Gregory Beyer, professor of music and director of percussion studies in the NIU School of Music received a $12,000 Illinois Arts Council Creative Projects Grant to support the commission of two works for marimba by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Melinda Wagner and University of South Carolina faculty David Clay Mettens to be premiered and documented on both audio and video.
Beyer was also part of Grossman Ensemble performances at the Library of Congress in Washington DC in May, and the Time:Spans Festival in New York City in August.
He also was invited faculty at the Interlochen Arts Camp’s Percussion Intensive in June.
And his Arcomusical ensemble, which reimagines the Afro-Brazilian percussion instrument the berimbau into powerful chamber music, received an invitation to perform at this year’s Percussive Arts Society International Convention in November. Arcomusical will perform works by Beyer and NIU alumna Krissy Bergmark.
