The Rising Stars Youth Steel Drum Orchestra will visit Edina Sept. 7-8. (Submitted photo)
Edina will welcome the Rising Stars Youth Steel Drum Orchestra as the percussionists arrive from the U.S. Virgin Islands Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 7 and 8.
The lively rhythms and upbeat Caribbean music will be provided by young steel drum instrumentalists from the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The internationally acclaimed orchestra of young musicians will bring 30 of its 150 members for this first tour to Minnesota. The group was founded in 1981 by Judge Verne A. Hodge, then presiding judge of the Territorial Court of the Virgin Islands, as a way to keep youth out of trouble and in school while also guiding them to plan for their futures.
The tour is made possible through Edina residents Peter and Serene Simon of Simon & Simon Travel, who began organizing band trips for Edina students in 1981. While searching for an “outside the box” international experience for the Edina Concert Band in 1989, the Simons connected with the Rising Stars Youth Steel Orchestra, and a joint concert in St. Thomas was planned.
During subsequent international band trips, the Simons have facilitated additional joint concerts for the two groups, seeing instrumental music as a key ingredient for students to bond with others from far-off places. The visiting musicians will work with Edina band and orchestra students during the school day Oct. 7, teaching them to play the hand-crafted, chromatically-pitched instruments, which are created from 55-gallon industrial drums.
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