. It is composed of 10 local men, all of whom attended the same church and Sunday school. By bringing together interested brass players and percussionists from Mt.Vernon and surrounding cities and towns in southern Illinois, the Independent Silver Band is composed of the proper team of dedicated persons, all of whom shared the vision to give audiences the chance to hear the music of a bygone time. The band leader of Independent Silver Band is William Reynolds.
Kentucky Baroque Trumpets
Don Johnson was inspired to play the baroque trumpet, also known as the natural trumpet, in 2004 after attending the Historic Brass Society Festival. He introduced his friends to the instrument, and they formed a group dedicated to re-creating its sounds and styles, including signal calls, cavalry music, dance music, duets, solo music and trumpet with voice, which requires playing in different styles and tone colors. The band members also play modern instruments, and they dedicate part of their performance to educating the audience about the difference between the two types. The band’s Civil War band incarnation, President Lincoln’s Own, performed live in Steven Spielberg’s movie Lincoln and was selected to be in the National Geographic movie Killing Lincoln. This is the band’s third appearance at Vintage Band Festival.The band is currently led by Don Johnson Jr.
Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band
The musicians of Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band are dedicated professional and semi-professional brass, reed, and percussion players whose performance is as close to that of a late 19th-century professional touring band as is possible today. Like bands from that era, the group ranges from six players to a full ensemble of 30. It usually tours with 17 reed, brass and percussion players. The band plays only music that would have been heard between the end of the Civil War and the advent of the Sousa Band in 1892, primarily dance music. Concerts feature the most popular examples of polkas, waltzes, quicksteps, schottisches and mazurkas, as well as the march. The band is conducted by Elisa Koehler and managed by Michael O’Connor and is making its sixth appearance at Vintage Band Festival.
1st Brigade Band
The 1st Brigade Band of Watertown, Wisconsin performs period brass band music from the 1860s on antique instruments, dressed in period clothing. They first began in 1864 when the Brodhead Brass Band enlisted in the Union Army as the band of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 15th Army Corps. Upon leaving Wisconsin, they participated in William T.Sherman’s famous “March to the Sea” to Georgia and the Carolinas. In 2009, the 1st Brigade Band was awarded the Rueben Gold Thwaites Trophy for Local History for collecting and preserving history and sharing it with the public. The band leader is Doug Condon. The 1st Brigade Band is making its fifth Vintage Band Festival appearance.
For the complete schedule of Vintage Band Festival 2022, please visit the VBF website.