The NIU New Music Festival celebrates its tenth year with three consecutive evenings of music November 2, 3, and 4, 2022. The evening programs begin at 7 p.m. and tickets are available through the online School of Music Box Office.
Here’s a look back at the history of the NIU New Music Ensemble and New Music Festival.
This milestone event features:
- three concerts of music for orchestra, wind ensemble, choirs, mixed chamber groups, solo instrumentalists, percussion ensemble, string quartet, and sound installations
- music by guest artist alumnae Elainie Lillios and Alexis C. Lamb
- a guest appearance by Argentinean choral composer Santiago Veros
- guest artist performances by Nick Photinos, I-Jen Fang and Daphne Gerling
- appearances by NIU Faculty Christopher Scanlon, Gregory Beyer, and the Avalon String Quartet
- NIU student soloists Andrew Carlson, Ethan Cowburn, and Jonah Payne
- NIU student ensembles including the NIU Philharmonic, the NIU Wind Ensemble, the NIU Concert Choir, the NIU Chamber Choir, the NIU Percussion Ensemble, and the NIU New Music Ensemble
Elainie Lillios
On Wednesday, November 2, the festival kicks off with a 7 p.m. program in the Music Building Recital Hall featuring electroacoustic music by featured guest composers Alexis C. Lamb and Elainie Lillios, as well as works by NIU faculty and students composers: Mark Snyder, Brian Penkrot and David Maki, Ethan Patterson and Elena Stavropolous. Soloists featured are NIU’s own Christopher Scanlon and Jonah Payne, as well as guest cellist Nick Photinos.
On Thursday November 3, Alexis C. Lamb and Elainie Lillios will offer a talk on the art of listening during the 11:00 a.m. All-School Convocation in the NIU School of Music’s Boutell Memorial Concert Hall. This presentation will feature segments of music by both composers performed throughout the festival as well as philosophical ideas forged by pioneering American composer Pauline Oliveros. Both Lamb and Lillios are associated with Ms. Oliveros’ Deep Listening Institute.
Alexis C. Lamb
Thursday evening, the festival’s second concert held in the Concert Hall will feature performances by the NIU Wind Ensemble and Concert Choir, the NIU Philharmonic, the NIU Percussion Ensemble, the NIU New Music Ensemble, of music by John Cage, Alexis C. Lamb, several NIU student composers, and special guest Argentinean choral composer, Santiago Veros.
Friday November 4 at 3 p.m. the composition department will offer its composition seminar in Music Building Room 202 featuring both Lillios and Lamb.
Friday evening, the 10th Anniversary NIU New Music Festival will close with a concert hall program featuring the Avalon String Quartet, guest artists Daphne Gerling and I-Jen Fang, the NIU Steelpan Graduate Quartet, student soloist Jonah Payne, and Festival Artistic Director Gregory Beyer.
After Friday night’s concert, there will be a post-festival reception at Tapa La Luna in downtown DeKalb. We encourage the NIU and the DeKalb community at large to come out and help us celebrate our tenth anniversary!
Questions or comments can be directed to Festival Artistic Director Dr. Gregory Beyer by phone, (815) 753-7981, or by email, gbeyer@niu.edu.
For in person tickets, please visit: https://niumusic.universitytickets.com/
As always, NIU concert performances are broadcast through our School of Music Livestream: https://www.niu.edu/music/performances/index.shtml
About the NIU New Music Ensemble and Festival
Created in 2008 by its director, Dr. Gregory Beyer, the Northern Illinois University New Music Ensemble is a performance group dedicated to historically groundbreaking music of the 20th Century and the emerging musical voices of the 21st Century.
Each fall, the ensemble presents a multi-concert Festival featuring prominent guest composers, performers, and thematically connected compositions to expose students and the NIU community to excellence and diversity in contemporary classical music making.
With its flexible instrumentation allowing it to present diverse repertoire, the NIU NME has to date presented concerts of music by Steve Reich, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Olivier Messiaen, Augusta Read Thomas, Regina Harris Baiocchi, Alex Mincek, Eric Wubbels, Kate Soper, Shulamit Ran, Elainie Lillios, Alexis C. Lamb, Judith Shatin, Jessie Montgomery, David M. Gordon, Luciano Berio, George Crumb, Igor Stravinsky, John Cage, Erik Griswold, Anthony Pateras, Gerard Grisey, Fred Sturm, Matt Ulery, Christopher Adler, David Lang, Dawn of MIDI, and many others. At its festivals, student members of the NME have interacted directly with many of these composers and have performed alongside luminous guest artists such as Wet Ink Ensemble (NYC), Yarn/Wire (NYC), Clocked Out Duo (Australia), Matt Ulery and Loom, Dane Richeson and Marco Albonetti, and the nief-norf Project.