Wind Ensemble concert, set for March 1, offers a nod to 150 years of Conservatory of Music history

The latest performance celebrating the 150-year history of Lawrence University’s Conservatory of Music will come courtesy of the LU Wind Ensemble, directed by Ceon Rumphs, instructor of music.

The performance, "Homegrown: Celebrating the 150th,” features commissions and other special works with a nod to the Conservatory’s past and present. It is set for 7:30 p.m. March 1 in Memorial Chapel. The concert is free and open to the public.

Alumni and former Conservatory faculty members with ties to the pieces being performed will be in attendance.

“The Conservatory has been a home for students, faculty, and musicians for 150 years,” Rumphs said. “The legacy we all enjoy now is because of the labor of those who came before us. It’s our honor and privilege to present this concert as a small tribute to them.”

Concerts celebrating the brilliance of the Conservatory have been presented throughout the 2024-25 academic year and will continue through the end of Spring Term. The Conservatory debuted in 1874, launched with a single faculty member. It has grown over the past century and a half into the celebrated music conservatory it is today. With more than 25 areas of study, 360 students currently pursuing one of three music degree options (plus a possible dual degree), and 48 full-time and 23 part-time faculty, the Conservatory prepares students for music careers of today and tomorrow.

The Wind Ensemble will lean into all of that as it presents its Winter Term concert. Works to be performed include:

• Arclight Alley: Composed by alumnus David Werfelmann '06, this piece was commissioned by Andrew Mast and the Lawrence University Wind Ensemble. Mast is currently serving as the associate dean for the Conservatory. Werfelmann, an award-winning composer of instrumental, vocal, and electronic music, will attend the concert, Rumphs said.
• My Robin is to the Greenwood Gone: Composed by Percy Grainger, this selection was arranged for wind ensemble by Fred Sturm '73, the former director of jazz and improvisational music at Lawrence. In the notes to the piece, Sturm dedicates the work to Fred Schroeder, the first director of bands at Lawrence from 1951 to 1978. The Wind Ensemble’s performance will honor both the legacies of Sturm and Schroeder.
• Trilogy for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble: It is composed by John Harmon ’57, the first director of the jazz program. Nadje Noordhuis, assistant professor of music in the Conservatory, will be featured on trumpet. The first movement of this work was initially conceived as a surprise gift to Robert Levy, director of bands at Lawrence from 1979 to 2004. Levy will attend the concert. Harmon's attendance is pending, Rumphs said.
• Songs Without Words: This piece is a nod to Lawrence's love of Wisconsin. Composed by Charles Rochester Young, it was commissioned by 12 Wisconsin universities and is dedicated to James Arrowood, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. Additionally, the composer was on the faculty at UW-Stevens Point and remains friends with many faculty members at the Conservatory, Rumphs said.
• City of Ambition: As another nod to Lawrence's ties to Wisconsin, this piece by Wisconsin composer Theresa Martin will be featured. Martin maintains an active clarinet studio in Wisconsin. She will attend the concert.