Music

When the Western Illinois University Wind Ensemble takes to the stage during the university’s 32nd annual Showcase of Bands, it will perform a piece never before played for an audience in Illinois.  The symphony will take listeners through a story of love and loss, grief and healing.

The Phantom Regiment Drum and Bugle Corps trained at Western Illinois University for three weeks this spring. They are leaving for their summer tour with positive thoughts about Macomb, a community that wants them back next year.  

Only around 200 institutions in the world can boast of being an All Steinway School. The School of Music at Western Illinois University intends to join that select group.

Over the course of 4 days in November, 144 of the best flutists in the world came to Chicago to audition for the second flute position with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. John McMurtery auditioned and was chosen to be one of five finalists.

Musician Kimo Hussey will hold a concert and two workshops as part of the second annual Ukulele Festival in Macomb, Saturday, June 6.  It’s being hosted by Ukulele Macomb and the Western Illinois Museum.

The record shop just off the square in Macomb is closing after three years of business. John Gorlewski is packing up his vinyl and moving with his family to another college town in Connecticut. 

Many contemporary composers choose to write an opera about current events and to make a political statement.

A veteran of the music industry said artists must spend time taking care of business if they want to succeed in the industry.

John Draws is making a lot of noise – literally and figuratively – with three-string guitars made from cigar boxes and other bits and pieces.

For 35 years a historic riverboat captain’s house in Keokuk has been sheltering a true veteran of the 1960’s folk music movement.

The members of the Macomb-based band “Iron Orchard” describe themselves as middle-aged guys with day jobs that play because they love it.

Laptop computers, tablets and smart phones have all made it possible to perform regular activities in new ways. 

More than 200 student musicians from Western Illinois University’s Bands are headed to Brazil this spring. 

The husband-wife folk duo of Kagey Parrish and Laura Wortman, known as The Honey Dewdrops, are living an old-style vagabond musician lifestyle. They have been on the road nearly non-stop for more than five years playing coffee shops, house concerts, folk festivals and even A Prairie Home Companion.