Department of Music

The Meridian Society, an auxiliary organization of the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Foundation that promotes women’s leadership, granted more than $16,000 in awards at their annual reception in April. The philanthropic group awarded four SIUE projects in the Department of Music, SIUE School of Education, Health & Human Behavior, School of Pharmacy and Access Office.

This year’s award recipients were honored at the Meridian Award Reception on Wednesday, April 3 in Birger...

The recent Essentially Ellington Festival, co-sponsored by Jazz at Lincoln Center, was hosted for its tenth year on Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus on March 22 at Dunham Hall Theater.

High school jazz ensembles had a full day of master classes with top clinicians Reginald “Reggie” Thomas, Christopher Dorsey, Tatum Greenblatt and Dr. Bennett Wood, ending the day with a 7:30pm concert. An afternoon Open Rehearsal featured the SIUE Concert Jazz Band, led by Thomas w...

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s highest academic rank of Distinguished Research Professor was unanimously awarded to Kimberly Archer, DMA, professor in the Department of Music. Archer joins a prestigious group of tenured faculty members who have been recognized for their significant contributions to research and creative activities.

Archer joined the SIUE faculty in 2005. She is the first woman faculty member in the arts at SIUE to have received this promotion.

“I am ...

Jazz St. Louis has presented Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s Prince Wells, associate professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music, with the inaugural 2022 Clark Terry Jazz Ambassador Award. The award celebrates the legacy of St. Louis’ own, jazz legend Clark Terry.

The award underscores Wells’ distinction as a mainstay of the St. Louis jazz community through his life’s work as a musician, band leader, activist, community leader and p...

The Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 2022 Bi-State Honor Band Festival will take place April 30-May 1 in Dunham Hall on the Edwardsville campus. The event is one of the most important outreach activities in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music and the most important for the band area.

Having been a part of the department for more than 25 years, the festival aims to offer a two-day honor band experience for high school students in the greater St. Louis area. Parti...

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville's Friends of Theater and Dance (FOTAD) will present its annual Dinner Theater fundraiser on Tuesday, April 19.

Dinner will begin at 6:30 p.m. followed by an exclusive preview of “Rent” produced by the College of Arts and Sciences’ Departments of Theater and Dance and Music. This will be the final rehearsal and an opportunity to be the first to see the show.

"We are looking forward to the 2022 FOTAD Dinner Theater,” said Oti...

SIUE College of Arts and Sciences’ professor emerita and pianist Ruth Slenczynska signed landmark record deal in January 2022, after celebrating her 97^th birthday. She is the last surviving pupil of composer-pianist Sergei Rachmaninov.

Slenczynska’s album, My Life in Music, explores the music of Chopin, a composer who had a heavy influence on the young pianist’s childhood.

According to her memoir, Forbidden Childhood, Slenczynska was made to practise ...