The University of Illinois Press has published Assistant Professor Michael Silvers’s Voices of Drought

The Percussion Studio of the U of I is featured in a new release on the Albany label. 

LONG ROLL: A TRIBUTE TO COMPOSER-PERCUSSIONIST MICHAEL MANION includes Alexander Tcherepnin’s Vivace from Symphony No. 1 in E Major; Amadeo Roldán’s Ritmica No. 5 and Ritmica No. 6; Stephen Lett’s Junta; Henry Cowell’s Ostinato Pianissimo; Dmitri Shostakovich’s Entr’acte from The Nose; John Cage and Lou Harrison’s Double Music; Michael Manion’s Long Roll II; and Robert Fleisher’s Maniondala.

Christos Tsitsaros, Professor of Piano Pedagogy, recently attended the premiere of his new work Fantasy for Oboe, B-Flat Clarinet and Piano in Baltimore. The work was one of two newly-commissioned works featured as part of the ongoing Collaborative Commissioning Project of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA). The performance was part of the MTNA annual National Conference. 

Erin Gee, Assistant Professor of Composition, has been named one of Fifty for the Future as part of the Kronos Quartet's latest commisioning project.

Professor of Trumpet Ronald Romm has just returned from Russia where he was adjudicating at the 8^th Moscow Conservatory International Competition, sponsored by the Peter Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory.

The Competition takes place every year at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow, and the instrumental emphasis is on a revolving 5-year cycle; 2016, was the year for Trumpet and Clarinet. In addition to cash prizes, there were also special prizes awarded, including an opportunity for a public solo concert with the Bulgarian State Orchestra.

The Music Director’s Later Years: Reflection with Wisdom by Elizabeth Peterson will be released by Meredith Music Publications in November 2016. 

The book contains interviews with twenty late-career or retired music educators who established notable and distinguished school programs. Included are the most significant changes that occurred during their professional careers and, advice and words of wisdom dealing with literature selection, curriculum, classroom management, relationships with parents and guardians and overall program development.