The Capital City Brass Quintet
Saint Paul, Minnesota
The Capital City Brass Quintet has been active in the Twin Cities music scene since 1986. In addition to performing its own recital series and ceremonial music, the quintet has appeared in venues ranging from Saint Paul's Landmark Center and other formal settings to informal settings such as the Saint Paul Farmer's Market, riverboats, and parks. The quintet has also been heard on Minnesota Public Radio. The group is adventurous in its programming, premieres many new works, and performs a varied repertoire of classical music ranging from the Renaissance to the present day, as well as a broad spectrum of Jazz and rock arrangements.
Our members are Michael Roe and Buffy Larson, trumpets, Don Feeney, horn, Charles Watt, trombone, and Roger Lundberg, bass trombone. All have several decades of performing experience -- excellent performers and interesting people to boot.
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Upcoming Events Time, Space, and Memory The program for this concert explores ideas of space and time, how they intertwine, and how they play with our memories. Some of the musical ties to these ideas are explicit - several pieces mention time (or a time) in their titles, and selections from a couple of cultural touchstones with the word "Star" in their titles are of course in play. But other ties are less obvious and invite some exploration - whatever led us to pair the old Irish tune She Moved Through the Fair with music from Star Trek - Deep Space Nine? Come hear us, and learn that as well as the surprising backstory to Red River Valley (spoiler alert - cowboys play no role in its origin). Among the other featured pieces on the program are Moment for Morricone, a great medley of mind-bending film music composed by Ennio Morricone, the Thelonious Monk classic Round Midnight, and Florence Price's wonderful miniature, The Deserted Garden. There is newer stuff as well: we perform David Marlatt's Earthscape and revisit the 2016 piece A Dance for Strange Times by Saint Paul composer (and quintet member) Charles Watt. As the carnival barkers say, "And there's much, much more!!" Admission to the concert is FREE. Olivet Congregational Church Rock the Barn - 2024 Details forthcoming. Dodge Nature Center Hire Us Our rates are negotiable within reason, but as a rule of thumb, for something like one basic, straightforward church service plan on paying around $625.00. Festival services and weddings will typically start around $750 because extra work is involved. This assumes we're involved for two or three hours the day of the event and can include a rehearsal ahead of time. If there's a lot of extra rehearsal, playing or coordination, or an additional service the same day, obviously figure on more. Concert appearances and back ground music can be negotiated on a case by case basis. There are lots of budgets we can work with. For some events we may be open to payment of a base fee plus tips or a base fee plus plus a percentage of the gate. If the event is interesting enough, we've been known to offer a discount. Contact Us
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Recent Performances Fools in (and out of) Love To a large, enthusiastic audience we battled the syrupy treacle of the Valentine's Day season with a more balanced approach to the to the subject of love. We bracketed madrigals, opera, blues, and Broadway with rock outs on Take on Me to open Bad Romance to close. Between them, Elsa's Procession was magnificent (if we say so ourselves), the Overture to the "Barber of the Seville" had nothing to do with any single opera (you could look it up), Saint Louis left someone Blue, Bill Bailey may or may not have come home, madrigals danced, wept, and scratched their metaphorical heads in bafflement, and more. The whole business was a lot of fun. To prove we are not complete curmudgeons, we handed out chocolate hearts after all was said and done. Unsettled Times: Music of the 1920's A fairly full house let us get under their skin with a program rooted entirely in music of the 1920's that seemed eerily relevant to the 2020s. We played well after a few months disrupted by injury and illness Poets and Rhapsodists It was our first full length standalone performance in over a year. A good crowd enjoyed a festival of music inspired by poetry, portraiture, and rhapsodizing. In fact a couple of piece called themselves rhapsodies. There were portraits of small rodents, Elvis-style lyrics from the Troubadour Era, and wild times in overtures and rock arrangements. Some folks left singing the tunes. Music in the Mini-Park, Take 2 - Milwaukee Avenue Historic District Mini Park It was a pleasant early autumn evening with an appreciative crowd in a lovely setting. People lounged and dogs wandered as our program wandered through newer classical music and classic Rock and R & B. Thanks to the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis for hosting us. Rock the Barn - Dodge Nature Center Despite some COVID-borne disruptions of our rehearsal schedule, everyone recovered in time to pull together a lively set to welcome for families attending Dodge Nature Center's Rock the Barn event and benefit. According to some folks, we were "best in show" musically. There is no word of how we compared to the Highland Cattle and other animals. Reawakening: Piping in Spring, Blowing out Winter Folks were itching to get out. We and the Hopewell Flute Choir had a good, energetic crowd, especially for a Sunday evening concert. There were plenty of dance pieces, some flute beat-boxing, and subtle brass playing complementing our over the top M.O. The concert closed with a joint performance of the Ukrainian National Anthem for which the audience stood willingly and stayed standing for the applause. Outdoor Theatrics - White Bear Lake We played to a small but enthusiastic crowd outdoors and the Hanifl Performing Arts Center in White Bear Lake. The weather was hot, but our performance was hotter. Music in the Park - Birchwood Our first show as a full quintet in over a year went off well. A friendly crowd gathered in random lawn chairs in a repurposed hockey rink (not much ice skating in July) and enjoyed our usual mix of repertoire and smart-arsery as well as the music of the reunited Quintessence Winds. A Beautiful Afternoon in the Neighborhood - Lauderdale Welcome to more COVID 19 performing. On a warm November afternoon, four of us found a spot under pines in the park and again performed outdoors, covering our usual eclectic range. A nice crowd gathered in random lawn chairs and much of the neighborhood tuned in from porches and stoops. Neighborhood Concert 1 - West Saint Paul Welcome to COVID 19 performing. Four of us performed outdoors, covering the renaissance, some jazz, and some Sousa, much to the delight of dogs and three-year-olds in the audience. The adults seemed OK with it too, since they want us to come back. Subsets We explored all sorts of instrument combinations and on a couple of pieces quite intentionally brought the weird. There was love shown for an Exhibition, a flying bumblebee for two, and a didgeridoo, not to mention post concert ice cream. Spirits Dwell Here We scared some folks and moved some folks. Mike popped out Bb-flats in the subbasement of the human voice when we sang on Ipharadisi. One audience member commented on how wildly modern Mussorgsky's nineteenth century Russian stuff sound. The Sunshine Monk, our commission from a couple years back holds up under repeated performance. Photos from our Saint Paul Farmers Market appearance
photos by Andrew Watt |
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Buffy and Chuck 
Roger 
Don and Mike