Bienen Ensembles Studio Ensembles /sites/default/files/styles/event_featured_image/public/2025-02/May6_Evening_of_Brass_WEB.jpg?itok=lMI-1D6-

Gail Williams, director

Music written and arranged for brass, from small to large ensembles.

Richard Strauss (ed. Robert Taylor), Wiener Philharmoniker Fanfare 

Samuel Barber, Mutations from Bach 

Gustav Holst (trans. Ralph Sauer), The Planets 
     I. Mars, the Bringer of War 
     IV. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity 

Richard Strauss (arr. Timothy Higgins), “The Final Trio” from Der Rosenkavalier 

Richard Wagner (arr. Timothy Higgins), “Siegfried’s Funeral March” from Götterdämmerung 

Is Not Featured 1231243 No On Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid ID. Off https://ci.ovationtix.com/36542/performance/11601719?performanceId=11601719 Yes No Off 1231243 Tuesday, May 6, 2025 at 7:30pm CDT Pick-Staiger Concert Hall On https://www.music.northwestern.edu/live/pick

Bienen Ensembles Studio Ensembles Recitals & Lectures Faculty Recitals /sites/default/files/styles/event_featured_image/public/2025-02/May5_New_Cats_to_Old_Cats_WEB.jpg?itok=lfB0P9W7

Kay Kim, piano; Oliver Stark, graduate conductor 

Bienen horn professor emerita Gail Williams (‘76 MMus) gives a farewell performance including her current students, a horn choir, and alumni performers. A member of the Bienen School faculty since 1989, Williams retired from her full-time position in Spring 2022 and has continued to teach part-time at the Bienen School. A member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1978 to 1998, she was also a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago Orchestra and principal horn of the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra. Dedicated to performing and promoting chamber music, Williams is an original member of Summit Brass and founding member of Chicago Chamber Musicians, with whom her recording of Mozart works received a 2006 Grammy nomination. In 2005, she received the Charles Deering McCormick Professor of Teaching Excellence Award from Northwestern.

Ludwig van Beethoven (trans. Alan Civil), Egmont Overture 
J. S. Bach (trans. Lowell Shaw), Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543
Dana Wilson, Naturally, we shall meet again... 
Jean-Michel Damase, Berceuse, Op. 19 
Gunther Schuller, Chanson (Hommage à Darius Milhaud) from Trois Hommages 
Eric Whitacre (arr. Jon Almond), Sleep 
Ralph Vaughan Williams (trans. Norman Schweikert), Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis 

Is Featured 1231240 No On Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid ID. Off https://ci.ovationtix.com/36542/performance/11601708?performanceId=11601708 Yes No Off 1231240 Monday, May 5, 2025 at 7:30pm CDT Pick-Staiger Concert Hall On https://www.music.northwestern.edu/live/pick

Recitals & Lectures Faculty Recitals An Evening of Music for Winds and Strings /sites/default/files/styles/event_featured_image/public/2025-01/side_by_side_website.jpg?itok=tJjb8wcz

Robert Morgan and Carlie Meeker, oboe
Todd Levy and Kathryn Jarvey, clarinet
Dennis Michel and Alexander Lake, bassoon
Gail Williams, Eden Stargardt, and Lily Kern, horn
Kay Kim, piano
Desirée Ruhstrat, violin
Aurélien Pederzoli, viola
David Cunliffe and Joseph Johnson, cello
Andrew Raciti, bass  
Robert Taylor, conductor (Dvořák)

Bienen faculty and student performers come together for a performance featuring music by Antonín Dvořák and Ernst Dohnányi.  

Ernst Dohnányi, Sextet in C Major, Op. 37 
Antonín Dvořák, Serenade for Winds in D Minor, Op. 44, B. 77 

Is Not Featured 1219037 No On Tickets are $8 for the general public and $5 for students with valid ID.

Off https://ci.ovationtix.com/36542/performance/11550117?performanceId=11550117 Yes No Off 1219037 Monday, March 3, 2025 at 7:30pm CST Pick-Staiger Concert Hall On https://www.music.northwestern.edu/live/pick

Bienen Ensembles Studio Ensembles /sites/default/files/styles/event_featured_image/public/2024-08/nov5_brass_web.jpg?itok=5ngV-ydW

Gail Williams, director

Music written and arranged for brass, from small to large ensembles.

Is Not Featured 1208359 No On Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid ID. Off https://ci.ovationtix.com/36542/performance/11503351?performanceId=11503351 Yes No Off 1208359 Tuesday, November 5, 2024 at 7:30pm CST Pick-Staiger Concert Hall Off

Bienen Ensembles Bands /sites/default/files/styles/event_featured_image/public/2024-02/Apr28_Sym_Band_web.jpg?itok=eh-Elm04

Shawn Vondran, conductor; Schyler Adkins, doctoral assistant conductor; Gail Williams, horn

The Symphonic Band’s first performance of the spring quarter includes Sure-fire, a new concerto by Australian composer Catherine Likhuta, featuring faculty soloist Gail Williams. The concerto was written as a lament to the loss of native animal life on the Australian continent during the brushfires of 2019 and 2020. Also on the program is Samuel Barber’s Medea’s Dance of Vengeance, derived from the composer’s ballet suite based on the ancient Greek play by Euripedes.

Ron Nelson, Rocky Point Holiday 
Joel Puckett, a proper goodbye 
Catherine Likhuta, Sure-fire 
Samuel Barber (trans. Frank Hudson), Medea’s Dance of Vengeance, Op. 23a 

Is Featured 1192650 No On Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid ID. Off https://ci.ovationtix.com/36542/performance/11428713?performanceId=11428713 Yes No Off 1192650 Sunday, April 28, 2024 at 3:00pm CDT Pick-Staiger Concert Hall On https://www.music.northwestern.edu/live/20240428

Bienen Ensembles Studio Ensembles /sites/default/files/styles/event_featured_image/public/2024-02/May7_Brass_web.jpg?itok=tYnBqLHw

Gail Williams, director; Aaron DuBois, guest conductor and composer; Schyler Adkins, doctoral assistant conductor; Imran Amarshi, graduate assistant conductor 

Music written and arranged for brass ensemble. 

Aaron DuBois, Brass Caverns 
Einojuhani Rautavaara, A Requiem in Our Time 
Anthony Plog, Music for Brass Octet 
Richard Wagner (arr. Timothy Higgins), Rheingold and Die Walküre from Der Ring des Nibelungen 

Is Not Featured 1192652 No On Tickets are $6 for the general public and $4 for students with valid ID. Off https://ci.ovationtix.com/36542/performance/11428716?performanceId=11428716 Yes No Off 1192652 Tuesday, May 7, 2024 at 7:30pm CDT Pick-Staiger Concert Hall Off

Bienen Ensembles Choirs /sites/default/files/styles/event_featured_image/public/2023-11/feb4_millar_birthday.jpg?itok=Heu4pkJR

Stephen Alltop and Gail Williams, conductors; Alice Millar Chapel Choir; Northwestern University Brass Ensemble; Renaissance Singers; Eric Budzynski, organ 

The Alice Millar Chapel Choir, Renaissance Singers, and Northwestern University Brass Ensemble present a spectacular program for brass and choir, filling the chapel with glorious music including Norman Dello Joio’s Mass for Mixed Chorus, Brass, and Organ and the awe-inspiring In Ecclesiis by Giovanni Gabrieli. 

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No On Tickets are free to the public; a goodwill offering will be accepted. Off Yes Yes On Sunday, February 4, 2024 at 5:00pm CST Alice Millar Chapel Off

Two Bienen students awarded 2023 Luminarts Fellowships

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Master’s horn student Momoko Hasselbring Seko and doctoral piano student Wenting Shi have been named 2023 Fellows in Classical Music by the Luminarts Cultural Foundation.

Talos Brass quintet advances to MTNA finals

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Talos Brass, a quintet of Bienen School of Music master’s students, has advanced to the finals of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) Chamber Music Competition.

Bienen School concert celebrates retiring faculty Steven Cohen and Gail Williams

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Faculty clarinetist Steven Cohen and hornist Gail Williams will perform a final recital together in May before they retire from Northwestern University, culminating a combined 50 years of service.

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2022/04/bienen-school-concert-celebrates-…

Winter Chamber Music Festival lineup includes James Ehnes, Stephanie Blythe

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Performances in the 24th annual Winter Chamber Music Festival include the festival debuts of the Aizuri Quartet, American String Quartet and mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, as well as the return of James Ehnes, Andrew Armstrong and the Dudok Quartet Amsterdam.

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2019/12/winter-chamber-music-festival-lin…
Gail Williams

Gail Williams '76 MMus is an internationally recognized hornist and brass pedagogue.

Learn More

Winter chamber music festival hosts internationally acclaimed artists

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Seven-concert series features treasured classics and compelling new works

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2016/12/winter-chamber-music-festival-201…

Northwestern University Music in November

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A performance by classical guitarist Marcin Dylla and a vocal master class led by mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard will open two year-long concert series as part of a busy November events calendar from the Bienen School of Music.

Horn Symposium features workshops, public concerts

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The Bienen School’s first-ever Horn Symposium will feature three days of workshops as well as two public concerts.

Bienen School Presents Spring Celebration Events

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The world premiere of a commissioned work by David Lang, a performance of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony at the Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park, and a three-day Horn Festival will be performed in honor of the Bienen School’s new Ryan Center for the Musical Arts.

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2016/04/bienen-school-spring-celebration

Bienen School to Host Spring Faculty Recitals

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Chicago Symphony Orchestra flutist Jennifer Gunn, soprano and Cedille recording artist Patrice Michaels, and cellist Anthony Elliott are among the guest artists who will be joining Northwestern University music faculty recitalists this spring.

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2016/03/bienen-school-to-host-spring-facu…

Bienen School’s Winter Chamber Music Festival Celebrates 20 Years

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The Dover Quartet and Jupiter String Quartet are both scheduled to perform during the 20th season of Northwestern University’s annual Winter Chamber Music Festival.

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2015/12/winter-chamber-music

A performance of Beethoven’s woodwind sextet from the November 18, 2015 joint faculty recital.

Bienen faculty will perform with National Brass Ensemble September 20

Three brass faculty members from the Bienen School of Music will perform with the National Brass Ensemble in a special concert at Symphony Center on Sunday, September 20, 2015.

Bienen School of Music to Host Eclectic Lineup of Guest Artists

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The Canadian Guitar Quartet, Israeli-born acoustic and electric cellist Maya Beiser and the Norwegian Brass Ensemble are among the array of guest artists from around the globe who will appear on Northwestern University stages this spring.  

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2015/03/bienen-school-of-music-to-host-ec…

Bienen School to Host 19th Winter Chamber Music Festival

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Northwestern University’s 19th annual Winter Chamber Music Festival will focus on the chamber works of Beethoven, providing an overview of the composer’s music for string quartets and small ensembles. The six-concert series opens Jan. 9 and runs through Jan. 25.

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2014/12/bienen-school-to-host-19th-annual…