Eden Prairie Kogukonnaorkester (USA)

Saturday, July 26 at 18.00

House of the Blackheads

Free admission

 

Conductor: Tom Muehlbauer

Program: Diamond, Tin, Zawinul, Ellington, Mills, Tizol, Belafonte, de Leon, Oller, Samuel, John, Taupin, Walters, DeCosta, Handy, Gillespie, Paparelli, Gillis, Custer, Esenvalds, Mortimer, Sousa

 

The Eden Prairie Community Band (EPCB) was created as an All-Comers Band in 1973, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA, to provide local students and adults a chance to practice and perform band music. The band is made up of over 60 members, aged 17 to 80-something, who live, work, or attend school in the Eden Prairie area. The band performs indoor concerts around the Twin Citie,s Minnesota area during the school year, in addition to outdoor concerts in parks and amphitheaters during the summer.

 

In addition to the larger concert band, they have smaller groups which include the Jazz on the Prairie big band and the Prairie Ramblers traditional New Orleans style jazz band, plus a Prairie Brass quintet and a Woodwind Choir.

 

The band performs annually during the City of Eden Prairie Fourth of July celebrations and presents an annual Share the Warmth Holiday Concert each December, where they collect donations of food, warm clothing, and money for a local food shelf. The band is a regular at local venues such as the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, the Staring Lakes Amphitheatre, and Edina’s Centennial Lakes Park. The band has also completed several tours across the globe over the past 20 years, including trips to Austria, Italy & Switzerland, China, Ireland, and Greece. They have performed on a cruise ship in Greece and at a fish festival in Italy and appreciate any opportunity to share their love of music with audiences.

 

Tom Muehlbauer started playing piano when he was five, then began formal music lessons. He studied music in college and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Music Education. He played professionally for 22 years, and he has performed with a variety of famous musicians, including Cab Calloway, Rosemary Clooney, Bobby Rydell, Jerry Van Dyke, and more. He then taught music in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, public schools for 18 years before retiring.

 

Tom is a long-time Eden Prairie Community Band (EPCB) member who plays clarinet and sax in both the concert band and the jazz band. He became the band director in 2016 and inspires the band members and audiences while sharing background information about the different pieces that are performed at each concert. Tom continues to play in several groups, in addition to directing the EPCB.

 

Free admission