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The head of NIU’s prestigious jazz program Reginald “Reggie” Thomas said goodbye to the program Thursday night during the final leg of his farewell concert series. The two-hour set featured two of the biggest names in jazz today – trombonist Wycliffe Gordon and trumpeter Sean Jones – playing alongside the band Thomas led throughout his...
The NIU Jazz Orchestra held its second concert this semester on Thursday in preparation for the Jack Rudin Jazz Championship that the group was invited to participate in. The Rudin Championship is an invitational competition that Jazz at Lincoln Center hosts. Every year, ten college bands across America are selected to perform in the championship...
Music and technology collided as enthusiasts gathered Wednesday for the opening night of NIU School of Music’s Tenth Year Anniversary New Music Festival. The three-day event was helmed by Gregory Beyer, director of percussion studies and the new music ensemble. Beyer said that the event was a collaborative affair, and co-directors Brian Penkrot, a music...
The NIU Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Orchestra held their first concert of the fall semester on Thursday. Led by professor Rodrigo Villanueva Conroy and graduate teaching assistant Austyn Menk, the Jazz Ensemble started the concert with “Hay Burner,” a chart by Sammy Nestico. “I missed the music,” said Tim Schultz, a DeKalb resident. Schultz came...
DeKALB — NIU President Lisa Freeman started off Friday’s Ukraine Benefit Concert with a speech about people coming together to support communities abroad before introducing the first performance of the night. The concert was hosted by the NIU School of Music and was organized by NIU graduate students Jennalynn Cisca and Annie Chung. A crowd...