At the renowned Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, December 2024 to January 2025 marks a season of exceptional musical and artistic performances. From the spirited Student Composition Recital to the enchanting Nutcracker ballet, audiences are invited to immerse themselves in the creativity and talent that define this celebrated institution. Join us as we explore a series of spectacular events, including jazz ensembles, baroque orchestras, electronic recitals, and more, each promising a unique and unforgettable experience. Discover the rich tapestry of sound and movement that awaits at the heart of Bloomington’s cultural landscape.

A Harmonious Fusion: Experience the Musical Marvels at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is set to host an array of captivating music events featuring their talented ensembles and orchestras. From the vocal harmonies of the NOTUS Contemporary Vocal Ensemble to the vibrant compositions of the Brent Wallarab Jazz Ensemble, Bloomington's venues will resonate with diverse musical expressions. Spanning from January 24 to February 15, 2025, each event promises a unique experience, showcasing the skill and creativity of students and faculty. Whether you're a fan of classical, jazz, or contemporary music, there's something to look forward to in this series.

A Symphony of Talent: Indiana University Jacobs School of Music Events

The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is set to host a series of captivating events, showcasing the rich tapestry of musical genres. From philharmonic orchestras to jazz ensembles, the series will highlight the contributions of talented artists and provide an immersive experience for audiences. The events span across varied genres, including chamber music, recitals, and Latin jazz, ensuring a delightful experience for music enthusiasts. This article delves into the unique aspects of each event, celebrating the artists and the vibrant cultural themes they bring to life.

A Symphony of Sounds: IU Jacobs School of Music's Diverse Musical Events

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is set to captivate audiences with a series of diverse and exciting events this February and March. From the cinematic flair of 'Jacobs Live at the Movies' to the rhythmic allure of 'Mariachi Perla del Medio Oeste,' attendees are promised an eclectic mix of performances. With seasoned artists like Natalie Boeyink and Wayne Wallace leading the charge, coupled with student showcases and contemporary vocal ensembles, this lineup promises to be a musical journey like no other.

A Musical Odyssey: Indiana University's Diverse Concert Series

From ballet to jazz and symphonies to chamber music, Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music is set to deliver an unforgettable series of events. Beginning with the Spring Ballet at the end of March, the lineup includes the renowned Tom Walsh Jazz Ensemble, a variety of student recitals, and grand performances by the university's symphony and bands. Each event promises to highlight the immense talent and creativity fostered within one of the country's leading music schools. Join us as we explore these vibrant performances in Bloomington.

A Melodic Mosaic: Celebrating Indiana University's Musical Showcase

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music is set to host a vibrant series of events, showcasing a wide range of musical genres and talents from April 18 to 25, 2025. From the powerful opera 'Carmen' to the rhythmic beats of the Latin Jazz Ensemble, audiences will be treated to performances that celebrate both classical masterpieces and contemporary innovation. With renowned musicians like Wayne Wallace and promising student composers, this week-long festival is a must-attend for music enthusiasts seeking a blend of tradition and modern flair.

A Week of Musical Mastery at Indiana University: Spotlight on Diverse Talents

EPSG:4326

Jazz Celebration

Musical Arts Center

All-Campus Chorus

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

Computer Music Recital

Auer Hall

Carmen

All-Campus Jazz Ensemble

Ford-Crawford Hall

Concert Orchestra and University Chorale

Student Composition Recital

Spring Showcase: Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Wind Ensemble – Tiffany J. Galus, Eric M. Smedley, and Donald McKinney, conductors

Wayne Wallace is professor of practice in jazz studies and jazz trombone at the IU Jacobs School of Music. A seven-time Grammy nominee, he is one of the most respected exponents of African American Latin music in the world today. Wallace is known for his use of traditional forms and styles in combination with contemporary music and has earned wide critical acclaim, including placement in both the trombone and producer categories of the DownBeat Critics Poll. He is an accomplished arranger, educator, and composer with compositions for film and television. He has received grants from the Creative Work Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lila Wallace Foundation, and the San Francisco Arts Commission. Wallace has performed, recorded, and studied with many acknowledged masters of the Afro-Latin and jazz idioms, such as Aretha Franklin, Bobby Hutcherson, Earth Wind and Fire, Pete Escovedo, Santana, and many more. This experience has provided a solid foundation for Wallace’s current explorations of the intersections of a wealth of cultural styles and rhythmic concepts. Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Wallace was exposed to blues, country and western, R&B, jazz, and Afro-Caribbean music at an early age. The fertile musical environment of the San Francisco Bay Area shaped his career. His studies of Afro-Latin music and jazz include trips to Cuba, New York City, and Puerto Rico. Widely respected as a teacher and historian, Wallace has taught at San José State University, Stanford University, and the Jazzschool in Berkeley. He has conducted lectures, workshops and clinics in the Americas and Europe since 1983. As the head of the critically acclaimed Patois Records, Wallace has created a unique record label with a passionate mission of developing and chronicling the multi-lingual styles of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene. Under his direction the label has released 13 recordings to critical acclaim, including recordings by Wallace, Marc and Paul van Wageningen, and vocalists Kat Parra, Alexa Weber-Morales, and Kristina

Latin Jazz Ensemble – Wayne Wallace, director; Andy Miller, rhythm section coach

University Orchestra

All-Campus Guitar Ensemble

Concentus

New Music Ensemble

Chamber Orchestra

Concert Band – Jason H. Nam, director/conductor

Natalie Boeyink, bassist and educator, serves as associate professor of music jazz studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. After earning her doctorate in music education at the Jacobs School in 2015, Boeyink spent eight years as a jazz lecturer and senior lecturer in the University of North Carolina system. She earned an M.M. in Jazz Performance at the University of Louisville and a B.M. in Jazz Studies at Jacobs. Her interest in the educational experiences and careers of jazzwomen has launched a series of research projects, conference presentations and publications, including her dissertation, “An Analysis and Description of Female Jazz Instrumentalists.” An advocate for jazzwomen, Boeyink served as chair of the Jazz Education Network’s Women in Jazz Committee and worked to reestablish the Sisters in Jazz Collegiate Combo Competition. Batuquê Trio is Boeyink’s seasoned collaboration with drummer Andy Smith and pianist Jamaal Baptiste. Focusing on contemporary Brazilian, Afro-Cuban, and Caribbean jazz, the trio frequently appears at jazz festivals as performers and clinicians. Their first CD, Transparency, was released in 2015. A second album is forthcoming in 2024. Some of Boeyink’s notable performances include appearances with Tammy McCann, Jamie Baum, Ingrid Jensen, Terri Lyne Carrington, Christine Jensen, Leni Stern, Jovino Santos Neto, Joe Piscopo, David “Fathead” Newman, Jon Hendricks, Jeff Coffin, David Liebman, and Lorraine Feather.

Jazz @ the BCT: Natalie Boeyink Jazz Ensemble

Buskirk-Chumley Theater

Baroque Orchestra

Guitar Ensemble

Conductors Chorus

Symphonic Band – Eric M. Smedley, director/conductor

Salón Latino Chamber Music Series

Pro Cantare

Symphony Orchestra

Singing Hoosiers Spring Concert

Wind Ensemble – Donald McKinney, director/conductor

Tom Walsh is Robert J. Waller Sr. and Robert J. Waller Jr. Professor of Music (saxophone) and chair of the Jazz Studies Department at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. An active performer of jazz and classical music, he has presented concerts and workshops in South Africa, China, Brazil, Japan, Azerbaijan, Costa Rica, in Europe, and across the United States. He is the co-author of the fifth edition of Creative Jazz Improvisation (2022) with Scott Reeves. His beginning improvisation book Jazz Master Teaches You to Improvise was published by Shanghai Music Publishing House in 2019. Recent recordings include The Pandemic Sessions by the IU jazz faculty, Luke Gillespie’s Moving Mists, Basically Baker, Vol. 2, with the Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra (Patois), and Mike Hackett’s New Point of View (Summit). Premiere performances include Scott Jones’s concert band arrangement of Russell Peck’s The Upward Stream, Chris Rutkowski’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble, and David Baker’s Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Orchestra. His latest solo CD release is Intersections (Arizona University Recordings). Earlier solo CDs include New Life (RIAX) and Shaking the Pumpkin (RIAX). Other releases include the David Baker Concerto on Paul Freeman Introduces David Baker, Vol. XII (Albany), Basically Baker with the Buselli/Wallarab Jazz Orchestra (Patois), and Sky Scrapings: Saxophone Music of Don Freund (AUR). Walsh is a Yamaha Performing Artist and a Vandoren Artist. He taught at the Jamey Aebersold Summer Jazz Workshops 1991-2019. He co-leads the IU Summer Saxophone Academy with Otis Murphy and is co-director of the College Audition Preparation Workshop. Walsh earned degrees in Saxophone Performance and Jazz Studies from Indiana University, where his principal teachers were distinguished classical saxophonist Eugene Rousseau and renowned jazz educator David Baker. His other influential teachers include Mike Tracy, Pat LaBarbera, Jerry Coker, and David Liebman.

Tom Walsh Jazz Ensemble

Spring Ballet

NOTUS Contemporary Vocal Ensemble

Guitar Extravaganza

The Turn of the Screw

Mariachi Perla del Medio Oeste

Jazz @ the BCT: Latin Jazz Ensemble – Wayne Wallace, director; Andy Miller, rhythm section coach

Natalie Boeyink Jazz Ensemble

Jacobs Live at the Movies

Philharmonic Orchestra

Concert Band and Symphonic Band – Tiffany J. Galus & Eric M. Smedley, conductors

University Chorale

Brent Wallarab Jazz Ensemble

Alcina

Concert Orchestra

Center for Electronic and Computer Music Recital

Nutcracker

Kavalier and Clay

David Dzubay’s compositions have been performed in the United States, Europe, Canada, Mexico, and Asia by the symphony orchestras of Aspen, Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cincinnati, Detroit, Fort Wayne, Guangxi, Guiyang, Honolulu, Kansas City, Louisville, Memphis, Minnesota, Oregon, Oakland, St. Louis and Vancouver; the American Composers Orchestra, National Symphonies of Ireland and Mexico, New World Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, and New York Youth Symphony; and ensembles including the Grossman Ensemble, Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Onix, Manhattan and St. Louis Brass Quintets, Voices of Change, the Alexander, Orion and Pacifica string quartets, the League/ISCM, Earplay, and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. His music has been championed by conductors including James DePreist, George Hanson, Keith Lockhart, David Loebel, Michael Morgan, Eiji Oue, Richard Pittman, Iván del Prado, Mark Russell Smith, Lawrence Leighton Smith, Michael Stern, Carl Topilow, David Wiley, Kirk Trevor, Thomas Wilkins, and David Zinman. Honors include two Fromm Music Foundation commissions; Guggenheim, MacDowell, Yaddo, Copland House, and Djerassi fellowships; the Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival Composition Competition, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra Composition Competition, Utah Arts Festival Commission, William Revelli and Walter Beeler Memorial Prizes, Wayne Peterson Prize; and grants from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music for two portrait CDs. Currently professor of music and director of the New Music Ensemble at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Dzubay was previously on the faculty of the University of North Texas in Denton. Since 2011, he has taught composition for three weeks each summer at the Brevard Music Center. From 1995 to 1998, he served as composer-consultant to the Minnesota Orchestra and during the 2005-06 season, he was Meet the Composer/American Symphony Orchestra League Music Alive Composer-in-Residence with the Green Bay Symphony Orchestra. Dzubay has conducted at the Tanglewood, Aspen, and June in Buffalo festivals as well as the National Symphony of Columbia, Grossman Ensemble, League of Composers Orchestra, Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble, Music from China, and Voices of Change.

Symphony Orchestra – David Dzubay, conductor

Fall Showcase: Concert Band, Symphonic Band, and Wind Ensemble – Jason H. Nam, Eric M. Smedley, and Donald McKinney, conductors

Concert Band – Tiffany J. Galus, director/conductor

48 Hours Symposium: Guest/Student Recital – Switch Ensemble Performs Student Compositions

48 Hours Symposium: Guest Recital – Switch Ensemble

Singing Hoosiers

Jeffery Meyer has captivated audiences throughout North America, Europe, Russia, and Asia with a passion for championing contemporary orchestral music and groundbreaking collaborations. Meyer is professor of music in orchestral conducting at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as well as artistic partner with the Northwest Sinfonietta, one of the Northwest United States’ most dynamic orchestras. Artistic director of the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic for two decades, his work with the orchestra was noted for its breadth and innovation. His programming has been awarded multiple prizes, including three ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming and two Vytautas Marijosius Memorial Awards in Orchestral Programming. Recent projects and upcoming appearances include a newly-developed multimedia performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring and Petrushka with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra, the City Chamber Orchestra of Hong Kong with soprano Dawn Upshaw, a world premiere of Carlos Simon’s Graffiti performed and recorded alongside internationally renowned graffiti artists, a theatrical symphonic concert focused on themes of social justice developed in collaboration with Daniel Bernard Roumain and Marc Bamuthi Joseph, the world premiere recording of Laura Kaminsky’s Piano Concerto with pianist Ursula Oppens, a new semi-staged production of Nkeiru Okoye’s Invitation to a Die-In, nearly one dozen world premieres of new works, and engagements with the Sichuan Symphony, Xalapa Symphony Orchestra, and the Grossman Ensemble. Passionate about working with young musicians and music education, Meyer is an active adjudicator, guest clinician, and master class teacher. Prior to his appointment at the Jacobs School, he led the acclaimed orchestral programs at Arizona State University and Ithaca College. He has given master classes throughout the United States as well as Canada, Europe, and Asia. Meyer holds degrees in piano as well as composition and earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance with Gilbert Kalish at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Concert Orchestra – Jeffery Meyer, conductor

American conductor Mélisse Brunet, a native of Paris, France, is quickly gaining attention on both sides of that Atlantic as a “skilled and polished conductor with panache” (ClevelandClassical.com). She is music director of the Lexington Philharmonic (the first woman to hold the position) and of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Philharmonic. Brunet is one of the five conductors featured in Maggie Contreras’s Tribeca Audience Award-winning documentary Maestra. Last season, she conducted the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, Eugene Symphony, West Virginia Symphony, Orchestre National Avignon Provence (France), and University of Illinois orchestra, while promoting Maestra in various festivals. A dynamic advocate of contemporary music, Brunet has collaborated with such composers as Shawn Okpebholo, Mary D. Watkins, T. J. Cole, Steven Stucky, Michael Daugherty, Shulamit Ran, James Barry, Loren Loiacono, and Jennifer Higdon, among others. As an opera and music-theater conductor, Brunet has conducted Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, and Verdi’s La Traviata. As a pops conductor, Brunet has programmed concerts for holiday pops, Independence Day, Halloween, Valentine’s Day, and other thematic concerts, performing indoors and out for up to 6,000 people. She also conducted orchestras for live movie projections. A respected educator in both France and the United States, Brunet recently served as the first woman director of Orchestral Studies at the University of Iowa-School of Music, where she conducted symphonic concerts, operas, and musical theater. In addition, she headed the orchestral conducting program at the master’s and doctoral levels, from which her students won major positions. Brunet began her studies on the cello, later learning trumpet, horn, and piano. She holds six diplomas from the Paris Conservatory and a professional studies diploma from the Cleveland Institute of Music. She earned a bachelor’s degree in music from the Sorbonne and a doctorate in conducting from the University of Michigan.

University Orchestra – Mélisse Brunet, guest conductor

Brent Wallarab is David N. Baker Professor of Jazz Studies and associate professor of music in jazz studies at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Since 1991, he has been lead trombonist with the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra, the jazz orchestra in residence at the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. As lead trombonist, he specializes in recreating the entire spectrum of jazz brass styles. In 1992, Wallarab was appointed specialist in jazz for the Smithsonian Institution and serves as transcriber, researcher, editor, and advisor for the Smithsonian’s extensive jazz program. Wallarab has transcribed and edited more than 300 masterworks for jazz orchestra and is considered one of the leading authorities on historical composition for jazz orchestras, such as those of Duke Ellington, Sy Oliver, Fletcher Henderson, and Gil Evans. Wallarab has been instrumental in identifying and cataloguing many pieces from the Ellington archives housed at the Smithsonian Institution.

Suor Angelica/Trouble in Tahiti

Faculty String Quartet-in-Residence – Pacifica Quartet: Simin Ganatra, violin; Austin Hartman, violin; Mark Holloway, viola; Brandon Vamos, cello

Chamber Orchestra – Scott Sandmeier, guest conductor

Fall Ballet

University Singers

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

May 3, 2025

Jazz Celebration

Apr 28, 2025

All-Campus Chorus

Articles & News

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music