The annual Collage Concert will take place on Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 7:30 p.m. in the Kirkland Fine Arts Center. This great Fall Family Weekend event will feature multiple School of Music ensembles.

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The MDSO will sweep audiences off their feet on the musical winds of Respighi’s Pines of Rome, and astonish them with vivid rhapsodies by Rachmaninov and Gershwin. Featured piano virtuoso Michael Davidman will perform the iconic “Rhapsody in Blue.” Davidman has extended his residence to perform a solo piano recital at Kirkland Fine Arts Center on Thursday, September 20, at 2pm, to showcase the new Steinway grand piano generously donated by David and Norma Fathauer. Tickets will be available for purchase through the Kirkland Ticket Office beginning September 10th.

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Roughly translated, Taiko means big drums-and that’s exactly what Taikoza brings. Big Drums, powerful rhythms, and electrifying, room-thumping energy. This exciting group draws from Japan’s rich tradition of music and performance to create a highly visual performance.

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The Annual Homecoming Concert will be held on Friday, October 5, 2018 at 7:30p.m. in the Kirkland Fine Arts Center. The Millikin Alumni Band and the Millikin Symphonic Wind Ensemble will be lead by guest conductor Stacey (Larson) Dolan’92, and faculty tubist Tim Schlachtschneider.

Millikin alumni return to campus to perform on the Kirkland stage along with the Millikin Symphonic Wind Ensemble. Join fellow alumni during Homecoming weekend 2018 for the annual performance of the Millikin Alumni Band.

Celebrate the Bernstein Centenary with an evening of American art music! This program features all twentieth-century composers whose music together paints a vibrant portrait of what it means to be American. Selections include Charles Ives’s Variations on America as well as Bernstein’s overture to Candide and his Symphonic Dances from West Side Story. Faculty vocalist Ian Greenlaw joins the MDSO for Aaron Copland’s Old American Songs. Tickets will be available for purchase through the Kirkland Ticket Office beginning September 10th.

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​Tickets: $10
Sat Nov 3, 2018, 2:00pm & 7:30pm | Avon Theatre

Transport yourself to the early days of film with the Millikin Chamber Orchestra providing live accompaniment to the classic 1921 silent film, The Kid. As the first full-length feature film to be both directed and starred by Charlie Chaplin, The Kid introduces Chaplin’s essential role as The Tramp, who finds an orphan that will later become his partner in crime. Will the police capture these minor criminals? Will the orphan find his birth parents? Join us to find out!

The Symphonic Wind Ensemble will perform with special guest Peter Steiner on trombone in their concert, Colors for Trombone and Wind Ensemble by Bert Apermont. The concert will take place on Thursday, November 15, 2018 at 7:30 p.m.in the Kirkland Fine Arts Center.

The technical expertise and creative imagination of our students and faculty are on display in a collection of original dance works designed to stimulate our audience’s understanding of art and the value it brings to our community.

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The Langston Hughes Project features Hughes’ homage through music and verse to the struggle for artistic and social freedom of the 1960’s through poetry slam, a live jazz band, and multimedia showcase of the Harlem Renaissance. This is a truly one-of-a-kind event that should not be missed!

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Famed composer-conductor Gustav Mahler believed that “to write a symphony is, for me, to construct a world.” Hear the MDSO and the Millikin Union of Choirs recreate this musical process in their performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. Known as the “Resurrection Symphony,” this monumental piece brings together over 300 performers to celebrate the profound beauty of afterlife and redemption. Tickets will be available to purchase through the Kirkland Ticket Office starting September 10th.

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Dusty is a Toronto kid who loves the music of the 1960’s British Invasion – so much so that he models himself and his band after it. But his dreams of stardom are tested by the real world as he is forced to confront his ideas of love, loyalty, and authenticity in this exciting new musical.

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The Pink Floyd Laser Spectacular has become a cult classic, presenting the music of Pink Floyd like you've never seen it before. Driven by cutting-edge effects, full-color lasers, Hi-Def multi-screen video projection, concert quality sound and lighting effects, your senses are confronted with an array of visual displays, choreographed to the soundtrack of this incredible experience. The Laser Spectacular brings together multiple generations of Pink Floyd fans.

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The MDSO brings its 2018-19 season of rhapsodic stories and American dreams to a brilliant close with Dvorak’s Symphony no. 9, “From the New World.” Inspired by the “wide open spaces” of the prairies and the rich sounds of folk music, Dvorak composed this symphony on commission from the New York Philharmonic to represent uniquely American music. MDSO principal cellist and faculty member Amy Catron will perform Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov’s bold Azul, for cello, obbligato group and orchestra.

The Kirkland Ticket Office will have tickets available for all MDSO performances starting September 10th. For more information on purchasing tickets, please call (217) 424-6318.

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The Percussion Ensemble Masterworks Concert will be held on Friday, May 3, 2019 in the Kirkland Fine Arts Center at 7:30 p.m.

Percussion Ensemble Masterworks showcases the depth and breadth of contemporary percussion chamber music through a program including the genre's leading composers. Senior music majors in percussion will be featured, as well as the world premiere of a new composition as supported by the Percussion Music Commissions Fund.