NIU’s tenth ‘New Music Festival’ to feature guest performers

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Courtesy of Getty Images

An orchestral violin section performing at a concert. (Courtesy of Getty Images)

By Jermel Williams, Sports Reporter

DeKALB – For its ten year anniversary celebration, the NIU Music Festival will host three evenings of music from Nov. 2-4.

At 7 p.m. Nov. 2 in the Music Building Recital Hall, the first event will be held. There will be live electroacoustic music by guest composers Alexis C. Lamb and Elainie Lillios. Along with the guest composers, there will also be compositions by NIU faculty and student composers. 

The festival continues at 11 a.m. Nov. 3 during the All-School Convocation in the NIU School of Music Boutell Memorial Concert Hall. Alexis C. Lamb and Elainie Lillios will speak on the art of listening. 

Featured music by both Lamb and Lillios will be performed throughout the festival along with philosophical ideas by American composer Pauline Oliveros. 

There will be a second concert at 7 p.m. in the Concert Hall. This event will feature performances by the NIU Wind Ensemble and the Concert Choir, the NIU Philharmonic, the NIU Percussion Ensemble and the NIU New Music Ensemble. Music will be composed by John Cage, Alexis C. Lamb and several NIU students. 

The final day of the festival will begin at 3 p.m. at the Music Building in room 202. This event will feature both Lillios and Lamb. Following this event, at 7 p.m. in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall, the festival will conclude with a Concert Hall program which will feature the Avalon String Quartet, along with guest artist Daphne Gerling and I-Jen Fnag. After the concert, a post-festival reception will be hosted at Tapa La Luna in Downtown DeKalb. 

Tickets are available for purchase through the online School of Music Box Office.