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Our History

Celebrating the past and advancing the future of a Minnesota band tradition.

Band at Edina-Morningside High School was led initially by Gale Sperry, who previously taught in Windom. After four years in Edina, he went to the University of Minnesota and later served as director of bands at the University of South Florida. According to Butler Eitel, Sperry was so well-respected by his students that fully half the band quit when they learned he was leaving! 

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The Pops tradition began shortly after the arrival of Butler Eitel as band director at Edina-Morningside High School. Born in Hampton, Iowa, Eitel earned degrees from the University of Michigan and MacPhail College. He served in the European Theater during World War II and later served in the United States Air Force Band, in addition to conducting and teaching positions with the United States Air Force Band and Orchestra and University of Maryland. Eitel came to Edina in the fall of 1953 and directed the very first Pops Concert in the spring of 1954. He resigned in 1965 to teach at Macalester college, concurrently assisting with the University of Minnesota marching band, and later served as director of bands at the University of Montana from 1967 until his retirement in 1978. Eitel was president of the American Bandmasters Association in 1979. he is married to Priscilla Gilbertson Eitel, who was a harpist and soloist with the United States Air Force Band and Orchestra and a graduate of the Eastman School for Music. 

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Ed Melicher was raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa, where his father, James, was director of the Cedar Falls Municipal Band. Ed drew up playing in his father's band (along with his brother and sister) and continued his musical education at the Iowa State Teachers College and University of Iowa. He taught in Toledo and Thornton, Iowa, before coming to Edina in 1959, where he spent two years with elementary band and three years with the Edina High School Varsity Band and one section of the ninth-grade band. When Budget Eitel resigned, Melichar became conductor of the Edina High School Concert Band; he went to the Edina -West High School when it opened in 1972 and continued the Pops Concert tradition there. Between 1964 and his retirement and 1987, Melichar presented a total of 23 Pops Concerts! He also conducted the Edina High School Symphony Orchestra for 13 years. 

Awards and Accolades

  • 1987 Edina Concert Band receives “The Sudler Order of Merit” from the National John Philip Sousa Foundation and is placed on the national “Historic Roll of Honor of High School Bands” 

  • 2002 Selected by MMEA as Minnesota’s Exemplary Music Program 

  • 2005 Edina program named as a GRAMMY Signature School 2007 Edina program named as a GRAMMY Signature School 

  • 2012 NAMM Foundation as Best Community for Music Education 

  • 2022 NAMM Foundation as Best Community for Music Education 

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Commissions by the Edina Band Program 

  • 1998 Sorceror’s Dance Dean Sorenson 

  • 2001 Three Preludes Scott McAllister 

  • 2002 A Quilting Bee Clark McAlister 

  • 2003 Sssssplashhhhh!!! Timothy Mahr An American Tapestry Daniel Kallman 

  • 2004 French Dances Revisited Adam Gorb 

  • 2007 O By the By Daniel Kallman Minnesota Portraits Samuel R. Hazo Sech Tanze Rolf Rudin 

  • 2008 Dances with Winds Shelley Hanson 

  • 2009 Three Moods Stephen Paulus Inferno Daniel Bukvich

  • 2010 Edina Fanfare Daniel Bukvich 

  • 2012 Jitterstomp Daniel Kallman 

  • 2013 Star Crossed Andrew Boysen Jr. Phantom Moon Michael Colgrass Two Lane Blacktop James M. David 

  • 2014 From the Blue Ridge Grant Luhmann The Hinz Waltz 2 Christopher Neiner Ytterbium Greg Sylvester Pure Imagination arr. John Wasson 

  • 2015 For Those Who Wait Gregory Youtz City of Emerald Alan Stein 

  • 2016 Lights Out Alex Shapiro Symphony for Band Timothy Mahr 

  • 2017 Train of Thought Alex Shapiro for Chamber Winds 

  • 2018 Bright Side Timothy Mahr Murmurations Carl Holmquist Battisti 85th Birthday Commission Reminiscence Kathryn Salfelder Neapolitan Ode Michael Weinstein Spring Overture Ken Amis 

  • 2019 Inspiration Libby Larsen The Illustrated Fantastical T.J. Cole Blueprints for Hope Katherine Bergman* Intrinsic Light Cait Nishimura* 

  • 2020 MN Consortium for Black American Composers 12 Composers* 

  • 2021 Vulnerable Joy Jodie Blackshaw* Mephisto Masque arr. L.B. Ware* Musica Ignota Ingrid Stolzel 

  • 2022 Patiala Pulse Shruthi Rajasekar Suite of Vintage Dances Daniel Kallman* To Be Heard Asha Srinivasan* Symphony in Blue and Gold Erika Svanoe* Symphony No. 1 (A Ghost Story) Randall Standridge 

  • 2023 Saurya Rudresh Mahanthappa 

  • 2024 Feathered Angels Jodie Blackshaw 

*Edina was a consortium member

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Past Appearances

  • 1960 Edina Morningside High SChool Band performs at The Midwest Clinic (IL)

  • 2015 Concert Band performs at MMEA

  • 2017 Concert Band performs at the ASBDA Region 2 Conference (MN)

  • 2019 Concert Band performs at the NBA Regional Conference (WI)

  • 2019 Concert Band performs at MMEA

  • 2023 Varsity Band performs at MMEA

  • 2024 Concert Band performs at the ASBDA 65th National Convention (MN)

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