Brass Band of Minot will conclude its 2021-2022 season with “A Palm Sunday Concert” at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 10, at Minot State University’s Ann Nicole Nelson Hall.

Special guest, Jocelyn Rodgers, who some may remember from her work with the Medora Musical, will open the concert with an acapella rendition of the Ukrainian National Anthem in recognition of Ukraine’s current struggles.

The band will then accompany Rodgers for the “Star-Spangled Banner” and continue with Paul Lavalle’s rousing “Band of America March,” followed by “Second Suite in F Major” by Gustav Holst. “Second Suite” is a band favorite for the way Holst weaved together a number of folk song tunes into a sonorous tapestry. The band will play the movements “March,” “Song of the Blacksmith” and “Fantasia on the Dargason.”

In “Song of the Blacksmith,” the part of the blacksmith’s anvil will be played by a favorite but underutilized instrument from the percussion section: the brake drum. As the name suggests, the instrument was made from the brake drum from a car wheel.

The band will then accompany special guest David Rolandson, director of Bands at MSU, in the third movement of Edward Gregson’s “Tuba Concerto.” This challenging piece showcases what a tuba in the hands of a virtuoso like Rolandson can do with a fast-paced and flexible rondo section and a bluesy/jazz section, and a dramatic cadenza.

Next, the band will play Steve Sykes’ arrangement of “Raiders of the Lost Ark” by John Williams and Ivor Bosanko’s “Rocky Mountain Centennial,” a Salvation Army festival march with musical references to mountain folk songs, including “Home on the Range.”

The concert will continue with the soothing sounds of “Pie Jesu” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Requiem” featuring the mellifluous sounds of the E-flat soprano coronet and flugelhorn, both instruments that create a beautiful mellow sound seldom featured outside of British-style brass band repertoire. The band will play Robert Spittal’s lyrical “Pacem: A Hymn for Peace” and conclude with James D. Ployhar’s majestic and jubilant arrangement of “Praise to the Lord.”

The Brass Band of Minot is North Dakota’s only British-style brass band and provides audiences with the opportunity to experience the unique brass band sound through a variety of different styles of music. The band is directed by Gordon Troxel and consists of brass and percussion players from Minot and other communities in northwest North Dakota who share a love of brass band music. This concert helps showcase what makes British-style Brass Bands unique.

Brass Band of Minot concerts are free and open to the public, though cash and check donations are welcome.

This project is supported in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts, which receives funding from the state Legislature and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Brass Band of Minot will be back in October for its 2022-2023 season.