The Circus Comes to Town Friday at Sounds of Minnesota

Lions and tigers and . . . hulu hoops?  Minnesota Brass’s Mad Circus will pull into town at Mendota Heights this Friday evening for one night only!  Don’t miss the 2015 edition of Sounds of Minnesota at Saint Thomas Academy. The show starts at 7 p.m. and gates open at 6:00 p.m.  Tickets are on sale now! Premium seats are available online in advance for $10; Standard seats are $10 at the gate. While children of all ages are welcome, only kids who are six and under will be admitted free.  For more information, call 651-717-4382. Proceeds from the show help support the Saint Thomas Academy Band Backers.

Sponsored by Minnesota Brass, Sounds of Minnesota will feature top all-age drum corps from Minnesota and Wisconsin, as well as other ensembles in exhibition. Each competing unit will perform a 15-minute field show and will be evaluated by a panel of judges.

Units appearing in competition include the Govenaires of St. Peter, Minn.; Chops Inc. of Minneapolis; the Kilties, from Racine, Wis.; and Minnesota Brass. Both Minnesota Brass and the Govenaires won the 2011 Drum Corps Associates (DCA) World Championships in their respective divisions. Preceding the competition will be performances by Minne-Brass, the small-corps ensemble of Minnesota Brass (and winners of DCA’s first mini-corps championship in 1999 and again in 2005) and a special exhibition from the Brian Boru Irish Pipe Band.

The host Minnesota Brass Drum and Bugle Corps was established in 1947. Since 2008, including the 2011 World Championship, the 120-member unit and has never placed lower than third among upwards of 20 competing units. The Sounds of Minnesota show will be the final chance to see Minnesota Brass perform in the Twin Cities before the corps heads to Rochester, N.Y., to compete in the 2015 DCA World Championships.