Dallas Brass Returns to Play with Edina Youth

The last time the Dallas Brass was in Edina, people were clamoring for tickets. 

That was 2008. Three years later, the ensemble returns for two nights of shows with Edina students. Band director Paul Kile expects both nights to sell out. 

“I’ve seen them numerous times and when they come to Edina they pull out all the stops,” Kile said. “These concerts won’t be any different.” 

Dallas Brass may be a standard brass quintet (two trumpets, one horn, one trombone and one tuba) plus one percussionist, but a Dallas Brass concert is anything but ordinary. 

“It’s not a concert, it is a show,” Kile said.

On Wednesday night, roughly 100 middle school band students will perform Star Wars with the ensemble, conducted by former Edina band director Dr. Robert Ouren. Friday evening, another 100 high school members of the Varsity and Concert bands will perform American Tableau with the Dallas Brass, conducted by Ed Melichar, former conductor of the Edina Concert Band.  

While the Dallas Brass is in town, its members will also hold clinics with band students as part of the ensemble’s mission to motivate and inspire. 

It All Started Here 

Michael Levine, founder and director of the Dallas Brass as well as the ensemble’s trombonist, now lives in Dallas but he attended high school in St. Louis Park. The idea for his musical endeavor came after attending an .

“He was so overwhelmed and moved by the experience of the Edina POPS, he decided that’s what he wanted to do with his life, to reach audiences in the same way that that concert reached him,” Kile said. 

Levine went on to obtain a Bachelor of Music degree from The Juliard School and founded the Dallas Brass in 1983. He now returns to the city where the musical seeds were planted.

Two Special Guests 

In addition to the young talent, Dallas Brass will have two special guests at the Edina shows, both with hometown ties. Scott Crosbie, who Kile said was a performer in the very POPS concert that first inspired Levine, will be on hand to entertain with his famous Whizbang machine. 

“It’s an instrument, a machine, an invention that’s virtually indescribable. He’s like a one man band with cymbals and bass drums and horns and whistles and washboards—and he tap dances. It’s terrific,” Kile said. 

Edina graduate, renowned tuba soloist and Talent Casting and Booking Director with Disney, Scott Crosbie will also perform.

Tickets for both shows are available at www.edinabands.com.

If You Go:

What: Dallas Brass Concerts

Where: Fick Auditorium

When: 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 16, and Friday, Nov. 18.

Cost: All tickets ordered before November 7, $12; November 7 and later, $18.