Music Ensembles

 

Instrumental Ensembles	Choral Ensembles	Chamber Ensembles
Marching Hornets Tracy Freeze, director	A Cappella Choir Terry Barham, director	Brass Choir Jeff Hodapp, director
Wind Ensemble       Gary Ziek, director	Community Chorus Terry Barham, director	Clarinet Choir Dawn McConkie, director
Jazz Ensemble Gary Ziek, director	Opera Theatre  Penny Speedie, director	Saxophone Ensemble Dawn McConkie, director
Orchestra James Starr, director	Madrigal Singers Terry Barham, director	Flute Choir Kate Bergman, director
		Percussion Ensemble Tracy Freeze, director
		String Ensemble James Starr, director
		Horn Choir Terrisa Ziek, director
		Trumpet Choir Gary Ziek, director
		Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble Jeff Hodapp, director

 

 

 

 

Wind Ensemble

The Emporia State University Wind Ensemble is a 60 member group, consisting of the university’s premiere wind players and percussionists. The group has recently performed the music of composers such as Vincent Persichetti, Dmitri Shostakovich, William Schumann and Eric Whitacre. The Wind Ensemble has released two compact discs, Rituals of Fire and Racing With the Sun, featuring the music of ESU composers.

Jazz Ensemble

The Emporia State University Jazz Ensemble continues the long tradition of jazz education and performance at ESU. The band plays a wide variety of literature, ranging from the classic jazz of Count Basie and Duke Ellington to the contemporary sounds of Gordon Goodwin, Alan Baylock and Bob Florence. The group has performed with jazz artists such as Frank Mantooth, Bob Bowman, Doug Talley, Arthur Lipner, Randy Hamm and Rick DiMuzio. The band has played throughout the region, including performances in 2001, 2003 and 2005 at the Kansas Music Educators Association convention. The ESU Jazz Ensemble toured Europe during the summer of 2004, with performances in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The trip culminated with two performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The band was invited to and performed at the North Texas Jazz Festival, in Addison, Texas in April 2005 and 2006.

 

Orchestra

The University Orchestra is an ensemble made up of 25 – 50 students, and the number of players utilized depends on the demands of the repertoire.  We perform between 4 and 8 concerts per year, on campus at Albert Taylor Hall as well as off-campus in various venues.  The orchestra is set up as a 1-credit hour class, and can count as an elective for non-music majors as well as fulfilling the major ensemble requirement for music majors.  Scholarships are available to both majors and non-majors for participation in the ESU orchestra; these are awarded based on individual auditions.

The ESU Orchestra is conducted by Dr. Kevin Powers. In recent performances, the ESU orchestra has played music from the Baroque period, (Vivaldi, Dall’Abaco) the Classical period (Mozart, Beethoven, Ditters von Dittersdorf) the Romantic period (Danzi, Rossini, Dvorak) and the 20th century. (Prokofiev, Chavarri, Delius)  The ESU orchestra continues to grow, receiving input from guest clinicians, and performing with guest soloists and guest conductors. 

Dr. Kevin Powers, Director

A Cappella Choir

A Cappella Choir Historical Sketch

ESU's premiere choral ensemble is comprised of 38-44 auditioned singers from all fields of study. The music performed consists of a wide variety of choral music from all historical eras and many cultures. In May, 2008, the choir will tour New York City and sing at Saint John Cathedral of the Divine, the world's largest cathedral--with an echo of eight seconds, among other venues. 

Formed in 1975, A Cappella Choir toured Switzerland, Austria, and Italy in 1978. In 1979, the choir was awarded first prize, the Silver Medal, at an international choral festival in Mexico City. The choir was chosen by Marcel Couraud to perform as laboratory choir for the Second International Summer Course for Latin-Mediterranean Polyphony in Molfetta, Italy in 1982.

The A Cappella Choir has performed for the Southwestern Division Convention of the American Choral Directors Association (1980) and the Kansas Music Educators Convention (1985, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1999, 2003, and 2008).  More recent international tours include England, France, and Germany (1989), Austria and Czechoslovakia (1992), Spain and France (1996), Denmark and Sweden (2001), and Italy, Switzerland and Austria (2006). In the summer of 1998, the choir sang a Brahms program in Carnegie Hall, New York City, under the esteemed German conductor, Helmut Rilling.

A Cappella Choir members host a High School Choral Leadership Workshop each fall and a Madrigal and Small Ensemble Choral Festival and a High School Invitational Choral Festival in the spring.

Conductor of the choir since 1987, Dr. Terry Barham is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Emporia State. He has conducted honor and festival choirs in 20 states.  He was the recipient of the 2007 Harry Robert Wilson Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Choral Art, given by the Kansas chapter of the American Choral Directors Association.  Barham is also listed in Who's Who in American Education, Who's Who among America's Teachers, and Who's Who in America. In 2001, he was one of four recipients of the Emporia Chamber of Commerce Golden Apple Award for service to community and for teaching excellence.  

Visit the A Cappella Choir webpage.

Take a virtual tour of the A Cappella Choir's June 2001 tour of Denmark and Sweden.

Take a virtual tour of the A Cappella Choir's June 2003 tour of England, Scotland, and France

 

Community Chorus

Tery Barham, conductor

Composed of community and university members, the Community Chorus regularly rehearses and performance choral works from all musical eras.  The ESU Community Chorus has been featured performers for the Madison Concert Series.

 

 

Opera

Madrigals

 

The ESU Madrigal Singers are a vocal chamber ensemble which specializes in performing both secular and sacred music from the Renaissance Period.  This group of 12 to 16 singers is selected through an audition just before the beginning of the Fall semester.  Every year the ESU Madrigal Singers perform at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival in Bonner Springs, KS and are also featured in the Madrigal Dinner sponsored by the ESU A Cappella Choir every November.  This course meets for 2 to 3 hours a week and is taken for one hour of credit during the Fall semester.  For any questions regarding auditions and performances for this ensemble, please contact Dr. Terry Barham, Director of Choral Activities at tbarham@emporia.edu.

String Ensemble

James Starr, director

Composed of select performers from the ESU Orchestra, members of the strung ensemble provide music for select campus activities.

 

 

 

Horn Choir

Terrisa Ziek, director

The ESU Horn Choir is open by audition to any student interested in performing horn literature.  During spring 2006, the ESU Horn Choir performed at the Midwest Horn Conference.

For information contact: Ms. Terrisa Ziek, director

 

Trumpet Choir

Gary Ziek, Director

The trumpet choir is composed of students who also participate in Brass Choir and the ESU Wind Ensemble

For information contact:  Dr. Gary Ziek, director

 

Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble

Jeff Hodapp, director

EMPORIA STATE UNIVERSITY TUBA-EUPHONIUM ENSEMBLE

The ESU Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble was founded in fall of 2001 as a chamber ensemble dedicated to performing original compositions and arrangements for tubas and euphoniums.  The tuba-euphonium ensemble came into fruition in the mid 1970’s and in comparison with other chamber ensembles, is a relatively young performing idiom.  For this reason, fewer pieces exist for this combination of instruments than for other groups.  However, composers and arranger/transcribers have found it a viable voice and have begun to write more pieces for it, thus greatly expanding our repertoire choices.  We have premiered several arrangements and transcriptions written for us.

The ESU Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble performs in concert on campus each semester with the ESU Brass Choir.  In addition to these concerts, the ensemble is often asked to present concerts and clinics at area schools (elementary through community college).

Credit for this ensemble is given in conjunction with that of the ESU Brass Choir and is open to all ESU students who play tuba and/or euphonium.  Rehearsals are on Monday nights from 8:30-10:00 in BH 134 (band room).

 

Brass Choir

Jeff Hodapp, director

EMPORIA STATE UNIVERSITY BRASS CHOIR

The ESU Brass Choir was founded in fall of 2001 as a chamber ensemble dedicated to performing original compositions and arrangements for brass instruments.  During the course of its short history, the ensemble has performed works from all periods of brass composition (ranging from 1500 until the present).  Often, the ensemble premieres new compositions, arrangements and transcriptions.  This ensemble is often asked to present concerts (run outs) at surrounding schools, which we schedule according to the availability of our members.

The ESU Brass Choir is a one credit course and is open to all ESU students who play brass instruments.  Rehearsals are on Monday nights from 7:00-8:30 in BH 134 (band room).

 

 

Clarinet Choir

 

Percussion Ensemble

The ESU percussion ensemble is a consortium of musicians which collectively interprets cutting-edge, avant-garde works of the 20th and 21st century. While maintaining its eye on repertoire of the past, the ESU Percussion Department is active in commissioning new works for this genre and for hosting premiere performances of new works. The percussion ensemble fulfills the chamber music portion of a musician studying within the percussion program at Emporia State University.

Director: Dr. Tracy Freeze

Flute Choir

Kate Bergman, Director

The Emporia State University Flute Choir is open to any ESU student.

The Emporia State University Flute Choir

Dr. Kate Bergman, conductor

The Emporia State University Flute Choir is open to any ESU student that plays the flute. Students register for this ensemble as a class, MU391H. This group is regularly around fifteen members, rehearsing weekly for ninety minutes (Thursdays from 4:00-5:30pm). Performing a variety of music, interested students have the opportunity to play school-owned piccolos, alto flutes, and a bass flute. They were selected by audition recording to perform at the Kansas Music Educators conventions in 2005 and 2007, and will be performing at the National Flute Association convention in Kansas City on August 8, 2008. Additional performances each semester include tours to area schools or nursing homes.

 

Last Updated July 28, 2008