University of Illinois

UNIVERSITY BAND

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CAMPUS BAND

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UNIVERSITY BAND

Hannah Rudy, conductor

Rebecca Mulligan, graduate conductor

CAMPUS BAND

Michelle Bell, graduate conductor

Alex Mondragon, graduate conductor

Rebecca Mulligan, graduate conductor

Foellinger Great Hall

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Sunday, April 21, 2024

3:00 PM

Program Notes

John Wesley Gibson (b. 1946)

Pegasus (2011)

John Wesley Gibson is an American composer and educator.

Mr. Gibson holds degrees in theory, composition, and musicology from Texas Tech University, West Texas State, and the University of North Texas. Gibson studied composition with Mary Jeanne van Appledorn, Mary Snow, Merrill Ellis, William P Latham, Larry Austin, and Martin Mailman.

He taught junior high and high school band and orchestra in the Amarillo, Texas, public schools. He later taught composition at the University of North Texas and the University of Arizona, and was chairman of the music department at McMurry University in Abilene, Texas. He was assistant dean of the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, where he taught composition and music history. Gibson also served as creative director for development and external affairs at Southern Methodist University. He is the resident composer for the Dallas Winds. In addition to his works for band, Gibson has also composed music for orchestra, percussion ensemble, music theater, chorus, and for solo instruments.

Pegasus is the winged horse of Greek mythology that carried his rider into many daring exploits. Zeus rewards his heroism by making him a constellation in the stars. In Medieval times, he became the symbol of wisdom and remains one of the most recognized icons in the world today. This fanfare for band is from The Spirit Sleeping, written in celebration of the life of Howard Dunn.

—Program note from the publisher

Jennifer Jolley (b. 1981)

Ash (2018)

Jennifer Jolley is a composer, conductor, and music educator.

Jennifer received degrees from the University of Cincinnati College–Conservatory of Music and the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. She is now an assistant professor of music theory and composition in the department of music at Lehman College in the Bronx and was a Fulbright Scholar to Egypt in 2023. She has been a composition faculty member at Interlochen Arts Camp since 2015.

Ms. Jolley's work is founded on the belief that the pleasures and excesses of music have the unique potential to engage political and provocative subjects. Addressing a range of topics such as climate change, #MeToo, feminist history, and the abuses of the Putin regime, Jennifer strives to write pieces that are equally enjoyable and meaningful.

Her works have been performed by ensembles worldwide. She has received commissions from the National Endowment for the Arts, the MidAmerican Center for Contemporary Music, the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Quince Ensemble, and many others.

The composer writes the following about Ash:

I never saw snowfall as a child growing up in Southern California; it was more a phenomenon that I saw in cartoons or read in children’s books.

I did, however, witness my first ash-fall when I was in elementary school. I looked up into the clouded sky and saw specks of ash falling from it. Excited but puzzled, I looked to my elementary school teacher during recess and held out my hand. “Oh, that’s ash from the wildfires,” she said. At that time, I couldn’t comprehend how an enormous forest fire could create a small flurry of ash-flakes.

Now I have the ominous understanding that something so magical and beautiful comes from something so powerful and destructive.

—Program note by the composer

Li Chan (b. 1981)

Folksong of Midu (2017)

Chinese composer Li Chan has written primarily for ensembles in her home country but gained worldwide recognition in 2017 when her Folksong of Midu was honored as a finalist for the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) first-ever International Composition Contest.

The titular Midu is a county in southwest China, in a mountainous region near borders with Myanmar, India, and Tibet. Midu itself is a smaller component of the larger Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, in Yunnan Province, the traditional home of the Bai people since roughly the third century CE. Later, by the twelfth century CE, this area was a major exporter of gold bullion and other minerals via the southwestern Silk Road, which traversed the region, though today it remains very rural and underdeveloped compared to other portions of China.

Folksong of Midu is an evocative statement of various stylistic, melodic, and harmonic counterparts of Chinese folk musics. Based on a very old tune from the region, one can imagine the melody weaving its way through lush green forests and steep mountain passes, ending in a vibrant and colorful community celebration.

—Program note by Brian Coffill

Davide Delle Cesse (1856–1938)

Arr. Bourgeois

L’Inglesina (1897/2000)

Davide Delle Cese was an Italian composer and conductor, known primarily as the composer of the popular concert march L' Inglesina. He first studied with Antonio Geminiani, who had been a theater conductor in Rome. Later, he studied at the Conservatory of San Pietro a Majella. Following military service, he led bands in Pontecorvo, Venice (1886), San Leo (1886–1991), and Bitonto (1891). He also organized a band of young boys, most of whom were under the age of ten. He named it the Lilliputian Concert Band, and it played frequently throughout southern Italy. During the years after World War I, he devoted most of his time to composing and teaching.

In addition to his marches and concert music for band, Delle Cese composed ballets, intermezzi, and lyric pieces. From 1885–1888, by direction of the Italian War Office, he arranged all known national anthems for band. Many of his works were published by Adolfo Lapini in Florence and are now available from Casa Musicale Pucci in Napoli.

Davide Delle Cese wrote this march in 1897 while he was bandmaster at Bitonto, a town near the Adriatic seaport city of Bari. This area, a port of embarkation during the Crusades and a longtime center for exchanges between East and West, has been visited by tourists from many countries, including England.

Whether Delle Cese has a certain "Inglesina" in mind when composing this march is not known. Considering the appreciative attention which mature young ladies traditionally receive from young Italian men, the subject in title was probably not too little, nor too young.

—Program note from Program Notes for Band

William Francis McBeth (1933–2012)

Of Sailors and Whales (1980)

William Francis McBeth was a prolific American composer and educator who wrote for piano, choir, symphony orchestra, chamber ensembles, and over thirty works for wind band. McBeth was professor of music and resident composer at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, from 1957 until his retirement in 1996. In 1962, McBeth conducted the Arkansas All-State Band, with future president Bill Clinton playing in the tenor saxophone section. He served as the third conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra from 1970 until 1973 and was appointed composer laureate of the state of Arkansas by Governor Bob C. Riley in 1975, the first such honor in the United States.

His musical influences included Clifton Williams, Bernard Rogers, Howard Hanson, Kent Kennan, Wayne Barlow, and Macon Summerlin. The popularity of his works in the United States during the last half of the twentieth century led to many invitations and appearances as a guest conductor where he often conducted the premiere performances of his compositions, the majority of which were commissioned. His international reputation as a conductor and clinician had taken him to forty-eight states, three Canadian provinces, Japan, Europe, and Australia. At one time, his "Double Pyramid Balance System" was a widely used pedagogical tool in the concert band world.

Of Sailors and Whales (Five Scenes from Melville) is a five-movement work based on scenes from Herman Melville's Moby Dick. It was commissioned by and is dedicated to the California Band Directors Association, Inc., and was premiered in February 1990 by the California All-State Band, conducted by the composer. The work is sub-dedicated to Robert Lanon White, Commander USN (Ret.), who went to sea as a simple sailor.

The composer provided these notes for each movement:

I. Ishmael—"I go to sea as a simple sailor."

II. Queequeg—"It was quite plain that he must be some abominable savage, but Queequeg was a creature in the transitory state -- neither caterpillar nor butterfly."

III. Father Mapple—"This ended, in prolonged solemn tones, like the continual tolling of a bell in a ship that is foundering at sea in a fog—in such tones he commenced reading the following hymn; but changing his manner towards the concluding stanzas, burst forth with a pealing exultation and joy."

The ribs and terrors in the whale arched over me a dismal gloom

While all God's sunlit waves rolled by, and lift me lower down to doom.

In black distress I called my God when I could scarce believe Him mine,

He bowed His ear to my complaint, no more the whale did me confine.

My songs forever shall record that terrible, that joyful hour,

I give the glory to my God, His all the mercy and the power.

IV. Ahab—"So powerfully did the whole grim aspect of Ahab affect me that for the first few moments I hardly noted the barbaric white leg upon which he partly stood."

V. The White Whale—"Moby Dick seemed combinedly possessed by all the angels that fell from heaven. The birds! The birds! They mark the spot ... The whale, the whale! Up helm, up helm! Oh, all ye sweet powers of air, now hug me close ... He turns to meet us ... My God, stand by me now!”

—Biography from WindRep.org, program note from score

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)

Trans. Reynolds

Prelude Op. 34, No. 14

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Russian composer who lived under the Soviet regime.

Shostakovich had a complex and difficult relationship with the Soviet government, suffering two official denunciations of his music, in 1936 and 1948, and the periodic banning of his work. Shostakovich's response to official criticism and, more importantly, the question of whether he used music as a kind of abstract dissidence is a matter of dispute. It is clear that outwardly he conformed to government policies and positions, reading speeches and putting his name to articles expressing the government line. It is also generally agreed that he disliked the regime, a view confirmed by his family and his letters to Isaak Glikman.

Shostakovich prided himself on his orchestration, which is clear, economical, and well-projected. This aspect of Shostakovich's technique owes more to Gustav Mahler than Rimsky-Korsakov. His unique approach to tonality involved the use of modal scales and some astringent neo-classical harmonies à la Hindemith and Prokofiev. His music frequently includes sharp contrasts and elements of the grotesque.

His most popular works are his fifteen symphonies and fifteen string quartets. His works for piano include two piano sonatas, an early set of preludes, and a later set of twenty-fourpreludes and fugues. Other works include two operas, six concertos, and a substantial quantity of film music.

The Adagio E-flat minor Prelude is one of the two longest of Shostakovich’s 24 Preludes, Op. 34 (1932–1933). More importantly, it is the most dramatic, the most tragic, and the most public. With its imitation tympani rolls, its rising fanfare-like figure, and its insistent drum beats, it seems to be striving for a symphonic stature, and it is no wonder that the conductor Leopold Stokowski rushed to orchestrate the piece. However, in its original form, the relentless despair and deep sorrow is much more real: one feels the music straining against the limitations of the keyboard, and this becomes an integral part of the expression and the meaning of the music. This is one of the very great preludes from the Opus 34 set and a piece worthy to stand beside the last act of Shostakovich’s contemporaneous opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

—Program note from California State University, Long Beach, Wind Symphony concert program, March 3, 2016, and the Wind Repertory Project

Viet Cuong (b. 1990)

Diamond Tide (2018)

Called “alluring” and “wildly inventive” by The New York Times, the music of American composer Viet Cuong has been performed on six continents by musicians and ensembles such as the New York Philharmonic, Eighth Blackbird, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sō Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, Atlanta Symphony, Sandbox Percussion, Albany Symphony, PRISM Quartet, and Dallas Winds, among many others. Cuong’s music has been featured in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center, and his works for wind ensemble have amassed several hundred performances worldwide. Passionate about bringing these different facets of the contemporary music community together, his recent projects include a concerto for Eighth Blackbird with the United States Navy Band. Cuong also enjoys exploring the unexpected and whimsical, and he is often drawn to projects where he can make peculiar combinations and sounds enchanting or oddly satisfying. His works thus include a snare drum solo, percussion quartet concerto, and double oboe concerto. He is currently the Pacific Symphony’s composer-in-residence and serves as assistant professor of music composition at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Cuong holds degrees from Princeton University (MFA/PhD), the Curtis Institute of Music (AD), and Peabody Conservatory (BM/MM).

A 2010 article published in Nature Physics details an experiment in which scientists were able to successfully melt a diamond and, for the first time, measure the temperature and pressure necessary to do so. When diamonds are heated to very high temperatures, they don’t melt; they simply turn into graphite, which then melts (and the thought of liquid graphite isn’t nearly as appealing or beautiful as liquid diamond). Therefore, the addition of extremely high pressure—40 million times the pressure we feel on earth at sea level—is crucial to melt a diamond.

The extreme temperature and pressure used in this experiment are found on Neptune and Uranus, and scientists therefore believe that seas of liquid diamond are possible on these two planets. Oceans of diamond may also account for these planets’ peculiar magnetic and geographic poles, which do not line up like they do here on earth. Lastly, as the scientists were melting the diamonds, they saw floating shards of solid diamond forming in the pools -- just like icebergs in our oceans. Imagine distant planets with oceans of liquid diamond filled with bergs of sparkling solid diamonds drifting in the tide...

These theories are obviously all conjecture, but this alluring imagery provided heaps of inspiration for Diamond Tide, which utilizes the “melting” sounds of metallic water percussion and trombone glissandi throughout.

—Program note by the composer

Eric Whitacre (b. 1970)

The Seal Lullaby (2004/2011)

In the spring of 2004, I was lucky enough to have my show Paradise Lost: Shadows and Wings presented at the ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop. The workshop is the brainchild of legendary composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell), and his insights about the creative process were profoundly helpful. He became a great mentor and friend to the show and, I am honored to say, to me personally. Soon after the workshop, I received a call from a major film studio. Stephen had recommended me to them and they wanted to know if I might be interested in writing music for an animated feature. I was incredibly excited, said yes, and took the meeting.

The creative executives with whom I met explained that the studio heads had always wanted to make an epic adventure, a classic animated film based on Kipling’s The White Seal. I have always loved animation, (the early Disney films; Looney Tunes; everything Pixar makes) and I couldn’t believe that I might get a chance to work in that grand tradition on such great material.

The White Seal is a beautiful story, classic Kipling, dark and rich and not at all condescending to kids. Best of all, Kipling begins his tale with the mother seal singing softly to her young pup. (The opening poem is called The Seal Lullaby.)

Oh! Hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us,

And black are the waters that sparkled so green.

The moon, o’er the combers, looks downward to find us,

At rest in the hollows that rustle between.

Where billow meets billow, then soft be thy pillow,

Oh weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!

The storm shall not wake thee, nor shark overtake thee,

Asleep in the arms of the slow swinging seas!

—Rudyard Kipling, 1865–1936

I was struck so deeply by those first beautiful words, and a simple, sweet Disney-esque song just came gushing out of me. I wrote it down as quickly as I could, had my wife record it while I accompanied her at the piano, and then dropped it off at the film studio. I didn’t hear anything from them for weeks and weeks, and I began to despair. Did they hate it? Was it too melodically complex? Did they even listen to it? Finally, I called them, begging to know the reason that they had rejected my tender little song. “Oh,” said the exec, “we decided to make Kung Fu Panda instead.”

So I didn’t do anything with it; just sang it to my baby son every night to get him to go to sleep. (Success rate: less than 50%.) A few years later the Towne Singers commissioned the choral arrangement of it, and in 2011 I transcribed the piece for concert band. I’m grateful to them for giving it a new life, and to the schools, colleges and directors listed who have believed in this new transcription. And I’m especially grateful to Stephen Schwartz, to whom the piece is dedicated. His friendship and invaluable tutelage has meant more to me than I could ever tell him.

—Program note by the composer

Sydney Guillaume (b. 1982)

Renesans (2019)

Sydney Guillaume is a composer, conductor and clinician residing in Oregon.

Guillaume came to the United States at age eleven. He graduated from the University of Miami in 2004 where his works were performed by the Miami University Chorale, conducted by Dr. Jo-Michael Scheibe.

Sydney Guillaume’s compositions are known to be intricate, challenging, and yet highly spirited. They promote human values and are full of heart and passion. His compositions have been performed around the world.

Renesans is my first work for wind ensemble. Knowing that the piece would premiere in my native country Haiti on the ninth anniversary of the devastating earthquake that took place on January 12, 2010, I wanted to write a work that was reflective and at the same time uplifting. Tragedies, misfortunes, and loss often force us to re-examine everything, and they also give us an opportunity to start over, creating an exciting blank page for the future. In Renesans, I imagine the strength and courage we gain after going through a dark time. The word “renesans” is Haitian Creole for “rebirth,” which is something we all go through in different ways throughout our lives.

At the beginning, everything is joyous. The powerful bass drum roll is a remembrance of the earthquake and how it changed everything, hence the reflective nature that follows. The percussion section plays a Yanvalou rhythm, which is a popular traditional Haitian rhythm. Then follows the rebuilding section—moving on with courage, resilience and perseverance. The new-day/new-beginnings section brings back the joyous opening theme. Eventually, the opening theme is strong and bold—similar to a Haitian Rara band celebration. At the end, we end up with a product that is better than what we started with. A complete rebirth.

—Program note by the composer

David Maslanka (1943–2017)

Illumination (2013)

David Maslanka, an American composer, attended the Oberlin College Conservatory where he studied composition with Joseph Wood, and then spent a year at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He also did graduate work in composition at Michigan State University with H. Owen Reed.

Maslanka served on the faculties of the State University of New York at Geneseo, Sarah Lawrence College, New York University, and Kingsborough College of the City University of New York. He was a member of ASCAP.

Over the past four decades, Maslanka has become one of America’s most original and celebrated musical voices. He has published dozens of works for wind ensemble, orchestra, choir, percussion ensembles, chamber ensembles, solo instrument, and solo voice. However, he is especially well known for his wind ensemble works.

From the composer:

“Illumination”—lighting up, bringing light. I am especially interested in composing music for young people that allows them a vibrant experience of their own creative energy. A powerful experience of this sort stays in the heart and mind as a channel for creative energy, no matter what the life path. Music shared in community brings this vital force to everyone. Illumination is an open and cheerful piece in a quick tempo, with a very direct A-B-A song form.

Illumination: Overture for Band was composed for the Franklin, Massachusetts public schools. The commission was started by Nicole Wright, band director at the Horace Mann Middle School in Franklin, when she discovered that my grandnephew was in her band. The piece was initially to have been for her young players, but the idea grew to make it the center of the dedication concert at the opening of Franklin’s new high school building. Rehearsals of Illumination were actually the first musical sounds made in their fine new auditorium.

—Program note by the composer

William P. Foster (1919–2010)

Marche Brilliante (1981)

William Patrick Foster was an American composer, educator, and noted director of Florida A&M University Marching "100."

At age twelve, Foster began his music career by learning to play the clarinet. While in high school, his talent was recognized and he was appointed student director of the Sumner High School Orchestra, in Kansas City, Kansas. In 1936, he became the director of an all-city band.

He received his bachelor of music education degree from the University of Kansas in 1941, a master of arts in music degree from Wayne State University in 1950, a doctor of education degree with a major in music from Teachers College, Columbia University in 1955, and an honorary doctor of human letters degree in 1998 from Florida A&M University. Foster was a fellow of the Rosenwald General Education Board at Teachers College, Columbia University, 1953–1955 for doctorate studies. He became a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia in 1953 at Columbia University.

Dr. Foster was best known as the director of Florida A&M University Marching "100." He served as the band's director from 1946 to his retirement in 1998, where his innovations revolutionized college marching band technique and the perceptions of the collegiate band.

Foster was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame, the National Association for Distinguished Band Conductors Hall of Fame, the Florida Music Educators Association Hall of Fame, and the Afro-American Hall of Fame, among others. He also served as the president of the American Bandmasters Association and was appointed to the National Council on the Arts by President Bill Clinton. Foster was the first recipient of the United States Achievement Academy Hall of Fame Award and the Outstanding Educator Award presented by the School of Education Society of the University of Kansas Alumni Association. In 1992, Sports Illustrated declared The 100 as the best marching band in the country. In 1998, Foster was inducted as a Great Floridian by the Museum of Florida History. He was also a director of the prestigious McDonald's All-American High School Band (1980–1992).

He was a board member with G. Leblanc Corporation, John Philip Sousa Foundation, International Music Festival, Inc., and the Marching Musician. On December 17, 1998, the Board of Electors in Chicago, Illinois, elected Foster to the National Band Association Hall of Fame of Distinguished Band Conductors, the most prestigious honor a bandmaster can receive.

Foster authored eighteen articles for professional journals, four published marching band shows, and the textbook Band Pageantry, considered the Bible for the marching band. Foster also wrote the book The Man Behind the Baton. He is the composer of Marche Brillante, National Honors March, March Continental, and Centennial Celebration.

Marche Brilliante received its premiere by the 1981 McDonald's All-American High School Band, led by Dr. Foster, in the 1981 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

—Program note provided by the Wind Repertory Project

Conductors

Michelle Bell

Michelle Bell recently completed her DMA in wind band conducting and serves as a graduate teaching assistant with the University of Illinois Bands Departmentis. Michelle earned her master of music in wind band conducting from the University of Minnesota where she studied with Dr. Emily Threinen. While at UMN, she assisted with the marching band, university band, symphonic band, and wind ensemble.

In 2018, Michelle was appointed visiting assistant professor of music at Emory & Henry College in Emory, Virginia where she assisted with the marching band and concert band, and directed the pep band and various chamber woodwind ensembles. She also taught courses in theory, conducting, instrumental methods, and woodwind methods. Prior to her time at E&H, Michelle taught at St. Cloud State University, where she directed the sports band.

Michelle graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2011, earning her bachelor of music education degree as well as a commission as a second lieutenant in the Army National Guard. Since then, she has served in the Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota Army National Guards. Currently, she holds the rank of captain and recently returned from a deployment as a company commander in support of the Southwest Border Mission, where she led a company of over one hundred soldiers.

Alex Mondragon

Alex Mondragon, a doctoral candidate in instrumental conducting at the University of Illinois, grew up in the Denver metro area in Colorado and earned his bachelor of music education from the University of Colorado in Boulder. Alex served as the assistant director of bands at Fairview High School in Boulder, Colorado, taught beginning band at various Boulder elementary schools, and assisted with several Boulder middle school bands. In addition to teaching in the public schools, Alex maintained a private studio of trombone and euphonium students ranging from grades 5–12.

Alex earned his master of music degree in wind conducting from The Ohio State University where he served as a graduate teaching associate and assisted in all facets of the band program. While at Ohio State, Alex served as a guest conductor with all bands and worked extensively with The Ohio State University Marching Band. He wrote drill for both the athletic band and the marching band that was performed as part of both pregame and halftime.

Alex’s primary conducting teachers include Dr. Russel Mikkelson, Dr. Donald McKinney, Dr. Matthew Roeder, and Dr. Matthew Dockendorf. He studied euphonium with J. Michael Dunn. Alex’s professional affiliations include the Colorado Bandmaster’s Association, the Colorado Music Educator’s Association, and the National Band Association.

Rebecca Mulligan

Rebecca Mulligan is currently a graduate student and assistant at the University of Illinois pursuing a master of music degree in wind conducting under Dr. Kevin Geraldi. Rebecca received a bachelor of music in music education from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro in 2018. She has played, and guest-conducted, the Piedmont Wind Symphony, the Savannah Wind Symphony, and the Wingate Wind Ensemble. Prior to moving to Illinois, she served in the United States Army as a bandsman. After joining the Army in 2019, she served in the 3rd Infantry Division based out of Coastal Georgia, as a clarinetist, librarian, and conductor. During her time with the 3ID, she performed in the concert band, drill band, and woodwind quintet. She has also performed two tours with the United States Army Field Band as a clarinet substitute, performing concerts all along the Southwestern United States and in New York City. She now serves with the 208th Army Reserve Band based out of Concord, North Carolina.

Hannah Rudy

Hannah Rudy serves as assistant director of athletic bands where she conducts the University Band, teaches conducting courses, serves as assistant director for the Marching Illini, and leads the volleyball and basketball pep bands. Previously, she served as the assistant director of bands at Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, Georgia. Prior to her appointment at Kennesaw State, Dr. Rudy was a doctoral conducting associate and graduate teaching assistant at the University of Oklahoma studying in the studios of Dr. Shanti Simon and Dr. Michael Hancock. Currently, she is presenting and expanding her research in artistic score study, conducting pedagogy, and wind band literature.

During her graduate studies at both the University of Oklahoma and the University of Colorado Boulder, she served as the assistant conductor for all concert ensembles and collaborated regularly with featured soloists from the OU and CU faculties, as well as composers-in-residence. During University of Oklahoma's Wind Symphony album recording and video projects, she served as assistant producer, a member of the design team, and coordinated personnel and logistics for the sessions. Dr. Rudy has since served as conductor and producer for video projects such as a digital collaboration featuring composer, vocalist, and activist Dr. Leila Adu-Gilmore in her poignant work, Freedom Suite. Dr. Rudy has lead projects and presentations that have provided resources to music education students and aided in building connections between students and diverse composers from around the country.

Concurrent with her work with the concert ensembles, Dr. Rudy has been instrumental in the design and execution of multiple halftime shows and student development of bands in the Big XII, PAC 12, Big South, and Big Ten athletic conferences. Dr. Rudy holds a bachelor of music in music education from the University of Georgia. Following her undergraduate studies, she taught high school and middle school band in the state of Georgia. She began her graduate studies with Dr. Donald McKinney and earned a master of music in wind band conducting and repertoire from the University of Colorado Boulder. Following her time in Colorado, she earned a doctorate of musical arts in wind band conducting from the University of Oklahoma.

Andrea Solya

Andrea Solya received her BMUS and MM in music education and choral conducting at the University of Szeged, Hungary; her MM in choral conducting at The Ohio State University; and her DMA in choral conducting and literature at the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign. Dr. Solya currently serves as the interim director of choral activities and teaching associate professor of choral music at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, where she also directs the University of Illinois Chamber Singers and Women’s Glee Club. She teaches choral conducting and literature to both undergraduate and graduate students in the School of Music.

In addition to her duties at the University of Illinois, she is in daily contact with middle school and high school choral singers of the Champaign-Urbana area as the director of Chamber Choir and Youth Chorale at the Central Illinois Children’s Chorus since 2006. A native of Hungary, she designed the current Musicianship curriculum used at the University of Illinois, which is based on a Hungarian model and stands on the major pillars of the Kodály method. During the summers, she teaches musicianship, conducting and choral methodology in the master’s program of the Kodály Institute at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio.

Dr. Solya also serves as College/University Repertoire and Standards chair of the Illinois ACDA. Her research interest includes the choral music of Andreas Rauch as well as the art of teaching sight singing for the choral singer and beyond. She has performed and presented on national and international stages and has been working on a critical edition of twenty-five motets called “Thymiaterium Musicale” from 1625 by Rauch.

Enriching the lives of children since 1978, Central Illinois Youth Chorus (CIYC) provides choral music instruction, vocal training, and performance opportunities to youth in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Based in Champaign–Urbana, the chorus includes four choir levels and draws members from surrounding communities and counties. Members are taught sound vocal technique, musicianship, and performance etiquette while learning repertoire covering a diverse range of music, languages, and composers. Beginning in 2022, CIYC developed an early education program, offering free, drop-in singalongs to singers too young for its performing choirs. CIYC choristers experience the joy, discipline, pride, and teamwork of high-quality choral singing.

CIYC presents annual winter and spring concerts, performs with area orchestras and choruses, hosts other children’s choirs such as the Lithuanian Boys Choir and the American Boychoir, and sings at choral festivals and at community, corporate, and private events. Recent performance highlights include Cellular Songs with Meredith Monk, the Midwest premier of Stacey Garrop’s Terra Nostra, Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, Puccini’s La Boheme, and regular collaborations with the Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra. John Frayne of the News-Gazette wrote of CIYC’s 2019 Orff’s Carmina Burana collaboration with CU Symphony, “It was the most successful concert of this ensemble in my memory.”

Under the artistic direction of Dr. Andrea Solya, the chorus staff also includes Conductors Ann Marie Morrissette, Emily Kuchenbrod, and Evan Stoor, Collaborative Pianist Simon Tiffin, Resident Voice Teacher Ingrid Kammin, and Administrative Director Kathy Lee. CIYC is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and also by individual and corporate donations. For further information, visit www.CIYCsings.org and facebook.com/CIYCsings.

The University of Illinois Bands Staff

Kevin M. Geraldi, director of bands

Barry L. Houser, associate director of bands | director of athletic bands

Kimberly Fleming, assistant director of bands

Hannah Rudy, assistant director of athletic bands

Aaron Kavelman, percussion instructor | properties manager

Joy McClaugherty, business administrative associate

Jacob Arche, graduate assistant

Michelle Bell, graduate assistant

Nathan Maher, graduate assistant

Andrew McGowan, graduate assistant

Alex Mondragon, graduate assistant

Lorraine Montana, graduate assistant

Rebecca Mulligan, graduate assistant

Luke Yoakam, graduate assistant

Bands at the University of Illinois

The historic University of Illinois Bands program is among the most influential and comprehensive college band programs in the world, offering students the highest quality musical experiences in a variety of band ensembles. These ensembles include several concert bands led by the Illinois Wind Symphony, the Marching Illini “The Nation’s Premier College Marching Band,” two Basketball Bands, Volleyball Band, the Orange & Blues Pep Bands, and the community Summer Band. Students from every college on campus participate in the many ensembles, and the impact on the campus is substantial. Illinois Bands are a critical part of the fabric of the University of Illinois, and their influence on students—past, present, and future—is truly unique.

School of Music Administration

Linda R. Moorhouse, Director

Gayle Magee, Associate Director and Director of Faculty/Staff Development

Reynold Tharp, Director of Graduate Studies

Megan Eagan-Jones, Director of Undergraduate Studies

David Allen, Director of Advancement

Thereza Lituma, Interim Director of Admissions

Terri Daniels, Director of Public Engagement

School of Music Faculty

Composition-Theory

Armando Bayolo

Carlos Carrillo

Eli Fieldsteel

Kerry Hagan

Lamont Holden

Stephen Taylor

Reynold Tharp

Alex Zhang

Conducting

Barrington Coleman

Ollie Watts Davis

Kimberly Fleming

Kevin M. Geraldi

Barry L. Houser

Linda R. Moorhouse

Hannah Rudy

Andrea Solya

Carolyn Watson

Jazz

Ronald Bridgewater

Barrington Coleman

Larry Gray

Pat Harbison

Joan Hickey

Charles “Chip” McNeill

Jim Pugh

Joel Spencer

John “Chip” Stephens

Keyboard

Timothy Ehlen

Julie Gunn

Joan Hickey

Ieng Ieng Kevina Lam

Charlotte Mattax Moersch

Casey Robards

Dana Robinson

Rochelle Sennet

John “Chip” Stephens

Michael Tilley

Christos Tsitsaros

Chi-Chen Wu

Lyric Theatre

Julie Gunn

Nathan Gunn

Dawn Harris

Michael Tilley

Sarah Wigley

Music Education

Stephen Fairbanks

Donna Gallo

Adam Kruse

Peter Shungu

Bridget Sweet

Mike Vecchio

Musicology

Christina Bashford

Donna Buchanan

Megan Eagen-Jones

Gayle Magee

Jeffrey Magee

Carlos Ramírez

Michael Silvers

Jonathon Smith

Jeffrey Sposato

Makoto Takao

Nolan Vallier

Strings

Denise Djokic

Liz Freivogel

Megan Freivogel

Rudolf Haken

Salley Koo

Nelson Lee

Daniel McDonough

Kris Saebo

Guido Sánchez-Portuguez

Ann Yeung

Voice

Ollie Watts Davis

Nathan Gunn

Dawn Harris

Ricardo Herrera

Yvonne Redman

Jerold Siena

Sylvia Stone

Woodwinds, Brass and Percussion

Charles Daval

Iura de Rezende

John Dee

Ricardo Flores

Amy Gilreath

Jonathan Keeble

Janice Minor

William Moersch

Debra Richtmeyer

Ben Roidl-Ward

Bernhard Scully

Scott Tegge

Douglas Yeo

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HONOR ROLL

Private funding is the critical factor in continuing the standard of excellence for our students, faculty, programs, and facilities.

ILLINOIS MUSIC ADVANCEMENT COUNCIL

THE IMAC plays a critical role in guiding the advancement goals of the School of Music