The Bethany Lutheran College Concert Band, under the direction of Professor Benjamin Faugstad, is excited to perform throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa in both February and March. Their program features a variety of selections that will entertain and educate audiences of all ages. For example, the Concert Band will perform several beautiful, lyrical tunes: “Be Thou My Vision,” “Salvation Is Created,” and “Nostalgia,” while other selections will be both powerful and exciting: John Philip Sousa’s “The Thunderer,” Hans Zimmer’s “Pirates of The Caribbean: At World’s End,” and John Powell’s “How to Train Your Dragon.”
Performance dates, times, and locations for the Midwest Tour:
- Friday, February 22 at 2:30 p.m.
St. Croix Lutheran Academy
200 Oakdale Ave., West St. Paul, Minnesota - Saturday, February 23 at 7:00 p.m.
Holy Cross Lutheran Church and School
734 Holy Cross Way, Madison, Wisconsin
Concert is free and open to the public. A freewill donation will be available to help offset tour expenses. - Monday, February 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Glencoe-Silver Lake High School
1621 16th St. E, Glencoe, Minnesota
Concert admission to support the GSL Band program is $6 for adults and $4 for students. - Wednesday, February 27 at 7:00 p.m.
Bethany Lutheran College – Trinity Chapel
700 Luther Dr., Mankato, Minnesota
Concert is free and open to the public. A freewill donation will be available to help offset tour expenses. - Friday, March 8 at 2:30 p.m.
Alden-Conger Public School
215 N. Broadway, Alden, Minnesota - Friday, March 8 at 7:00 p.m.
South Hardin High School
1800 24th St., Eldora, Iowa
Concert is free and open to the public. A freewill donation will be available for the South Hardin High School Band Program. - Saturday, March 9 at 4:00 p.m.
Gethsemane Lutheran Church
2410 East 32nd Street, Davenport, Iowa
Concert is free and open to the public. A freewill donation will be available to help offset tour expenses.
About the Conductor
Benjamin Faugstad (b. 1984) is in his ninth year of teaching music, with this as his second year at Bethany Lutheran College, where he directs the Concert Band, Jazz Band, B-Town Drumline, and co-directs the Chamber Orchestra with Alyssa Inniger. In addition to the ensembles, he also teaches Introduction to Conducting, Instrumental Conducting, Jazz Improvisation and leads several individual conducting and percussion lessons.
Faugstad was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, and grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota. He attended the K-8 Scarville Lutheran School, then Alden-Conger High School, followed by earning a bachelor of arts in music and religious studies minor from Bethany Lutheran College in 2007. After receiving his licensure degree at Minnesota State University, Mankato, (MSU) he taught all instrumental ensembles at Lake Mills Community School from 2010-2017, and recently completed his graduate degree from MSU in 2018.
This last summer, Faugstad started the Blue River Combo and actively performs on drum set in the jazz combo.
He has arranged a number of selections for concert band, pep band, percussion ensemble, drumline, and piano, with several works published with Veritas Musica Publishing. His most recent composition, “Night,” debuted at the 2017 Christmas at Bethany concert. Faugstad lives in Mankato, Minnesota, with his wife, Ashley, two daughters, Noelle (8) and Julia (7), and two sons, Gideon (5) and Solomon (3).