Featured Events

2023 Millikin Community Arts Academy Piano Camp

Millikin Community Arts Academy is pleased to offer its 8th Summer Piano Camp for students age 12 and up, including adult students! Over the course of six days, intermediate to advanced students will have the opportunity to refine their skills at our all-Steinway school under the guidance of Dr. Pei-I Wang and Dr. Chung-Ha Kim. Activities include masterclasses, private lessons, pedagogical presentations, collaborative piano, faculty and student recitals, and competition opportunities. This camp will conclude with a formal student gala recital in Kaeuper Hall, which will be open to the public. Additionally, participants will have a chance to enter the MCAA Piano Camp Competition and compete for awards and a $1000 four-year renewable Millikin Music Scholarship. The competition includes junior, senior, piano ensemble, and concerto categories. The registration deadline is July 10, 2023.

MCAA Piano Camp Competition Rules

Click here for schedule!

Complete this Repertoire Survey!

Cost: $600 for boarders, $375 for commuters.

The camp will take place July 23-29, 2023.

Click here to Register

2017 PIANO CAMP SLIDESHOW   2018 PIANO CAMP SLIDESHOW   2022 Piano Camp Slideshow

Instructors

A captivating and versatile pianist, Dr. Pei-I Wang is Assistant Professor of Piano and Coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois. She serves as Principal Keyboardist at the Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra and Acting Principal Keyboardist at the Illinois Symphony Orchestra. Wang holds a DMA in Piano Performance and Literature, and a MM in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a MA in Piano Performance from Soochow University, under the tutelage of Dr. Ian Hobson, Dr. Rolf-Peter Wille, Dr. Daming Zhu, and Prof. Dennis Helmrich. Click here to learn more.

Dr. Chung-Ha Kim was born and raised in Germany. She moved to New York where she completed a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Dr. Marc Silverman. She subsequently earned a Master of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Dr. Kim was named a Steinway Artist in 2014 and became a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music in 2016. Click here to learn more.

Millikin University Brass Day

featuring guest artist

Will Russell, Boston Brass tubist

Saturday, Febuaruary 25, 2023
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

An engaging and educational event for high school brass players, including:

Group Warm Up
Jazz Improvisation Clinic
Participant Brass Choir
Guest Recital with Will Russell

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Registration is $20 and includes lunch and participation. Please bring check to Millikin University or cash to be collected upon arrival. 
Special thanks to The Music Shoppe for their generous sponsorship!

William is the newest member of Boston Brass, a band whose entertaining blend of chamber music, jazz, and educational outreach is a perfect fit for a tuba player equally at home with Bach and bebop. William has performed across the US in venues from the Corn Palace to Carnegie Hall, and has toured in Europe with both the Chicago Symphony and the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. William can be heard on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s Grammy-winning 2008 recording of Shostakovich’s 4th Symphony, and if you look hard enough you might spot him acting as a background musician in the episode “Slave to Memory” from 20th Century Fox’s television series Empire. When not on the road with Boston Brass, William teaches tuba and euphonium at Northeastern Illinois University, performs with the New Orleans-inspired High Hat Second Line, and is a member of the virtuosic Brass Band of Battle Creek. 

Millitrax Playhouse Weekend

YOU are invited to Millitrax Playhouse Weekend!  

What is it?  

A chance to live with the level of engagement that a Music Industry Studies (Commercial Music or Music Business) major will experience for four years.  Over the course of the weekend, you will

• Record and market a pop music recording
• Engage with Music Industry Studies faculty and the best students in the program
• Stay for a night with a host student from Music Industry Studies
• Engage in a reflective closure conversation, informed by the weekend's activities, on the process of producing and marketing popular music and how you can prepare for a career in music 

Here's the Important Stuff

• WHEN: TBA
• WHO:  TBA
• AUDITION INFORMATION:  TBA 
• RSVP:  TBA
• ACCOMMODATIONS:  TBA
• PREPARATION:  TBA

Are you in?  Have more questions?

Contact David Burdick
ph: 217.424-6346
mtxplayhouse@millikin.edu

The Hollis Prize

First awarded in 2003, the Hollis Prize represents the highest form of recognition bestowed upon a vocal or instrumental performer at Millikin University. The Hollis prize is unique among undergraduate music competitions in light of its recital performance format and rigorous audition process.

Students compete in a semi-final round in order for the chance to compete before a live audience in the final round event. The winner of the final round receives a monetary award of $2000 and an opportunity to perform a solo recital at the Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin; runners up each receive a cash award of $500.

The annual competition is made possible by Dr. C. Kimm Hollis, a 1972 Millikin graduate and retired department chair, Professor of Music, and Artist in Residence Emeritus at Hanover College in Hanover, IN.

This year's Winner:

Risako is a sophomore exchange student from Tokyo, Japan, currently studying piano at the School of Music under the tutelage of Dr. Pei-I Wang. 

Risako was joined by fellow Hollis Prize student finalists senior Spencer Domer in Voice and sophomore Julia Funck in Clarinet at the Hollis Prize Competition Recital on April 1. 

Click Here To See The Full Article

Click Here To See The Complete List Of Winners

Millikin’s most beloved event returns signaling the beginning of the holiday season with a sumptuous evening of carols, choirs and candlelight. Over 200 musicians join for this joyous musical feast.  Songs from past centuries combined with familiar carols and arrangements create an evening of seasonal warmth for the whole family.

Saturday, December 3
KFAC
2:00 & 7:30pm 

Sunday, December 4
KFAC
2:00 & 7:30pm     

Tickets: $15/10 

Available at KFAC Ticket Office (424-6318) or online 

Millikin's Vocal Jazz Festival is back Saturday, March 9th, 2024. Join us for a non-competitive festival of jazz featuring excellent clinicians, community and a special performance from Millikin's own OneVoice. 

OneVoice

OneVoice is the flagship ensemble of the vocal jazz program at Millikin University. The group has been invited to perform at various educational conferences and collegiate jazz festivals in the United States, including the American Choral Director’s Association (ACDA) international convention [2008], Jazz Educator’s Network [2012 & 2016], ACDA Central Division Conference [2002 & 2012], IAJE international convention in New York City (2001) and San Diego (1989), and six times at the Illinois State Music Educator's Association state conference in Peoria. OneVoice has traveled and performed in the Dominican Republic four times, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and twice in Santiago, Chile. Over the years, OneVoice has consistently been recognized as one of the premier collegiate vocal jazz groups in the United States, most recently by DownBeat Magazine in its June 2017 issue. OneVoice's seventh recording, Otono, is available on iTunes.and Spotify. Recordings from last year can be heard on our Facebook page.

September 24-25th, 2023

The Millikin Vocal Festival is an event designed to inject excitement into your students early in the school year with a Festival Choir experience. Join us for two days of singing, concerts from Millikin choirs, and fun!

Click Here To Register! 

Meet our Festival Conductors

Dr. Benjamin Hawkinson

Dr. Edith Copley

Dr. Edith A. Copley is a regents’ professor emeritus at Northern Arizona University. During her 31-year tenure at NAU in Flagstaff, she conducted the Shrine of the Ages Choir, Chamber Singers, and University Singers, and taught courses in undergraduate and graduate conducting, secondary choral methods, and graduate choral literature. Prior to her NAU appointment, Copley taught secondary choral music in the Iowa and later in Vienna, Austria at the American International School. Copley has received numerous honors, including the Northern Arizona University Centennial Teacher of the Year, Arizona Music Educator of the Year, The Weston H. Noble Award from her alma mater, Luther College, and most recently, the Arizona ACDA Lifetime Achievement Award. She is in high demand as a guest conductor and clinician in the US and abroad. Copley has conducted all-state choirs in over 30 states, national honor choirs in major concert halls in the US, and international choral festivals in Germany, the Netherlands, Japan, Luxembourg, Tasmania, England, Australia, China, Oman, Turkey, Ireland, and Austria. She has served the American Choral Directors Association in various leadership roles over the last 30 years and is currently ACDA National Vice President.

About our Festival

Festival Choir

This choir takes more than 200 students from zero to performance in just over 28 hours. Through top tier teaching, support from our Millikin students, and pure musical excitement, the students are brought to a musical mountain top. Students return home ready to take on the new school year!

Vocal Coaching

Students can select to sign up for 10-minute 1-on-1 vocal coaching with our distinguished voice faculty.

Solo Competition

This solo competition grows out of the vocal coaching sessions. A cash awards will be given to the top 3 singers who also have the honor of performing that evening on the Festival 

Finale Concert! 

Directors Events

Directors will be provided with opportunities to reconnect with colleagues, and earn professional development credit by attending sessions from our distinguished faculty, rehearsal observation, and singing in the Director’s Chorus.

Monday, October 24th 2022

Kirkland Fine Arts Center

We are proud to announce the 2023 Millikin High School Honor Band to take place on Monday, Oct. 23rd in the Kirkland Fine Arts Center at Millikin. This year we welcome educator and conductor Stacy Dolan Larson, a 1992 Millikin University graduate, to serve as the guest conductor of the Honor Band and the Millikin Symphonic Wind Ensemble.  Mrs. Larson Dolan is the Dean of Undergraduate Studies and Associate Director of Bands at VanderCook College of Music where she teaches music education and conducting courses and also directs bands at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Students will not only have a chance to rehearse and perform with other talented young musicians from across the region, but they will also take part in masterclasses with Millikin faculty and participate in a forum about possibilities for being a music student in college.

Click Here to Register!

Meet our Festival Clinician and Featured Guests!