Symphonic Wind Ensemble at Orchestra Hall You are cordially invited to join Western Illinois University's President Al Goldfarb for an afternoon of music, reminiscing, and socializing at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Center. Western's Symphonic Wind Ensemble (SWE) has been selected to perform at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Center at 12:15 p.m., Saturday, April 4th! The SWE is the only university ensemble to perform twice at Orchestra Hall!
Social 1:00-3:00 PM
Social, food and soft drinks - $15.00
Social, food, and beer/wine/soft drinks - $22.00
Register for the social.
And if you can't make it to Orchestra Hall, the SWE is on tour April 2 to 4. See them at Morton High School Thursday morning, the ISU Center for the Performing Arts Thursday afternoon, and at Pontiac High School Thursday evening. On Friday, April 3 they will be at Joliet West High School in the morning and Oswego High School that evening. Then on Saturday, April 4, see them at Orchestra Hall and then at John Hersey High School that evening for the Greater Chicagoland Band Festival. Yep. That's right. If you're counting, that's 7 performances in 3 days!!!
This year's Jazz Rhythm Section Day will be held Saturday, March 28, 2009.
Michael Kocour and his piano trio from Arizona State University are this year's guest artists at the event. Kocour, a Chicago native, is now at the Herberger College of Fine Arts at Arizona State University where his passion for teaching was recognized with a Distinguished Teacher Award within his first year there.
The Western Illinois University Jazz Rhythm Section Day is an annual event that celebrates the heartbeat of jazz, the jazz trio. This event is an educational opportunity open to WIU students, music educators, and high school students in the region. The festival includes a schedule of clinics and workshops by WIU Jazz Faculty as well as the guest artists in attendance. Clinics and workshops are specifically designed to help educators and students with jazz rhythm section pedagogy and performance techniques.
For more information about the Western Illinois University Jazz Rhythm Section Day contact: Michael Stryker, Assistant Professor of Jazz Piano, Western Illinois University, phone: 309.298.1444 or e-mail: MS-Stryker@wiu.edu
The Macomb Ministerial Association is going to be sponsoring two performances of John Cooper's Baecker Jazz Worship Service on April 5, 2009. The concerts are funded by a grant from the Fellheimer Foundation and will benefit the Loaves and Fishes food pantry in Macomb.
The concerts will feature the John Cooper Jazz Orchestra performing the Baecker Jazz Worship Service. The piece was commissioned by WIU alum Garth Baecker and has received critical acclaim and international radio airplay. The composition was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in music composition. CDs will be available at the event for $15.00 with $4.00 of each CD sale will benefit Loaves and Fishes.
See the Baecker Jazz Worship Service at St. Paul Catholic Church at 2:30 or at the Wesley United Methodist Church at 7:00. The concerts are free and open to the public. An offertory will be taken to support the local Loaves and Fishes.
Download the poster here.
ALUMNI NEWS WEST POINT RESIDENT AND WESTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY STUDENT- PATRICK DOWNING SELECTED AS SPRING 2009 INTERN AT THE KENNEDY CENTER
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts selected Patrick Downing of West Point, Iowa for its internship program this spring as part of the Kennedy Center Institute for Arts Management.
Patrick, son of Kirk and Cassie Downing, will graduate this May from Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois, with a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Business and minors in Broadcasting and Marketing. While at Western Illinois, Patrick has been consistently named to the Dean's List and received awards from NAMM (International Music Products Association) and the Western Illinois University School of Music.
He is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America, Music Teachers National Association, Music Business Association, and the Bureau of Cultural Affairs. For nearly seven years, he has served as church pianist and organist at St. Paul's and St. Peter's United Church of Christ in Donnellson. Patrick is a 2004 graduate of Central Lee High School in Donnellson, Iowa. While in high school, he received the John Phillip Sousa Band Award, twelve Superior Ratings at Iowa High School Music Association Solo and Ensemble Contests, and was selected to the 2002 and 2003 Iowa All-State Chorus.
While at the Kennedy Center, Patrick is an intern in the press office, which promotes the performing arts through media coverage. He assists with promoting Center performances and red carpet events such as the Spring Gala in early May. Patrick also assists with writing news releases, building media kits, and issuing such materials.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts selected Western Illinois University graduate Claudia Clark of Alton, Illinois for its internship program fall 2008 as part of the Kennedy Center Institute for Arts Management. Claudia, daughter of Thomas and Crystal Clark, graduated from Western Illinois University in May 2008 with a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree with a major in music business and a minor in management. Claudia also plays the bassoon. While at the Kennedy Center, Claudia was an intern with the National Symphony Orchestra, which handles administration for rehearsals, concerts, and various festivals. She also assisted with production details, and updated orchestra member's biographies for program books and online postings. Claudia also assisted with the American Residency Tour and met with all NSO departments to gain basic understanding of what roles they play within the NSO.
The newly formed WIU Chamber Orchestra went on a tour of high schools in Pekin, Peoria and Quincy on February 19 and 20 2009. Dr. Richard Hughey, Director of Orchestral Activities at WIU, instigated the Chamber Orchestra during spring semester 2008 and developed it into a regular ensemble being with fall semester 2008. The orchestra has specialized thus far in the authentic performance practice of Baroque music. During the tour in February they performed works of Archangelo Corelli and Antonio Vivaldi.
Student soloists Alise Svoboda, Jia Rong Gan and Javier Escalera performed each a movement of the Vivaldi Concerto in A Minor for Violin Op. 3, No. 6 and Aamil Sulaiman with Andrea Beltran played the Double Concerto in G Minor for two celli also by Vivaldi. The orchestra concluded the program with the Corelli Concerto Grosso in D Major, Op. 6, No. 1.
The students at Pekin Community High School, Peoria High School, Woodruff High School, Quincy Junior and Senior High Schools received the performances very enthusiastically and praised the excellent high performance level of our WIU string students.
Christine Lapka was selected to participate in the 2009 Texas Music Educators Association research paper and poster session. The association has a national following with papers from Florida State, UT Austin, Bowling Green (Ohio), North Carolina A & T, James Madison, and Iowa State. Dr. Lapka is one of the first researchers to look at positive models of inclusion in music education. A Case Study of the Integration of Students with Disabilities in a Secondary Music Ensemble highlights students who perform in a high school band.
Dr. Lapka traveled to New Brunswick, New Jersey as an invited guest to present Changing our Initial Impressions of Students with Learning Disabilities. The session looked at typical difficulties encountered by student with processing problems in music classes and ensembles. Participants left with several ideas for classroom accommodations in addition to ways to adapt their curriculum to meet student needs. The New Jersey Educators Association supported presentations by several Mid-West scholars (Will Schmid, Kim McCord, Tim Gerber).
Matt Bean judged Western Idol on February 16 and 24, basically taking Simon's role as the "mean judge who knew what he was talking about." Western's Idol, Charice Rodgers will get premiere seating and a meet and greet with American Idol David Cook during his upcoming college tour and performance at WIU.
Press Release: American Idol Winner to Rock Out at WIU
From Matt Warnock's Guitar Studio: Classical guitarist Dr Brad DeRoche was in residence at WIU from February 21st-24th. During his time at WIU Dr DeRoche taught private lessons to WIU guitar students and gave a free master class that was attended by music school students and members of the general public. Dr DeRoche, who is the co-owner of Strings by Mail gave a presentation and answered questions for the students of
Courtney Blankenship's Intro to Music Business class and capped off his visit to WIU with a well-received concert in the COFAC recital hall. All of these events were free and were funded by a Visiting Lectures Grant.
Brian Locke received a contract for a major publication in February. It will be a Scholarly Edition with A-R Editions, Inc., a Wisconsin-based music publisher that is North America's leading publisher of scholarly editions. His project is an unpublished Czech opera, entitled Vina ("Guilt", 1923) by Otakar Zich (1879-1934). His work involves the transcription and editing of a 987-page orchestral score, resulting in a 400-page published document, complete with introductory chapter, critical remarks, and his English translation of the entire Czech libretto. According to the general editor, Locke's proposed edition is the largest project that A-R Editions has ever undertaken in the 47-year history of the company (a total of approximately 550 editions). The Western library already owns several dozen of these volumes, and many music libraries around the world have a complete subscription to all their series.
James Caldwell collaborated with pianist Lisa Weiss and composer Bruce Mahin on a series of piano recitals in February that featured his piano composition Éclaircissements. The recitals were at Christ and St. Stephen's Church in New York City, February 15; Goucher College in Maryland, February 18; and Radford University in Virginia, February 25.
He was also in residence at Goucher College for two days, where he did presentations for composition, 20th-century music theory, and computer music courses, and took questions in a discussion session after Dr. Weiss's lecture-recital.
Rich Cangro was a guest lecturer for the music education students at Millikin University on February 27. He presented a session entitled "The Right Stuff! Essential experiences for profound music education." The following day, he presented at the Illinois Collegiate Music Educators Association conference at University of Illinois. That session was entitled "Developing Independent Learners" and was attended by university students and faculty. Dr. Cangro is enjoying his first year at Western and getting to know many students and teachers across the state.
Kevin Nichols sidetracked his sabbatical to spend some time with students from the preschool program at MacArthur and the first grade students at St. Paul Grade Schools in Macomb. After a brief demonstration of hand percussion instruments, the students were treated with the opportunity to compose their own music through drum circle activities. Nichols says the performance opportunities are rolling in!
Professor Paul Paccione (Music Theory/Composition) delivered pre-concert lectures with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pierre Boulez, at Orchestra Hall in Chicago, on February, 26, 27, and 28. Prior to each concert of the series, Professor Paccione spoke on the music of composers Igor Stravinsky, Edgard Varese and Elliott Carter.
Dr. Tammie Walker (Professor of Piano) adjudicated the annual Piano Sonata Festival in Peoria on Saturday, Feb. 7, gave a lecture-recital on the piano music of Mozart and Grieg to the Quincy Piano Teachers Association on Friday, Feb. 13, and presented a public masterclass at West Music in Moline on Saturday, Feb. 28.
School of Music Website.