Clef Notes

We sat down with Dr. Lisa Nelson, co-founder and executive director of the Illinois Chamber Music Festival held annually at Illinois Wesleyan University. Now in its 23rd year, the festival offers high school and college students the chance to immerse themselves in chamber music-making, with daily coachings, rehearsals, lessons, masterclasses, electives in music theory and history, and performances by world-class faculty. Read on to learn more about the festival, which runs July 13 to August 1.

July 2, 2025, marks 100 years since the death of French avant-garde composer Erik Satie. Largely dismissed as an eccentric in his lifetime, Satie is now regarded as a pioneer of modern music, paving the way for 20th-century harmonies and musical movements such as minimalism and ambient music. Most will know his piano piece Gymnopédie No. 1, but Satie is so much more. Read on to learn more about this one-of-a-kind artist and listen to a survey of his works.

We are pleased to introduce you to Melissa Bialecki Miller, our next John Frayne Classical Music Graduate Student Fellow here at WILL FM 90.9. Mel is a doctoral student at the University of Illinois studying ethnomusicology with a minor in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Read on to learn more about Mel and what she hopes to gain from the fellowship.

On Saturday, April 5, the Heartland Festival Orchestra will present a unique multimedia program called Immersive Sound & Light. Conductor and artistic director David Commanday and artists Doug and Eileen Leunig teamed up to create a one-of-a-kind interaction of sound, light, and space. Copland’s Appalachian Spring, Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll, Vivaldi’s Spring, and Arvo Pärt’s Fratres will be synchronized with imagery and lighting that the Leunigs have designed and curated. We chatted with the creatives behind this project to learn more about how this collaboration came to be and how visual art and music can enhance each other.

The Champaign-Urbana Symphony Orchestra will perform Igor Stravinsky’s modernist masterpiece The Rite of Spring on Saturday, April 12 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. In anticipation of the concert, we thought we’d try to dispel some myths surrounding Stravinsky’s most famous work.

On Friday, April 4, internationally acclaimed concert organist Katelyn Emerson will play a special recital at Wesley United Methodist Church in Urbana. Her concert opens a year of celebratory events in honor of the E. M. Skinner organ’s 100th birthday. Read on to learn more about Emerson, her recital program, and the historic instrument.

Classical Manager Max Ramirez takes us through some exciting additions to our weekend programming on WILL Classical 90.9 FM. Get ready for a healthy dose of choral, organ, and guitar music with the addition of new shows A Joyful Noise, Pipedreams, and Classical Guitar Alive! 

On Sunday, March 2, the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana will present a program of music that is “All About That Brass.” The BACH choir will join forces with the Sycamore Brass Quintet in works by composers spanning the 16th to 21st centuries. TIn addition to pieces for choir and brass, the concert will also include vocal works that feature brass instruments as their subject matter. Read on as we talk with music director Sarah Riskind about the program.

In honor of Women’s History Month, we reviewed The Only Girl in the Orchestra, one of the nominees for Best Documentary Short at the 97th Academy Awards, set to take place on March 2. The film paints an intimate portrait of double bassist Orin O’Brien, the first female full-time musician hired by the New York Philharmonic in 1966. Now 87 and recently retired, O'Brien reflects on her life and career and the fulfillment she has found playing “second fiddle.”

March 3, 2025, marks the 150th anniversary of the premiere of one of the most popular operas of all time: Georges Bizet’s Carmen. While today it is in constant rotation at opera houses around the world—beloved for its memorable tunes and dramatic love story—the opera was not an immediate hit when it premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris. Its poor initial reception may have even exacerbated Bizet’s already frail health. He died at age 36, just three months after the premiere. Read on to learn more about the turbulent beginnings of what is now a timeless classic.