Category Archives: VBF2019

VBF 2019 Minnesota Bands: 34th Infantry Division Band

Officially organized 30 April 1900, the 34th Infantry Division Band has proudly served state and nation for over 114 years, seeing service in WWI, WWII and the Global War on Terrorism. Whether performing for the public, supporting military ceremonies, or entertaining US Service members and our allies, the Soldier-Musicians of the Red Bull Band are honored to serve in one of the US Army’s most respected Divisions. The 34th Infantry Division Band performs many free public performances throughout Minnesota, including the Minnesota Music Educators Conference, the Minnesota State Fair, and Vikings and Twins sporting events among others. The Red Bull Band will be performing on Saturday, August 3 at 4pm on the Bridge Square Main Stage.

34th Infantry Division Band “The Red Bull Band”

VBF 2019 USA Bands: 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. Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band will be playing on the Way Park Stage at 1pm on August 2 and on the Bridge Square Main Stage at 5pm on August 3.

VBF 2019 Concerts in Nearby Communities

Most of the performances at Vintage Band Festival 2019 take place in Northfield, Minnesota. However, on Thursday, August 1, the first day of the festival, some VBF bands will be appearing in other communities to share the spirit and the music with a regional audience. All of these concerts will be free and open to the public. Tell your friends!

Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band

Red Wing

Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band

August 1, 7pm, First Lutheran Church, 615 W. 5th St.

 

 

 

 

Original Drachenfelser Musikanten

Montgomery

Original Drachenfelser Musikanten

August 1, 7pm, Memorial Park

 

 

 

 

À Râse dè têre

Nerstrand

À Râse dè têre

August 1, 7pm Grace Lutheran Church, 301 1st St. S.

 

 

 

Owatonna

Territorial Brass

August 1, 7pm , Central Park

 

 

Kentucky Baroque Trumpets

Cannon Falls

Kentucky Baroque Trumpets

August 1, 7pm St. Ansgar’s Lutheran Church, 7459 Hwy19 Blvd

 

Three Links Care Center 120th Anniversary

 

Three Links Care Center in Northfield is celebrating its 120th anniversary in 2019. Vintage Band Festival is pleased to welcome Three Links as a Stage Sponsor of this year’s festival.

Three Links Care Center’s heritage began in 1899 as a home for orphans and elderly known as the Minnesota Odd Fellows Home. Throughout its 120-year history, Three Links has continually evolved to serve the changing health care needs of the Northfield, Minnesota area community. Today, the continuum of care and services is located on three campuses: the Three Links Campus  and Millstream Commons Assisted Living in Northfield and the Villages of Lonsdale in Lonsdale.

As a nonprofit, Three Link’s services and living options include adult day services, home care, independent senior living apartments, assisted living, transitional care, skilled nursing care center, memory care, end-of-life care suites and more. These services are framed around the mission of Three Links—to create peace of mind for those they serve. Three Link’s commitment to honoring individuals through their life journey is evident in their core values of community, accountability, respect and empathy.

 

 

VBF International Bands: FinnBrass and Original Drachenfelser Musikanten

FinnBrass is a “project ensemble” that was formed to do tours and performances. They are made up of players from two communities in Finland, Kokkola and Kronoby. They specialize in performing traditional Finnish brass music from earlier decades. They represent a wide range of professions (from education, to medicine, to technology and engineering). Their instrumentation is based on the traditional village brass band of the 1800s. This is FinnBrass’s first appearance at Vintage Band Festival.

 

Coming from Germany is Original Drachenfelser Musikanten, a folk music brass band reflecting the Rhineland tradition of the Drachenfels Mountains. Masters of polka, the band features a tenor horn, trumpet, tuba and accordion. Their leader, tuba player Erhard Schwarz, was at the VBF for the first time in 2006 and is a noted specialist on such exotic instruments  as the ophicleide and helicon. Drachenfelser have been regular participants in the Vintage Band Festival in recent years and have a dedicated fan club among the locals of German and Czech traditions. Original Drachenfelser Musikanten has previously played at Vintage Band Festival in 2010, 2013 and 2016.

VBF 2019 International Bands: À Râse dè têre

It’s time to start highlighting the amazing roster of bands for 2019. We’ll begin with an international ensemble from Belgium: À Râse dè têre.

À Râse dè têre (literally meaning “at ground level” in Walloon language) was created in 2005. They play dance tunes called “arguèdènes” in the Walloon dialect spoken in southern Belgium. Traditionally, the melody line is orally transmitted and the accompaniment is improvised. A flugelhorn, cornet, euphonium, and helicon form a balanced ensemble that is well suited to this musical genre in vogue from the mid-19th century until the turn of the 20th century. The group is composed of four passionate amateur brass musicians: a museum curator, a psychologist, a postman and a police officer. They received their initial musical training in Belgian village bands before improving their skills in music academies or conservatories. They learned numerous “arguèdenes” on the job when they were young bandsmen, alongside older musicians. They want to perpetuate this rustic and old-fashioned music and thus prove that it can also be charming and full of subtleties. The band leader is Géry Dumoulin. This is the first time that À Râse dè têre has performed at Vintage Band Festival.

À Râse dè têre

Vintage Band Festival awarded $10,000 SEMAC grant

On May 21, 2019, the Board of Directors of the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council (SEMAC) awarded 42 grants for a total of $269,205 in funding to applicants throughout southeastern Minnesota. This included 24 Arts & Cultural Heritage grants for $217,935, nine Presenter/Production Assistance grants for $25,520, and nine Small Towns/Rural Areas grants for $25,750.

In this grant cycle, Vintage Band Festival received a $10,000 Arts and Cultural Heritage grant for Vintage Band Festival 2019. We are thrilled to make this announcement and want to thank our grant writer, Board member Joy Riggs. This is not the first successful grant application that Joy has written for us and we are so grateful for her skill and dedication to this effort. Previous grants awarded to Vintage Band Festival 2019 were from the Wenger Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Vintage Band Festival 2019 will take place in Northfield, Minnesota and surrounding communities August 1-4, 2019. Follow this link to find the complete daily schedule at the two outdoor stages and a roster of the participating bands.

Vintage Band Festival Spring Fund Drive

It’s time for our annual spring fund drive here at Vintage Band Festival. The generous and loyal financial support from businesses, foundations and individuals like you continues to make it possible for us to present such amazing musicians and ensembles and not charge admission. We are fortunate to have the Wenger Foundation and the Minnesota State Arts Board as our principal funders, but their support accounts for just 40% of our $100,000 budget for 2019. The rest will need to come from other grants, and businesses and individuals such as you.

We are incredibly excited for Vintage Band Festival 2019. The roster we have assembled consists of three international groups, seven domestic ensembles from outside Minnesota and an amazing array of Minnesota bands from around the state. This year there will be 11 bands that have never performed at Vintage Band Festival before, two of which are from Europe.

Thursday evening, August 1, the headliners will be Mariachi Mi Tierra and McNasty Brass Band. Friday night we welcome back Copper Street Brass and then we’ll have a victory dance with Bend in the River Big Band. Saturday night will feature Southside Aces and Hornucopia: A Tribute to Horn Bands in the Rock Era.

There will be a number of living history bands with us this year, some that are familiar and several that are new. We will have the 1st Brigade Band from Watertown, Wisconsin, Newberry’s Victorian Cornet Band, and the Independent Silver Band from Mount Vernon, Illinois. New to Vintage Band Festival in 2019 will be the 1st Nebraska Volunteers Brass Band, Arizona’s Territorial Brass and the Imperial Cornet Band from Baltimore, Maryland.

Check the VBF website often for the complete schedule and breaking news.

The goal for our 2019 spring fund drive is $20,000. Currently, we have raised $9,650. If you have recently made a gift to Vintage Band Festival, our sincere thanks! If it’s been awhile, won’t you please consider a gift at this time? A successful spring fund drive outcome is essential to the success of our summer festival. A gift in any amount is always welcome, but gifts of $100 or more are critically important right now. Donors are featured prominently in the festival program and onsite at the Bridge Square Main Stage. In addition, we will be hosting an exclusive donor reception in July, just before the festival begins.

If you are donating by check, send your gift to:
Vintage Band Festival
204 7th St W #130
Northfield, MN 55057

If you want to make your gift with a credit card, go to www.vintagebandfestival.org and click on the big green “Donate” button.

Historic Brass Society Early Brass Festival August 2-4, 2019 in Northfield

 

The 2019 Early Brass Festival of the Historic Brass Society (HBS) will be held in conjunction with Vintage Band Festival in Northfield, Minnesota. The Early Brass Festival will take place August 2-4, 2019, primarily at the Weitz Center for Creativity on the campus of Carleton College in Northfield.

Founded in 1988, the HBS is an international music organization concerned with the entire range of early brass music, from Ancient Antiquity and the Biblical period through the present including the development of jazz and its influence on brass instruments, literature and playing techniques. The history, music, literature and performance practice of early brass instruments such as natural trumpet, natural horn, early trombone, cornetto, serpent, keyed bugle, keyed trumpet, early valve horn, 19th century brass instruments are some of the main issues of concern to the HBS.

In addition to a membership meeting and musical performances by attendees, the HBS gathering will feature more than a dozen scholarly presentations on variety of topics. The complete schedule for the three-day event follows. To register, download the Early Brass Festival registration form.

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Friday, August 2, 2019

8:30-9:00- Meet and Greet; registration

9:00-9:30 – Glen Newton  –The Mississippi River Brass Band

9:30-10:00 – Petter Carlson, Stockholm – Band Music of the Stockholm Summer Spas (ensemble)

10:00-10:30 – Jari Villanueva, Baltimore- Band Music of World War I  

10:30-10:45 – Break

10:45-11:15 – Robert Apple, Memphis-The Keyed Trumpet’s use in Early 19th Century Brass and Wind Band Music

11:15-11:45 – Michael O’Connor, Florida- Thomas Coates brass band composer and leader (ensemble)

11:45-12:15 –  Don Johnson Jr – Chamber Works and Pedagogy for Keyed Trumpet in the Early Classical Period (ensemble)

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Saturday, August 3, 2019

8:00-8:30 – Meet and Greet (coffee)

8:30-9:00 – HBS meeting

9:00-9:30 – William Hall- The 1st Nebraska Volunteer Infantry Regiment Band, 1861-1862 (ensemble)

9:30-10:00 – Don Larry – Arizona Territorial Brass Band History

10:00-10:15 break

10:15- 10:45 –  Géry Dumoulin, Brussels  – The arguèdène tradition in Wallonia (Belgium): an entertainment practice at the crossroads of brass band, dance, and folk music traditions (ensemble)

10:45-11:15 –  William Reynolds, Illinois-Circus Band Memories

11:15-11:45 – Friedmann Immer, Germany- New Thoughts on the Keyed Trumpet

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Sunday, August 4, 2019

8:30-9:00 – Meet and Greet (coffee)

9:00- 9:30 – Joy Riggs, Northfield- An Iowa Regimental Band’s 1906 Tour of the South

9:30 -10:00 – Bruce Gleason – European Battlefield Trumpets, 16th-19th Centuries

10:00-10:15 break

10:15-10:45 – Scott Muntefering – Women’s Bands in Iowa: the Keota Ladies’ Band (1908-1918) and the Knoxville Girls’ Band (1915-1919)

10:45-11:15 – Nolan Hauta , Iowa – New Horizon Bands 

11:15               Closing

Vintage Band Festival Announces Evening Performers for August 1-3, 2019

The lineup is set for the Thursday-Saturday evening shows on the Bridge Square main stage at Vintage Band Festival 2019. New to the VBF stage this year will be Bend in the River Big Band, a 19-piece swing band playing for the Friday night Victory Dance; and Hornucopia: A Tribute to Horns in the Rock Era. The other six bands have performed at Vintage Band Festival in previous years and are coming back due to audience accolades.

Thursday, August 1
6:00pm—Jack Brass Band
7:00pm– Mariachi Mi Tierra
8:30pm—McNasty Brass Band

Friday, August 2
6:30pm—Copper Street Brass
8:30pm—Bend in the River Big Band

Saturday, August 3
6:00pm—Metro Brass
7:00pm—Southside Aces
8:30pm—Hornucopia

THURSDAY

Jack Brass Band
The Jack Brass Band formed in 1999 in the Twin Cities metro. Based on the traditions of New Orleans brass bands, they are ambassadors of the Crescent City’s rich musical history. The 8-piece band plays “Feel-Good Music” for audiences of any age, for any occasion.
JBB has the ability and repertoire to play everything from old New Orleans jazz from Louis Armstrong’s era, to the modern street Mardi-Gras anthems with the instrumentation, feel, and energy they have mastered through countless gigs, parades, festival appearances, and trips to New Orleans to listen, learn, and play alongside the masters.

Jack Brass Band

Mariachi Mi Tierra
Mariachi Mi Tierra is the oldest Mariachi ensemble in the Minneapolis and St. Paul metropolitan area. Rosalio Castro (trumpet), who formed the group in 2003, has played various Mexican styles of music since he was in his teens. Eduardo Castro (also trumpet) is the group’s director.
Together, the Castros have brought together a group that produces the full sound of authentic mariachi in Minnesota. The group’s repertoire includes a number of regional and current favorites. In addition to events in the local Mexican community, Mariachi Mi Tierra plays at schools, colleges, businesses, casinos, and festivals. Mariachi Mi Tierra performed previously at the Vintage Band Festival in 2014, 2015 and 2018.

Mariachi Mi Tierra

McNasty Brass Band
McNasty is a collection of Minneapolis/Saint Paul-based horn players and percussionists that fuse the Minneapolis sound with the spirit of New Orleans. The outcome of this fusion is hard-hitting dance music and high-energy live shows.
Each player works tirelessly outside McNasty Brass Band as a side man, some with national and international touring acts. That’s what makes McNasty special–these youthful but experienced side men come together and showcase their compositions, solos, group vocals, and stage presence as front men. “McNasty Brass Band is a perfect example of why you shouldn’t make fun of the kid who is super into trumpet in 5th grade” (twincitiesmedia.net). “King Size Life,” their first studio album, encapsulates their live energy with exciting compositions, rowdy gang vocals, and rip-roaring solos. The only thing missing is their dance moves!

McNasty Brass Band

FRIDAY

Copper Street Brass
The members of Copper Street Brass have style, substance and a flair for innovation, which has allowed them to transcend the brass quintet box and evolve into something fresh. Copper Street Brass started in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 2007 and settled down in Minneapolis in 2008. The group’s new tour program, “The Evolution of the Brass Quintet,” features music from Mozart to Dave Brubeck to Adele. Its blend of musical styles and fusion of electronic effects and brass has wowed audiences in communities across the country. Last season the quintet performed for 4,300 students in 25 school residencies throughout Minnesota.

Copper Street Brass

Bend in the River Big Band
Street dances have been a part of Vintage Band Festival for many years. Providing the soundtrack for the 2019 Victory Dance is the Bend in the River Big Band from the Mankato area. The band formed in 1987 from alumni of Gustavus Adolphus College under the direction of Dr. Mark Lammers. This 19-piece ensemble is currently led by Bob Hallquist, who also plays trumpet and percussion. The band’s vocalist is Linnea Marrin. Everyone should bring their dancin’ shoes and be ready to swing!

Bend in the River Big Band

SATURDAY

Metro Brass
Metro Brass is a group of 11 amateur musicians from the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area that has only played together for five years. They all play in other ensembles, but come together for the “Metro Brass Sound.” Metro Brass is led by Keith Thompson (trumpet).

Metro Brass

Southside Aces
Southside Aces perform traditional New Orleans jazz. The band began as the brainchild of clarinetist Tony Balluff and sousaphone player Erik Jacobson. The Aces have self-produced and released five albums: All Aboard!! , Bucktown Bounce, A Big Fine Thing, their Christmas album, Santaphone, and their latest, Second Thursday. Their music garnered the declaration, “A true authentic New Orleans dance-hall style band” from the New Orleans Traditional Jazz Quarterly.
In New Orleans, the jazz tradition thrives off a wide array of tunes and styles. With such a wealth of good music from which to draw, the group is dedicated to highlighting the songs and not the players. They possess a diverse repertoire, with a roll call that includes the names of Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington and Bix Beiderbecke. Many songs from lesser-known constellations in the jazz firmament such as AJ Piron and Tiny Parham found their way in there, plus Crescent City classics like “Bourbon Street Parade,” “Just A Closer Walk With Thee” and “St. James Infirmary.”
The Southside Aces have performed at the Vieux Carré and Dakota jazz clubs, Peavey Plaza, Mears Park, Twin Cities Jazz Fest, Hopkins Jazz Festival, and the Doc Evans Jazz Festival. Found at weddings, birthdays, banquets and memorials, the Aces utilize the traditional cannon for its sweetness, its spice, its joy, its sorrow; whatever the mood should call for.

Southside Aces

Hornucopia
In 1969, the music of Blood Sweat and Tears and Chicago Transit Authority (among many others) could be heard on every street corner in America. In acknowledging the tremendous contributions of these bands and their music, Vintage Band Festival presents Hornucopia, an 11-member band from the Twin Cities metro performing horn tune tributes of the rock era (1960s to the present). Their music ranges from rock to ska, swing to pop, soul to funk, and Latin to blues. Hornucopia is led by front man and vocalist Kevin Thomas.