From the Exotic to the Global Concert Series

Opening Concert
2025 NIU World Music Festival

Jui-Ching Wang, director

Tuesday, April 8
8 pm
Boutell Memorial Concert Hall

Program

The World Music Program is in debt to the generous contribution of its founder Dr. Kuo-Huang Han.

Since his retirement in 2004, Dr. Han has continuously supported the program by donating hundreds of books, journals, CDs, DVDs, and precious instruments from around the world to benefit NIU students.

In addition, Dr. Han and Mrs. Maria Han recently handed us a large monetary gift that will enable us to develop further this pioneering program he founded in the 1970s.

We are forever grateful to Dr. and Mrs. Han for their dedication and long-term support to advance music education and to promote cultural understanding through music at NIU.

Korean Drumming Ensemble, Suwan Choi, director
Korean Drumming Ensemble teaches two performance genres derived from Pungmul (Korean traditional folk music), Seoljanggu and Samulnori. Seoljanggu is a collection of janggu (hourglass-shaped drum) rhythms, while Samulnori is a percussion quartet consisting of four instruments, two gongs and two drums. In this ensemble, students will learn to play assorted percussion instruments in traditional style and to create their own Samulnori rhythms.

Concert & Chamber Choirs, Eric Johnson, director
The NIU Concert Choir is a large select mixed choir that performs a wide span of choral works from the Western repertory to the rich array of global music traditions. A demanding performance schedule includes concerts on and off campus. On-campus events include Choral College Concerts, Choir Days, the Annual Holiday Concert and many collaborative performances with NIU’s instrumental ensembles. Off-campus events include invited appearances at conventions, high school tours, and the IL-ACDA Collegiate Choral Festival. Concert Choir has performed three times at, Lincoln Center, New York (2009, 2013, 2017). Representative performances of large-scale choral compositions include Verdi’s Requiem, J.S. Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Vaughan Williams’s Dona nobis Pacem, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, Berlioz’s Te Deum and Haydn’s Theresienmesse. Concert Choir also advances the choral arts by hosting guest artists and commissioning new compositions.

The NIU Chamber Choir is a select vocal ensemble whose membership is primarily comprised of vocal performance and music education majors at the graduate and undergraduate level. Chamber Choir has achieved an international reputation for artistic excellence and has received acclaim for their interpretation of contemporary repertoire. Chamber Choir has premiered new works by luminary composers such as Sir John Tavener and performed at national, regional, and state conventions of the National Collegiate Choral Organization, American Choral Directors Association, and the National Association for Music Education (formerly MENC). Under Prof. Johnson’s leadership Chamber Choir has served as the resident chapel choir for both Canterbury and Worcester Cathedrals, England, and the choir has performed at international choral festivals in Sweden and Denmark, and Poland.

Both choirs are open to music majors and non-music majors. Auditions are held at the beginning of each semester. For more information about singing in Concert Choir, please email Prof. Eric A. Johnson, Director of Choral Activities at ejohnsn@niu.edu.

Concert Choir
Minjung Kim, Accompanist

Chamber Choir
Minjung Kim, accompanist

Afro-Latin Ensemble, Jean Christoph Leron, director
The NIU Afro-Latin ensemble consists of music students from all over the world who have come together this semester to study music of Latin America which has strong West and Central African connections as a result of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The performance today focuses on Various Afro-Cuban traditions.

Percussion Ensemble, Greg Beyer & Ben Wahlund, directors
Co-directed by Gregory Beyer and Ben Wahlund, the award-winning NIU Percussion Ensemble is the principal vehicle through which NIU percussion students gain critical chamber music experiences and cover a wide variety of genres and musical instruments. In addition to its on-campus performance each semester, the Percussion Ensemble is engaged in both local and regional community activities such as DeKalb’s annual Transformation Through Rhythm fundraising event for non-profit organizations that aid communities in Africa, and the Himmelfarb Project.

The NIU Percussion Ensemble has earned several invitations to perform at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC. Additional notable performances include the International Festival of Percussion Ensembles in San José, Costa Rica and the Illinois Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society (ILPAS).

Xylophone: Ethan Cowburn
Vibraphone: Andrew Kinsey
Marimba: Connor Butler, Emma Cho, Evan Miller

Gamelan Ensemble, Alex Yoffe, director
Gamelan is a percussion-dominated ensemble from Indonesia. It is the most popular Asian ensemble in the world, having 120 sets in the United States. The NIU School of Music teaches the Central Javanese and

Balinese gamelans and gives regular concerts and demonstrations. Many composers, including students and faculty at NIU, also write new compositions for the gamelan.

*guest performer, Friends of the Gamelan, Chicago

Thai Music Ensemble, Chamni Sripraram, director
Under the direction of Thai music specialist, Chamni Sripraram, Thai music ensemble is the newest addition to the NIU World Music Program. Members of the Thai music ensemble study assorted Thai music styles, including the classical court and the northeastern folkloric styles, including music and instruments of the Piphat, Mahori, and Khrueang sai ensembles and the Mor Lam.

Chinese Music Ensemble, Wei Yang & Jui-Ching Wang, directors
The Chinese Music Ensemble was one of the first college Chinese music groups in the U.S. and currently is the only one in Illinois. Established by Professor Emeritus Kuo-Huang Han in the 1970s, it gave several national and international concert performances between 1976 and 1978. Members of the ensemble learn to play assorted authentic Chinese instruments.

Individual lessons and group rehearsals make up the major part of the curriculum, and Chinese musical instruments are available for short-term loan on a semester basis. In addition, members of the ensemble will also be introduced to basic Chinese music theory, the standard repertoire of Chinese instrumental and chamber music, and knowledge about performance practice along with the aesthetic values and symbolism of Chinese traditional music.

Chinese Music Ensemble Guest Performers

*Toronto Chinese Music Ensemble
**The University of Wisconsin-Eau Clair
+ Chinese University of Hong Kong
– Western Illinois University
^ Yuegengnong, Taiwan

NIU Steelband, Liam Teague, director
The NIU Steelband is dedicated to demonstrating the versatility and profundity of the steelpan, the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago.

Created in 1973 by G. Allan O’Connor, the NIU Steelband is the first active steelband formed at an American university. NIU is also one of the few institutions in the world at which students may pursue undergraduate and graduate music degrees with the steelpan as the major instrument of choice.

The ensemble has performed throughout the United States and across the globe. Some of the band’s most notable appearances include a performance for 18,000 soccer fans at Yankee Stadium, tours of Taiwan in 1992 and 1998, concerts with symphony orchestras (including the St. Louis Symphony and the Chicago Sinfonietta), and several performances at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC). In 2000, the NIU Steelband had the distinction of placing 2nd at the World Steelband Festival in Trinidad and represented the USA at the 2002 Seoul Drum Festival in South Korea.

The NIU Steelband regularly appears in concert at public schools, universities, conventions and arts series, and has many recordings to its credit, including Dangerous, which features an eclectic blend of musical styles.

After many years under the leadership of G. Allan O’Connor and steelband legend Clifford Alexis, the ensemble is now directed by head of steelpan studies and professor of music, Liam Teague. The band’s instruments are maintained by Yuko Asada, music instrument technician.