NIU Today

The NIU School of Music’s New Music Ensemble, under the direction of Gregory Beyer, has announced its third annual New Music Festival. Scheduled Tuesday, Nov. 6, and Wednesday, Nov. 7, this year’s celebration will spotlight music of would-be centenarian composer, John Cage (1912-1992), perhaps America’s most widely recognized avant-garde composer and thinker of the 20th...

Editor’s note: At the time of publication, this composition was titled “Five Pools.” Since then, composer Greg Beyer has changed the title to “Five Ponds.” It is not every day that a percussionist gets the opportunity to practice his art on 200-year-old bronze drums that normally would  be found in a mountain village or on...

Students in the NIU School of Music’s frame drumming class will perform at noon Wednesday, July 25, to showcase what they have learned in a short, six-week period this summer. Omar Al-Musfi will direct the concert, which takes place in the Music Building’s Recital Hall. In addition to the drums played by the participants of...

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) has nominated “Hammer on Steel,” a two-program documentary created by The University of Akron, for eight Emmy awards for the 2011 broadcast year. NIU’s Cliff Alexis, steel drum builder and tuner and co-director of the world-renowned NIU Steel Band, was nominated for Emmy Awards in two...

The NIU Percussion Ensemble, directed by Robert Chappell and Greg Beyer, with graduate conductors Amanda Duncan and Angela Kepley, will present its spring concert at 8 p.m. Monday, April 2, in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall. The concert is free and open to the public, the the auditorium is accessible to all. The concert will...

The DeKalb High School Percussion Ensemble, the DeKalb County Hospice and the world music program at NIU are hosting a benefit concert, “Transformation Through Rhythm,” at 7 p.m. Monday, March 26, in the auditorium at DeKalb High School. DeKalb County Hospice hopes to raise awareness of both the local and global need for music therapy,...

Before he retires this year, NIU music professor Robert Chappell will put together one more recital that promises to be funny, sentimental and, as usual, unforgettably entertaining. All of his past recitals have been special, but this one will be over the top without being over the top. He wants it to reflect his work,...

NIU School of Music percussion professor Greg Beyer and his wife, flautist Erin Lesser, who collaborate musically as Due East, are about to release their second CD. New Amsterdam Records, whose name has become synonymous with the sweeping array of quality music across classical’s burgeoning independent scene, will issue the deeply expressive “drawn only once”...