Concert Program
Large Ensemble Concert Series
NIU Percussion Ensemble
Gregory Beyer and Ben Wahlund, Directors
Special Guests
Second City Samba – Reed Flygt, artistic director
Sunday, November 8, 2026
3:00 p.m.
Boutell Memorial Concert Hall
Program
| Noland Road (2024) | Chad Floyd (b. 1977) |
| Queda de Quatro (2014) | Alexis C. Lamb (1993) |
| Co-Existing (2013) | Alexis C. Lamb |
| Ave Maria (1964) | Franz Biebl (1906-2001) arr. Wahlund (1977) |
| Featuring Members of the NIU Steelpan Studio | |
| Naked and on Fire (2011) | Adam Silverman (b. 1973) |
| Intermission | |
| Head Like a Hole (1989) | Michael Trent Reznor (b. 1965) arr. Wahlund |
| Stardust (2022) | Clark Hubbard (b. 1995) |
| Gardens (2024) | Ivan Trevino (b. 1983) |
| Samba Batucada | Traditional Afro-Brazilian |
| NIU Afro-Brazilian Percussion Group with members of Second City Samba (Chicago, IL) |
|
NIU Percussion Ensemble Personnel
| Christopher Avila | Algonquin, IL | Nolan Leegard | Elgin, IL |
| Lotus Barnes | Skokie, IL | Liam Lockhart | Oberlin, OH |
| Clare Bauer | Arlington Heights, IL | Jonathan Lucke | Las Vegas, NV |
| Jenna Brown | Naperville, IL | Rose Malcome | Rockford, IL |
| Will Carr | Crystal Lake, IL | Jacob Morgan | Iowa City, IA |
| Danny Clements | DeKalb, IL | Will Pierce | Hoffman Estates, IL |
| Brayden Dulin | Woodstock, IL | Felix Podschweit | Sugar Grove, IL |
| Brennyn Ford | Kewanee, IL | Mars Rea | Woodstock, IL |
| Penny Geno | Naperville, IL | Adrian Rodriguez | Waukegan, IL |
| Gabe Greenfield | Dixon, IL | Jonathan Rowe | Brick, NJ |
| Talia Grzelak | Elgin, IL | Morgan Tipton | Metamora, IL |
| Dave Houghton | Elk Grove Village, IL | Anthony Vega | Glendale Heights, IL |
| Delaney Jacobi | Cedar Rapids, IL | Kai Weems | West Chicago, IL |
| Senola Johnson | Alsip, IL | John Wolff | The Woodlands, TX |
| Bianca Lange | Mt. Prospect, IL |
NIU Steelpan Ensemble Personnel
| Letty Costilla | Lansing, MI |
| Keon Baptiste | Belmont, Trinidad and Tobago |
| Josiah Didier | Mount Hope, Trinidad and Tobago |
| Shaliyah Young | Belize City, Belize |
| Tiajuana Hernandez | Maracas Valley, Trinidad and Tobago |
| Kijuana Duplessis | St. Johns, Antigua and Barbuda |
About our Guests, Second City Samba
Founded in 2003, by Artistic Director Reed Flygt, Second City Samba Is a 501(C)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to teach, perform, and promote Brazilian music and dance as a vehicle for arts education and community engagement in Chicagoland. The group is one of the most active Samba Schools in Chicago. Originally known as the Evanston Escola de Samba (EEDS), the group had an affiliation with the Music Institute of Chicago. Second City Samba fosters a youth program affiliated with Lane Tech College Prep High School, where Flygt is also the Director of Bands.
About the NIU Percussion Ensemble
The award-winning NIU Percussion Ensemble is the principal vehicle through which NIU percussionists gain critical chamber music experiences and cover a wide variety of genres and musical instruments. In addition to its NIU performances each semester, community engagement concerts include Transformation Through Rhythm, an annual fundraiser benefiting Give DeKalb County which in turn benefits the more than 140 organizations that make up our county’s non-profit sector. NIU has established a proud history of multiple PASIC performances: Percussion Ensemble Showcase (2003, 2009), Focus Day Performances (2009, 2013), World Percussion Showcase (2014), and the New Literature Session (2018). Additional notable performances include the International Festival of Percussion Ensembles in San José, Costa Rica (2008, 2017) and the PAS Illinois Chapter (2005, 2009, 2017).
About the Directors
Fulbright Scholar, composer, educator, and “prodigiously talented percussionist” (Chicago Classical Review), Gregory Beyer is a contemporary music specialist who blends the disciplines of orchestral, jazz, and world music into a singular artistic voice. He is the Artistic Director of Arcomusical, a non-profit organization spreading the joy of the Afro-Brazilian berimbau and related musical bows. To date, Arcomusical has released four albums of original music. Beyer is Professor and Director of Percussion Studies at Northern Illinois University School of Music, where he directs the New Music Festival and the Percussion Ensemble. He is a core member of the Chicago-based new music ensembles Dal Niente and the Grossman Ensemble at the University of Chicago’s Center for Contemporary Composition. Greg is proud to endorse Pearl/Adams drums and mallet instruments, Sabian Cymbals, Innovative Percussion mallets and sticks, and Evans drumheads.
Ben Wahlund is a Grammy-nominated music educator, composer, and performer who serves as full-time percussion instructor at Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL) where he was recently awarded the prestigious NIU Excellence in Undergraduate Instruction Award and serves as the Director of Percussion at the College of DuPage (Glen Ellyn, IL) where he was awarded the College-Wide Outstanding Faculty Award. Mr. Wahlund serves as the President of the Illinois Percussive Arts Society and has performed a number of times at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, state music educator association conferences, and schools across the country. He has been awarded and served long-term artist residencies on the island of Key West, Florida, Montello, Nevada, and Gettysburg National Military Park in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Mr. Wahlund is a member of the Yamaha Performing Artist roster, the Zildjian Artist Program, and endorses Innovative Percussion Sticks and Mallets.