Excelsior Cornet Band

The Excelsior Cornet Band is New York State’s only authentic Civil War brass band. Founded in 2001, the band consists of upstate New York musicians, professionals with many years of experience in a wide variety of musical genres, who are dedicated to the performance of original Civil War music on actual antique brass band instruments of the 1860’s. Their uniforms authentically and accurately represent those of a typical early-war New York State Militia band. We can anticipate hearing the most popular melodies of the 1850-1870 period, as well as patriotic airs, operatic medleys, marches and dance music by the era’s most renowned composers and bandmasters, along with historical narrative.