EVANSTON, Ill. --- The Northwestern University School of Music’s September/October music highlights will include a free Sept. 24 Faculty Musicale; an Oct. 6 Kids Fare “March with the Band” concert, the first in a series of seven inexpensive hour-long programs designed for children aged 3 to 8 and their families and friends; and a free Oct. 12 Homecoming Concert.

The Newberry Consort, Northwestern’s ensemble-in-residence, will perform songs, ballads and dance tunes that enriched Shakespeare’s plays for patrons of London’s Globe Theatre, during an Oct. 7 “Shakespeare’s Songbook” early music program.

John Hoomes, artistic director of the Nashville Opera and former director of the Kentucky Opera, will present an Oct. 16 master class in dramatic characterizations, opera history and acting for the operatic stage. In 1993 Hoomes was awarded the title “American Cultural Expert” by the U.S. Information Agency.

Northwestern School of Music alumnus and horn player Adam Unsworth and the Adam Unsworth Ensemble will perform Oct. 23. Twenty-five-year-old American pianist Orion Weiss, a 2002 winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, will be the guest soloist during the Oct. 24 Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra concert.

Events listed below will be held on Northwestern’s Evanston campus at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive; Regenstein Recital Hall, 60 Arts Circle Drive; Cahn Auditorium, 600 Emerson St.; Trienens Hall, 2707 Ashland Ave.; or Alice Millar Chapel, 1870 Sheridan Road, as noted below.

For more information, call the Pick-Staiger Concert Office at (847) 491-5441 or visit the new Pick-Staiger Web site at <www.pickstaiger.org>. To order tickets by phone, call the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office at (847) 467-4000.

SEPTEMBER 2007

Faculty Musicale, 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Distinguished School of Music faculty members will start the 2007-08 music season at Northwestern University with a recital of soloists and small ensembles. Admission is free.

OCTOBER 2007

Keyboard Conversations, “Fascinatin’ Rhythms,” 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 5, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Guest pianist Jeffrey Siegel will celebrate America and its musical greatness -- from patriotic Gottschalk tunes to jazzy Gershwin blues to music of Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland and Scott Joplin. Tickets are $23 for the general public; $21 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $16 for full-time students.

Kids Fare, “March with the Band,” 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 6, Trienens Hall. This is the first of seven hour-long concerts in the 2007-08 Kids Fare series designed for children aged 3 to 8 and their families. Girls and boys are encouraged to bring their own kazoo, tin drum or toy bugle and march along with members of the Wildcat Marching Band during this annual fall spectacular. A Family Fun Pack that includes two adult passes and two children’s passes to all seven concerts plus two free additional children’s passes per concert (for other siblings or friends) is $81. Single ticket prices are $5 for the general public; $4 for senior citizens and for Northwestern faculty and staff; and $3 for full-time students.

Newberry Consort, “Shakespeare’s Songbook,” 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7, Lutkin Hall. Shakespeare loved music, using it to establish a mood and as an entertaining diversion. He also evoked audience emotions by making frequent reference to popular music in his dialogue. The Newberry Consort, Northwestern’s ensemble-in residence, will perform songs, ballads and dance tunes that enriched Shakespeare’s plays for patrons of London’s Globe Theatre. Performers will include violinist, viola de gambist and ensemble director David Douglass; lutenist, citternist and theorboist Paul O’Dette; soprano Ellen Hargis; and tenor William Hite. The concert is presented as part of the Evelyn Dunbar Early Music Festival. Tickets are $24 for the general public; $20 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $11 for full-time students.

Northwestern University Marching Band, Homecoming Concert, 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12, Cahn Auditorium. The concert will kick off Northwestern’s Homecoming Parade as the Wildcat Marching Band brings the sights and sounds of Ryan Field indoors to Cahn Auditorium. School of Music faculty member Daniel J. Farris, director of Northwestern’s athletic bands, will conduct. Admission is free.

John Hoomes, Opera Master Class, 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16, Lutkin Hall. John Hoomes, artistic director of the Nashville Opera and former director of the Kentucky Opera, has staged more than 75 opera and musical theatre productions. In 1993 Hoomes was awarded the title “American Cultural Expert” by the U.S. Information Agency. Hoomes has given numerous master classes in dramatic characterizations, opera history and acting for the operatic stage. Tickets are $7 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $4 for full-time students.

Symphonic Wind Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Leonard Bernstein’s “Slava!” is a featured work during a program that will celebrate the composition’s 30th anniversary and be played in memory of Mstislav Rostropovich. Other works on the program include Joel Puckett’s “Blink!,” Frank Ticheli’s “Postcard” and Keith L. Wilson’s arrangement of Paul Hindemith’s “Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes of Carl Maria von Weber.” Tickets are $7 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $4 for full-time students.

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The program includes Johannes Brahms’ “Academic Festival Overture” and Concerto for Violin and Cello in A Minor and Antonin Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8 in G Major. Northwestern University School of Music faculty member Robert G. Hasty will conduct a program that will feature violinist Almita Vamos and cellist Kenneth Olsen. Tickets are $9 for the general public; $7 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $5 for full-time students.

Guest Artists: Adam Unsworth Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23, Regenstein Recital Hall. French horn player and Northwestern alumnus Adam Unsworth, a former student of School of Music Professor Gail Williams, is equally celebrated in the classical and jazz worlds. His groundbreaking 2006 recording “Excerpt This!” is an amalgamation of classical chamber music elements, lyrical creativity, fluid arrangements and improvisational virtuosity. Unsworth will be joined on stage by bassist Ranaan Meyer, vibraphonist Tony Miceli, violinist Diane Monroe, drummer Cornell Rochester and bass clarinetist and flutist Les Thimmig. Tickets are $7 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $4 for full-time students.

Guest Artists: Bavarian Philharmonic Orchestra (Klangverwaltung Munich) featuring pianist Orion Weiss, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Founded in 1997, the Orchester der Klangverwaltung Munich (Bavarian Philharmonic) has won rave reviews throughout Europe for its interpretations of music from Mozart to Bruckner. Led by conductor and music director Enoch zu Guttenberg, the orchestra will be joined by 25-year-old pianist Orion Weiss, a 2002 winner of the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. The program will include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Overture to “Don Giovanni,” Ludwig von Beethoven’s Piano Concert No. 5 in E-flat Major (“Emperor”) and Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 in C Major (“Great”). The concert is made possible by the Oldberg Fund for Visiting Artists. Tickets are $18 for the general public; $15 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $10 for full-time students.

Percussion Ensemble, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Northwestern’s Percussion Ensemble, the 2007 winner of the Percussive Arts Society’s International Percussion Ensemble Competition, will perform David Skidmore’s “Whispers” and Akira Nishimura’s “Matra.” School of Music percussion faculty member Michael Burritt’s “Smoke and Mirrors” also will be performed. Tickets are $7 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $4 for full-time students.

Music Technology Concert, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, Lutkin Hall. Featuring classics of electroacoustic music as well as new works composed and performed by students, faculty and others, this program will include multichannel compositions, improvisatory and interactive music, and works for instruments plus live digital signal processing. Tickets are $5 for the general public; $4 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $3 for full-time students.

Symphonic Band, “This American Life,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27, Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. The program will feature Dan Welcher’s Symphony No. 3 (“Shaker Life”), Donald Grantham, “Kentucky Harmony,” Mark Camphouse’s “Yosemite Autumn” and Donald Freund’s “Jug Blues and Fat Pickin.” Ryan Nelson, Northwestern’s associate director of bands, will conduct. Tickets are $7 for the general public; $5 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $4 for full-time students.

Hymn Fest VI: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” 7 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28, Alice Millar Chapel. The Chapel Choir, Millar Brass Ensemble, and audience will join the 100-rank Aeolian-Skinner organ in hymn arrangements by Stephen Alltop, Alice Millar Chapel’s director of music, who will conduct the program. Works by Cherwien, Ferguson, Rutter, Webster, Wilberg and others also will be featured. Admission is a freewill offering.