New Music Festival 2022 from March 7 to 8 at Western

March 3, 2022

MACOMB, IL – The Western Illinois University School of Music will present its 35th Annual New Music Festival 2022 Monday through Tuesday, March 7-8.

The events that make up the festival will take place at Browne Hall and the College of Fine Arts and Communication Recital Hall. The festival is led by Professor James Romig of the WIU School of Music and Assistant Professor Hong-Da Chin, both professors of composition.

This year’s featured performer is cellist Craig Hultgren and featured composer is Baljinder Sekhon.

Hultgren has performed as a cellist with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and has taught at Birmingham-Southern College, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and the Alabama School of Fine Arts. His work is featured in four solo CD recordings. For 10 years he produced the Biennial Hultgren Solo Cello Works, an international competition to showcase the best new cello compositions.

Sekhon’s work has been featured in over 500 concerts in 20 countries. His wide range of musical interests and styles for saxophone and percussion instruments is recognized as pioneering work. He is an Assistant Professor of Composition at the University of South Florida and has also served as a percussionist on the LS Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella Series at Walt Disney Hall, the Spazio Musica Festival in Cagliari, Italy, and the Bang on a Can Marathon in New York. York. Town.

“We are very pleased that our composition students at WIU have had the opportunity to work closely with Craig Hultgren as they work on writing the compositions he will perform at this year’s festival,” said James. Romig, WIU music teacher. “Craig was a guest at last year’s festival, which was held on Zoom due to the pandemic, so our students have known Craig for a year now and have been emailing him scores and recordings for those working here, in person, is the culmination of a lot of hard work and I know our composition students will learn and grow as they collaborate with a master performer who also happens to be a generous and supportive teacher and advocate for young people composers.”

This year’s festival program includes:

Monday March 7


• 7:30 pm, COFAC Recital Hall: Concert 1: Hulgren performing works by Sekhon, Chin and Romig. This is a recital of works for solo cello, including the world premiere

tuesday march 8

• 2 pm, COFAC Recital Hall: Concert 2, A public rehearsal with Hultgren, cello – open to the public.

• 7:30 p.m., COFAC recital room; Concert 3, Hultren performing works by WIU student composers Jessica Schaumberg, Hunter Logan Stuart, Garrett Davis, Libbey Lazowski, Alice Müller, Ryan Simester, Adam Nyquist, Mary Bausman, Robin Butler and Jeremiah Hendricks. The concert is open to the public.

“Baljinder Sekhon is a fantastic composer and an expert teacher,” Romig said. “Having him here on campus is a great opportunity for our music students to hear two of his works performed on Monday evenings, and they will also have the chance to hear him talk about his compositions, his career and his teaching methods in class presentations on Monday and Tuesday.”

The New Music Festival is supported by the School of Music and the WIU Performing Arts Society. For more information, call the COFAC Recital Hall office at (309) 298-1843 or visit bit.ly/WIUNewMusic.

Posted by: University Communications ([email protected])
University Communications and Marketing Office