Members of the SIU Wind Ensemble rehearse for the “Classic” concert, which also features the SIU Concert Choir. The concert at Shryock Auditorium begins at 7 p.m. Oct. 1. (Photo by Russell Bailey)
September 17, 2025
SIU Concert Choir and Wind Ensemble to present ‘Classics’ on Oct. 1
CARBONDALE, Ill. — From tunes born during the American Revolution to an arrangement of songwriting genius Bob Dylan’s music, Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Concert Choir and Wind Ensemble will present “Classics” at Shryock Auditorium in a free performance at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1.
The two groups, totaling 60 student members, ranging from first-year undergraduate students to graduate students pursuing their Master of Music degrees, along with non-music majors, will be directed by Christopher Morehouse, professor and director of bands, and Emerson Eads, assistant professor and director of choral studies, both in the School of Music.
The wind ensemble will perform three pieces, “each considered a ‘classic’ in the band repertoire,” Morehouse said.
The 35-member wind ensemble will open with Karel Husa's “Smetana Fanfare,” which premiered in 1984 honoring fellow Czech composer Bedrich Smetana. The work uses two excerpts from Smetana’s symphonic poem “Wallenstein’s Camp,” completed during Smetana’s exile from Prague in 1859 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Graduate conducting student Karlena Tucker will then conduct William Schuman's “Chester Overture for Band.” Morehouse noted that Schuman describes “the tune on which this composition is based was born during the very time of the American Revolution, appearing in 1778 in a book of tunes and anthems composed by William Billings called ‘The Singing Master's Assistant.’ One of those songs, ‘Chester,’ was so popular that it was sung throughout the colonies from Vermont to South Carolina. It became the song of the American Revolution, sung around the campfires of the Continental Army and played by fifers on the march.”
The wind ensemble’s final piece is Arturo Márquez's “Danzón No. 2,” which Morehouse said is one of the most popular and most frequently performed orchestral Mexican compositions.
“It expresses and reflects on the dance style named danzón, which has its origins in Cuba but is a very important part of the folklore of the Mexican state of Veracruz. The music was inspired by a visit to a ballroom in Veracruz,” Morehouse said.
Enduring songs
Eads is involved with his first concert at SIU and said he’s excited to experience Shryock Auditorium. The energy that students are bringing to rehearsals “has been inspiring, and I can’t wait to share that with an audience,” Eads said.
The 25-member concert choir’s performance is built around Morehouse’s theme, “but rather than taking ‘classics’ to mean ‘classical,’ we’ve turned the idea on its head. For us, a ‘classic’ is any piece of music that has endured — beloved, sung and shared across time,” Eads said.
Eads said the choral program spans centuries, from early Baroque to Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love,” in a solo performance by Abigail Bolgrien, a first-year undergraduate student in musical theater with arrangement by British organist-composer Anna Lapwood and featuring third-year undergraduate music major Riley Porreca “soaring above with radiant descants.” The concert choir will be accompanied by Jiyeon Lee, an assistant professor of practice on piano, and Anita Hill will join the choral program on the Marianne Webb Pipe Organ.
“Great music isn’t confined by genre, and ‘classics’ aren’t limited to what we call ‘classical,’” Eads said. “This concert celebrates the universality of song — music that challenges us, inspires us and ultimately brings us joy.”