NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS

Concert Program

Ensemble Recital Series

NIU PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE 2024 WINTER CONCERT

Gregory Beyer and Ben Wahlund, Directors
Ethan Cowburn, Assistant Director
With Special Guest, Robert Chappell
Hosts: Dr. Brian Hart and Dr. John Novak

Tuesday, December 3, 2024
7 p.m.
Boutell Memorial Concert Hall

 

Program

JOY TO THE WORLD Watts/Handel
arr. Wahlund
HANEROT HALALU  Trad. Hanukkah
arr. Wahlund
CELLO SUITE NO. 5 IN C MINOR, BWV 1011
I. SARABANDE

J. S. Bach

 

Karl Olsen, marimba

I SAW THREE SHIPS

WHAT CHILD IS THIS?

Trad. English Holiday Carols
arr. Gregory Beyer
Ethan Cowburn, marimba
ANDA PARRANDERO Los Tocadores
Arr. Jalen Charles & 
Rashunda Dorset-Headley
Members of the NIU Steel Pan Studio

 

 
INTERMISSION

 

Featuring Members of 2024 NIU Graduate Student Elite Sock Puppet Lip-Sync Troupe
LITTLE DRUMMER BOY K. K. Davis
arr. Wahlund
 
WHAT WAS I MADE FOR?  B & F O’Connell
arr. Wahlund
 
SLAY RIDE Leroy Anderson
arr. Jesse Mattson
 
Members of the 2024 NIU Percussion Methods Class
BRANCHES OF SNOW

Robert Chappell

Featuring Robert Chappell, Piano and Jalen Charles, Steel Pan
2024 MYSTERY-BOX SIGHT READING

Jacques Morali & Victor Willis

Personnel

D’Andre AtkinsWheaton, IL

Christopher Avila – Algonquin, IL

Connor Butler – Mebane, NC

Emma Cho – Winfield, IL

Ethan Cowburn – Liverpool, NY

Greyson Decker – Sycamore, IL

Luiz Delacruz – Chicago, IL

Brayden Dulin – Woodstock, IL

Talia Grzelak – Elgin, IL

Delaney Jacobi – Cedar Rapids, IA

Andrew Kinsey – Bartlett, IL

Nolan Leegard – Elgin, IL

Nathan Lyons – Winnebago, IL

Rose Malcome – Rockford, IL

Nicholas Martinez – Elgin, IL

Evan Miller – Lincoln, NE

Aftyn Morris – Silvis, IL

Jacob Parra – Jupiter, FL

Will Pierce – Hoffman Estates, IL

Riley Podschweit – Sugar Grove, IL

Michael Powyszynski – Melrose Park, IL

Michael Speziale – Crystal Lake, IL

Morgan Tipton – Metamora, IL

Abby Vokoun – Batavia, IL

Shaliyah Young – Belize City, Belize

 

Emily Bychowski

Hailey Feddersen

Amanda Fujii

Vicky Gonzalez

Ronnie Gorka

Carmen Houde

Chloe McKendry

Anna Melik

Kelly Nelson

Isabella Rodriguez

Carlos Sims

Kaelyn Witt

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: Gregory Beyer

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.

About the Directors: Ben Wahlund

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.

Tickets

Tickets for School of Music concerts are available online only. There are prices for adults, seniors, faculty and staff and non-NIU students. NIU students are admitted free of charge to all performances with pre-reserved tickets. Most recitals are not ticketed.

Programs

Livestream

Most NIU concerts and recitals are available to watch on our livestream.

Upcoming Events

The NIU College of Visual and Performing arts puts on more than 200 live performances and exhibitions every year. See what’s coming up next in the School of Music, School of Art and Design, School of Theatre and Dance and the NIU Art Museum.