Submitted Photo The Brass Band of Minot is one of a kind and is made up of performers of different ages, backgrounds and abilities including students, retired music educators and community members from northwest North Dakota.

The Brass Band of Minot will end its 2018-19 season with a concert at Minot State University’s Ann Nicole Nelson Hall on Sunday, March 31 at 4 p.m. that will celebrate the band’s 25th anniversary and the upcoming Easter season.

As a tribute to the Salvation Army Brass Band, which helped popularize British-style brass band music in the United States, the Brass Band of Minot will play two contrasting pieces of Salvation Army Band literature. The first will be William Himes’ “Aspects of Praise,” which uses a simple hymn tune to illustrate various attitudes of Christian Worship. The result is a dramatic and challenging score, parts of which are a little reminiscent of “Ben Hur.”

The second Salvation Army Band piece, which is completely different from the first, will be the fun calypso style “Do Lord-Oh.”

The band will round out the concert with “March – Gloria” by F. H. Losey, and a fast, jazzy rendition of Stevie Wonder’s “Sir Duke.”

The Brass Band of Minot has always included featured soloists with band accompaniment. The March 31 concert will feature Deanna Carpenter, high-brass instructor at Minot State University, who will play “Allegro” from Mozart’s “3rd Horn Concerto,” Pat Schwan and Cassidy Brenna will play “Pie Jesu” from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Requiem” and Kari Files will play Ann Nicole Nelson Hall’s organ to accompany the band in “An Easter Celebration.”

The band has also invited Teresa Hargrove, the band and choir director at Velva Public School, to accompany the band by singing the national anthem.

The band has a special treat planned as an encore. A hint to the surprise is that guests will get a chance to hear a tuba playing a part usually played by a piccolo.

The Brass Band of Minot owes its origins to the combination of two groups. The first was an informal brass choir who, under the guidance of composer and tuba player Wally Ost, played at area churches and for other functions. The second group, with much overlap, were the attendees of a brass band workshop that was directed by James Thornton who was then director of bands at Minot State University.

Inspired by the brass band revival that was occurring in the United States at the time, the two groups came together to form the Brass Band of Minot in 1994 with Thornton as the band’s first director. Several of the Brass Band of Minot’s first members are still in the band today including Gordon Troxel who left the euphonium section to become the band’s current director in 2009.

The Brass Band of Minot members represent a large range of backgrounds, ages and abilities including students, retired music educators and community members from northwest North Dakota.

The band is supported by a grant from the North Dakota Council on the Arts and by donations from audience members.

The 2018-19 season will end with the March 31 concert, but the band will be back next season, starting with a concert at Minot State University’s Ann Nicole Nelson Hall on Sunday, October 6 at 4 p.m.