Clef Notes

Central Illinois is fortunate to be home to a number of stellar professional orchestras, from Danville to Springfield, Champaign-Urbana to Bloomington-Normal. The 2026–27 season is shaping up to be an exciting one. Read on for a full list of concerts. If you're only able to attend one concert this season, Clef Notes Editor Katie Buzard’s top pick for each ensemble.

As we mark the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this year, countless musical organizations are programming concerts dedicated to American music. Many of those musical celebrations of the country’s semiquincentennial will feature music by composer Aaron Copland, especially his most famous work, “Fanfare for the Common Man.” As is often the case with well-known pieces, it’s easy to forget the context in which it was written. Read on for the story behind this iconic piece, which has come to define the “American sound.”

The Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra has just announced the appointment of Matthew Sheppard as the ensemble’s next music director. Sheppard is well known across Illinois as a conductor and educator. In addition to his new post with the MDSO, Sheppard serves as Artistic Director of the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Danville Symphony Orchestra. He has also guest conducted orchestras in North and South America. We spoke with Sheppard to learn more about his plans for the MDSO and how it balances it all.

This summer, Illinois Classical is presenting a series of specials in place of The 21st Show’s slot on Friday evenings. Tune into 90.9FM Fridays at 6pm for specials that run the musical gamut courtesy of PRX, the Public Radio Exchange. 

The Joffrey Ballet concludes its 2025–26 season with the highly anticipated Chicago premiere of Yuri Possokhov’s Eugene Onegin, running June 4–14 at the Lyric Opera House of Chicago. Produced in collaboration with the San Francisco Ballet, Eugene Onegin features an original score by composer Ilya Demutsky. Central Illinoisians may know Demutsky’s work from his time as a George A. Miller Visiting Artist at the University of Illinois’ Center for Advanced Study. Read on for our interview with Demutsky to learn more about his score for Eugene Onegin, his approach to composing for ballet, and his time at the University of Illinois.

On May 1, beloved former WILL employee and local organist Nancy Stagg passed away. She served in various capacities at WILL-FM between 1973 and 1994, including as a broadcast assistant, announcer, producer, program coordinator, music librarian, and music director.

Now in its fourth year, the Five Cities Baroque Festival returns June 16–21, bringing artists from around the region and beyond to perform in venues across central Illinois. This season features Handel’s epic oratorio Israel in Egypt, as well as a recital by renowned harpsichordist Charlotte Mattax Moersch and the festival’s first-ever collaboration with the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana. We spoke with the festival’s founding director and principal conductor, Nate Widelitz, to learn more about this year’s festival.

June 11, 2026, would have been composer Carlisle Floyd’s 100th birthday. The late composer, who died on September 30, 2021, at age 95, was a defining figure of 20th-century American opera, making his mark as both a composer and a librettist with operas that champion American themes, characters, and vernacular music. Read on to learn more about the “Father of American Opera” in his centenary year and to listen to select excerpts from his operas.

In honor of Mother’s Day, we present a playlist of music inspired by mothers and centered on themes of motherhood in its various forms, from lullabies and bedtime stories to poignant remembrances of mothers who have passed.

Millikin Opera Theatre presents Pauline Viardot’s Cinderella on May 1–3, co-produced with the School of Theatre & Dance, School of Music, and Millikin-Decatur Symphony Orchestra at the Virginia Rogers Theatre. We spoke with director Aubrey Hawkinson, Lecturer in Opera and Voice at Millikin University, to learn more about the opera and its composer.