Gathering: A Sesquicentennial Musical Celebration

To mark a historical milestone in our university’s history, a special Sesquicentennial tour will visit Chicago, New York, and Champaign-Urbana in the spring of 2018. The University of Illinois Wind Symphony and Chamber Singers, led by Director of Bands Dr. Stephen Peterson and Director of Choral Activities Dr. Andrew Megill, will be joined by soloists Nathan Gunn, Todd Payne, and Yvonne Redman for the debut of a newly commissioned work titled Gathering. This new work is being created collaboratively between composer Dominick DiOrio of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and National Book Award-winning writer and Professor Emeritus Richard Powers. Powers has assembled a text that blends speeches and writings by a diverse trio of University of Illinois alumni, including Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Mark Van Doren (BA, 1914), Nobel laureate in Physiology/Medicine Rosalyn Yalow (PhD, 1945), and pioneering architect and engineer Fazlur Khan (PhD, 1955). DiOrio was selected among many outstanding composers as a rising star in the music world and for his experience writing for voices and instruments. Few outstanding works exist for such a large musical force with band and choir combined, making this composition even more significant.

For more information about the tour, please visit music.illinois.edu/gathering.

DiOrio: Gathering
Montague: Intrada 1631 (after Juan Pérez Bocanegra)
Mackey: The Frozen Cathedral
Copland: The Promise of Living
Illini Music TBD

This performance will last approximately two hours, including a 20-minute intermission.