Jacobs’ elite performs free of charge

The Jacobs School of Music puts on more than 1,100 performances per year in different venues, but only a select few are held at the Musical Arts Center.

“Live and Free at the MAC” returned Monday, giving people more opportunities to see some of the best music ensembles on campus a few times each week. The music series kicked off Monday with the Jazz Ensemble.

Today’s and Wednesday’s performances will be the Wind Ensemble and the Symphony Orchestra, respectively. No tickets are required, and everyone is welcome to attend.

Arthur Fagen, professor of instrumental conducting and conductor of the Symphony Orchestra, said he stresses the importance of taking advantage of the arts and supporting peers.

“These students not only have talent, but they have tremendous knowledge and enthusiasm for music,” he said. “They infuse that in the life of the music. It’s really a live and thrilling experience.”

David Baker, chair of the jazz studies program, directed Monday night’s program.
“With such varied conductors, programs could end up being a potpourri of pieces, or it could be a themed concert,” Baker said. “It all depends on what each new conductor brings to the table.”

Baker said the time student musicians spend in these concerts is vital to their success.

“We try to get our players dialed in to every performance, and we try to protect the opportunities we create for our students,” he said. “When you have 90 minutes for a concert and there are so many players deserving of these opportunities, that becomes precious time.”

Tuesday’s Wind Ensemble performance, directed by Department Chair of Bands Stephen Pratt, will open with a bang. The ensemble will perform a Big Ten Commission world premiere of composer James Primosch’s “Forms of Light” and the world premiere of the wind ensemble version of composer Anthony Plog’s “Concerto for Two Trumpets and Wind Ensemble.”

Plog will attend the performance, and IU faculty members John Rommel and Joey Tartell will perform.

“It is exciting doing some of these very challenging pieces with our faculty soloists,” Pratt said. “It is always exciting to give our students the opportunity to play with our faculty members, who are world-renowned performers.”

This week’s series will close with the Symphony Orchestra playing the first-ever performance of graduate composition student Ting-Yi Ma’s “Song in the Wind.” They will also play Bizet’s “L’Arlésienne: Suite No. 2” and Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathétique’.”

“The idea of melancholy and yearning is present in both ‘Song in the Wind’ and Tchaikovsky’s ‘Pathétique’,” and I did choose the two to suit each other,” Fagen said. “But programming at IU is not only conceptual programming. We want to expose our students to repertoire they will need to be familiar with when they get out into the world.”

Fagen said he strongly encourages all students to be involved in music, whether in the classroom or at a live concert.

“It is a chance to have a great time,” he said. “And they might be very pleasantly surprised by what they hear.”