MUSIC DEPARTMENT

The Music Department offers curricula that embrace and celebrate the rich diversity of music in our world. Performance-based courses such as Jazz Improvisation, West African Drumming, and Middle Eastern Drumming and Culture are recent additions to our already diverse array of traditional bands, choirs, and orchestras. Our rigorous curriculum prepares music majors for careers as performers, educators, and music business professionals. Students from all majors join together to participate in 12 ensembles that offer more than 50 performances per year at on-campus concerts, liturgies and social events, and at area schools, community organizations, intimate gatherings, and city-wide festivals. In addition, Madison-area community musicians participate in four campus-community ensembles that provide opportunities for members to challenge themselves with collegiate-level performance experiences.

Our long tradition of featuring outstanding guest artists and ensembles, ranging from a Stravinsky premiere in 1944 to a recent performance by the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, further enhances Madison’s vibrant music scene. In keeping with our mission to encourage students to share their gifts in service to the greater community, we offer several fundraising concerts annually in support of community partners such as Luke House and the Dane County Food Pantry.

This year, our formal concert series begins with a faculty tribute to the music of John Cage in honor of his 100th birthday and continues with 20 on-campus performances that showcase our varied ensembles as well as outstanding soloists. The music faculty recital series is a well-established tradition that has received local and national attention. This season’s series features Percussionist and Drummer Todd Hammes, Pianist Douglas Jurs, and Mezzo-Soprano Kathleen Otterson.