The 25/26 Concert Season
Upcoming Events
Supper & Songs (May 2026)
Regular Season Concert 4
**NOTICE 5/4/26: This event has been cancelled/postponed due to illness. We apologize for the inconvenience. We are working to get a new date to reschedule the concerts. Please check back in the coming days for further updates.**
7:00 | Thursday, May 7 | Arlington Haus Too
7:00 | Friday, May 8 | Black Forest Inn, Minneapolis
A night full of laughs, good food, and great music
La Grande Bande’s much beloved “Dine Out” series of casual concert performances enters its sixth year with a great selection of music that is sure to have you falling out of your chair. The evening will begin with an English cantata, written by “an eminent master” in the 1750s, that tells of the greatness of English Roast Beef (inspired by the song we performed last season). Closing the evening is Pergolesi’s hilarious set of intermezzi, La serva padrona, which tells the tale of a grumpy, impatient, and not-so-bright bachelor who is wittily tricked by his maidservant into marrying her.
Past Events
French Music for Mary (February 2026)
Regular Season Concert 3
7:30 | Thursday, February 26 | First Lutheran Church, St Peter
7:30 | Friday, February 27 | Church of St Mary, Lowertown, St Paul
Beautiful musical settings honoring the Virgin Mary
Music written for the Virgin Mary holds a special place in the Liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church. In this concert, La Grande Bande explores music written in honor of the Virgin from 16th- and 17th-century France. Featured prominently on this program are the beautiful voices of Alyssa Anderson, Kristina Boerger, Catherine Sandstedt, and Jenny Ubl, members of La Grande Bande’s core group of vocalists. La Grande Bande is also delighted to welcome Atlanta-based, historical harpist Paula Fagerberg in her debut performances with our ensemble. Join La Grande Bande, and its fabulous artists, as we perform instrumental, vocal, and chanted music that honors the Virgin Mary.
A French Baroque Christmas (December 2025)
with The Norseland Youth Choir
Holiday Concert
7:30 | Thursday, December 4 | Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, New Ulm
7:30 | Saturday, December 6 | Church of St Mark, St Paul
A Christmas tradition centuries in the making
Experience the beauty and joy of the Christmas season with a selection of works written for Christmas by Marc-Antoine Charpentier. The concert centers on Charpentier’s Pastorale sur la Naissance (“Pastoral on the birth of Christ”), one of the most captivating and imaginative examples of sacred French-language Baroque drama. Charpentier’s In nativitatem explores the experience the shepherds might have that fateful day.
From shepherds and recorders to famous French noëls you can sing with us, you’ll be part of the newest Christmas tradition in the region.
Beethoven & Mozart (November 2025)
Regular Season Concert 2
7:30 | Friday, November 7 | Immanuel Lutheran Church, Gaylord
7:30 | Saturday, November 8 | Westminster Hall, Westminster Presbyterian, Mpls
Joyous music by the old masters on period instruments
Beethoven and Mozart are arguably some of the most famous musicians of all time. On this program, La Grande Bande celebrates some of their most famous and also least performed works. Mozart’s Ouverture from Le Nozze di Figaro is arguably one of his most famous works. Beethoven’s Symphony No 8, written when he was almost completely deaf, is filled with exuberance, and is often overshadowed by the larger “Pastoral Symphony” in F.
La Grande Bande looks forward to celebrating the work of these two great masters, alongside the introduction of 13-year-old cellist Jorgen Anthony (St Peter) who will perform the first movement of Luigi Boccherini’s Cello Concerto in B-flat with us. We hope you join us for a thrilling evening of music.
HarpsiFest (September 2025)
Regular Season Concert 1
7:30 | Thursday, September 25 | First Lutheran Church, Winthrop
7:30 | Friday, September 26 | Olivet Congregational Church, St Paul
An evening of music for two harpsichords
Can anyone really ever have enough harpsichords? For Johann Sebastian Bach, the maximum limit was four harpsichords at a time! Inspired by the concertos for two, three, and four harpsichords written by Johann Sebastian Bach in the 1730s, this program explores the musical possibilities for two harpsichords (with four keyboards total!).
Join us as we begin the 25/26 Season with a delightful program of works for two harpsichords by Bach and his contemporaries. La Grande Bande’s harpsichordists, Paul Boehnke and Michael Thomas Asmus, will delight your ears with a program of delightful music by German, French, and Italian composers.