Tag Archives: Bavarian Musikmeisters

The performers at VBF 2024 continue: Dirty Shorts Brass Band and Bavarian Musikmeisters

Bavarian Musikmeisters

The Bavarian Musikmeisters are a 35-member wind instrument band from the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota that have been sharing the beauty, enjoyment, and history of traditional Germanic band music and culture with people of all ages at festivals, park concerts, senior residences and private parties since 1985.

The Musikmeisters are modeled after the traditional village bands found in the German-speaking areas of Europe. Their attire, instrumentation, and musical arrangements of marches, polkas, waltzes, folk dances, and ballads are all authentic.

The Bavarian Musikmeisters will perform at 3:00 pm on Saturday, July 27 in Bridge Square in Downtown Northfield, MN.

Dirty Shorts Brass Band

The Dirty Shorts Brass Band is local (Twin Cities) New Orleans-style jazz band with ten musicians that have played together in this and other many other bands for many years…as far back as the late 1960s, in some cases. New Orleans-style jazz is a blend of jazz, blues and Dixie, with a strong beat and a street corner feel.

The band has been together since 2010, for the pure joy of performing in front of live audiences everywhere. Venues over the years have included numerous city parks, county fairs, the Minnesota State Fair (several times on the International Bazaar stage), the St. Paul Winter Carnival, churches, fundraisers, weddings, funerals, and private events.

Dirty Shorts Brass Band will play at 10:00 am on Saturday, July 27 in Bridge Square in Downtown Northfield MN.

For the complete schedule of Vintage Band Festival 2024 visit www.vintagebandfestival.org or the Vintage Band Festival page on Facebook.

Bavarian Musikmeisters return to Vintage Band Festival

Members of Bavarian Musikmeisters hail from southern Minnesota and model themselves after traditional German village bands, lederhosen and all. The band’s 35 musicians perform authentic musical arrangements on a variety of brass and woodwind instruments: flute, clarinet, trumpet, flugelhorn, tenor horn, baritone, trombone, tuba and percussion. They perform for numerous events in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and have performed at Germanic festivals in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota, as well as at the German-American Mardi Gras Association annual meeting in Las Vegas.

Bavarian Musikmeisters will perform at 1:00 pm on July 29 at VBF 2023.

#VBF2021 will be non-stop entertainment

Bavarian Musikmeisters

The schedule is set for Vintage Band Festival 2021(#VBF2021) on July 31, 2021. The day begins at 9:30 am in Bridge Square with a fun visit from the Above Average Tubas. Four tubas in harmony will provide a melodious and mellow start to the 12-hour brass band extravaganza. The day will end with the glorious sounds of the Roseville Big Band. Regional music fans will have heard them play at the semi-annual Hangar Dance hosted by the Commemorative Air Force Minnesota Wing. The audience is encouraged to bring dancing shoes to join the fun!

Here is the complete schedule for the day:

  • 9:30–Above Average Tuba Quartet

  • 10:30–Jack Brass Band

  • 11:30–Sheldon Theatre Brass Band

  • 12:30–Twin Cities Trumpet Ensemble

  • 1:30–Banda La Verdadera

  • 2:30–Lake Wobegon© Brass Band

  • 3:30–Brio Brass

  • 4:30–Bavarian Musikmeisters

  • 5:30–Southside Aces

  • 6:45–Copper Street (60 minutes)

  • 8:15–Roseville Big Band (90 minutes)

The Wenger Showmobile Stage will be set up on Bridge Square in Downtown Northfield. Riverwalk Market Fair (The art of a summer Saturday) will be sharing the Square with us from 9 am-2 pm with 30+ vendors offering fresh produce. ceramics, paintings and photography, baked goods, and lots of activities for kids. Vintage Band Festival provides the soundtrack for the day!

Volunteers are needed to staff the VBF Information Tent in 2-hour shifts during the day. If you’re interested/available, please send a message to vintagebandfestival@gmail.com with the hours that you could work. We also need volunteers to assist with set-up (7 am-9 am) and take-down duties (9:30pm-11 pm).

Check our website www.vintagebandfestival.org often for updates and be sure to follow Vintage Band Festival on Facebook as well. See you in July!

Vintage Band Festival Announces Band Roster for 2017 Festival

For Immediate Release

May 26, 2017

Vintage Band Festival Announces Band Roster for 2017 Festival

The band roster for the upcoming July 29 festival is now complete. Crowd favorites among the bands returning to Vintage Band Festival in 2017 include Bavarian Musikmeisters, Sheldon Theater Brass Band, Twin Cities Trumpet Ensemble, Brio Brass, and Copper Street Brass. New this year will be the Fife and Drum Corps from Historic Fort Snelling in St. Paul, Brass Lassie, and the McNasty Brass Band.

Historic Fort Snelling Fifes and Drums–The Historic Fort Snelling Fifes and Drums is a volunteer musical ensemble dedicated to representing the fort’s long history through music. The musical repertoire spans from the Revolutionary War through World War II, the years when Fort Snelling was an active post of the United States Army.

Brass LassieBrass Lassie performs extraordinary arrangements of Scottish, Irish and French music, mainly traditional, featuring a four-piece horn section, a terrific rhythm section, plus fiddles, flutes, pipes, vocals and some wonderful step dancing.

McNasty Brass BandMcNasty Brass Band 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.

Copper Street Brass—The five 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 schools.

Brio BrassBrio Brass has delighted and entertained audiences throughout Minnesota’s Twin Cities
Metro area since 1999. Composed of more than 50 adult musicians, the group performs its own unique arrangements written specifically for its members. The ensemble’s large repertoire features a broad spectrum of musical styles. Audiences are entertained with fluid ballads, pop of all eras, show tunes, funky rock and lots of jazz. Expect lots of humming, toe tapping and even dancing in the aisles!

Twin Cities Trumpet Ensemble–Understanding that the trumpet holds a special place in the psyche of society, the Twin Cities Trumpet Ensemble seeks to enliven, entertain, and enrich the community through the highest level of professional performance prowess and the presentation of music of
quality and stylistic and temperamental diversity. It exemplifies the transformative power of music through the performance of music written or arranged for three or more trumpets. The ensemble has performed numerous concerts in the tri-state area, including performances at Lake Como Pavilion and several churches.

Sheldon Theatre Brass Band–The Sheldon Theatre Brass Band was founded in 1989 as the resident performing ensemble at the newly restored turn-of- the-century T. B. Sheldon Theatre in Red Wing. The band is made up of cornets, trombones, tenor horns, euphoniums, tubas and percussion. In addition to its regular performances at the Sheldon Theatre, the band performs at a variety of venues throughout Minnesota and western Wisconsin, and it has performed at many brass band festivals throughout the United States including NABBA Great American Brass Band Festival.

Bavarian Musikmeisters–Members of the Bavarian Musikmeisters hail from the Twin Cities and model themselves after traditional German village bands, lederhosen and all. The band’s 35 musicians perform authentic musical arrangements on a variety of brass and woodwind instruments: flute, clarinet, trumpet, flugelhorn, tenor horn, baritone, trombone, tuba and percussion. They perform for numerous events in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area and have performed at Germanic festivals in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and South Dakota, as well as at the German-American Mardi Gras Association annual meeting in Las Vegas.

The Whistlin’ Dixies–This Twin Cities-based group prides itself on its versatility. The Whistlin’ Dixies has a core group of four fun and funky musicians and adds up to ten others to play a variety of genres, ranging from Motown classics to vintage jazz and swing to rock n’ roll. The band often performs for weddings, parties and corporate events.

New Prague Community Band–The New Prague Area Community Band consists of community members ranging from teenagers to retirees. It plays a diverse selection of band repertoire, striving to entertain all sorts of audiences. Band  members are an energetic group who believe that music is fun; they try to show that in their attitudes and in the songs they play at local events and area celebrations throughout the year.

The venue for the series of outdoor concerts on July 29 will be Bridge Square in Downtown Northfield, Minnesota along the banks of the wild and scenic Cannon River. The show will run from 10am-10pm and feature a variety of Minnesota music ensembles playing 45 or 90 minute sets. Vintage Band Festival will run concurrently with Riverwalk Market Fair, an open-air arts and food market, and will also have a variety of food concessions. Festival goers should bring chairs or blankets and plan to spend the day.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

PRESS RELEASE: TAKE IN THE CULTURAL SCENE – VINTAGE BAND FESTIVAL 2013!

(Northfield, MN May 2013) – Cultural influences from all over the world contributed to the rich history of American brass bands. Attendees of this summer’s Vintage Band Festival will hear this richness expressed through the performances of a number of ethnic bands, including several from Minnesota.

Here’s a look at some of those bands participating in the Aug. 1-4 festival:

The Brass Messengers started as a street band playing the music of the Caribbean and Balkans. http://www.brassmessengers.com/ This Minneapolis-based band is well known for its lively performances and its involvement in the Heart of the Beast May Day Parade. “Our music of choice is anything that fits in the twisted brass tubing, from originals to covers from around the globe, as long as it makes a joyful noise.”

The entertainment band tradition of klezmer, secular Jewish music that originated in Eastern Europe, will be represented at the Vintage Band Festival by the Klezmerica band of the Twin Cities. Also known as the Frozen Chosen, Klezmerica has played all over the United States, in Canada, and Israel.  (http://frozenchozen.com/)

Traditional Mexican music styles of mariachi and banda also have influenced the American brass band sound. Minneapolis-based Mariachi mi Tierra (http://www.mitierramnonline.com/) has performed widely around the country, and at events closer to home, like Minnesota Twins baseball games. Mariachi music has incredible diversity, from rapid tempo “sones” (quick songs), to “romånticas” to dance forms such as the “cumbia”, “bolero”, “polka”, and “vals” (waltz). They include the typical instruments: trumpets, fiddles, and guitars.

Among the other Minnesota bands reflecting ethnic traditions are the Original New Ulm German Band and the Bavarian Musikmeisters (http://www.musikmeisters.com/), both well known in their own communities and around the region. For the Bavarian Musikmeisters, the music is about “sharing the beauty, enjoyment, and history of traditional Germanic band music and culture with people of all ages.”

The Minnesota-based Finnish band Ameriikan Poijat (Boys of America) recently returned from a concert and festival tour of Finland, performing at the Lieksa International Brass Week and on the main esplanade in Helsinki and many other locations. The seven brass players are from all corners of Minnesota.  (www.ameriikanpoijat.org)

Visit our website for more information and a four-day schedule with over 100 performances at http://vintagebandfestival.org/festival/schedule/. Stay tuned for more news from the Vintage Band Festival as exciting national and international bands (soon to be announced) will bring their heritage music to this year’s festival, as well! Our news blog can be found at http://vintagebandfestival.org/news/.

The Vintage Band Festival is a four-day celebration featuring bands from across the US and abroad. Over 100 concerts fill the streets of historic Northfield and satellite concerts sites throughout southern Minnesota on August 1-4. The Festival offers a variety of genres, ethnic influences, and period-style performances. Visit http://vintagebandfestival.org/ for more information.

Find us on Facebook at “Vintage Band Festival” and Twitter at @vintagebandfest.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund and by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

###