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Music faculty Laura Lane directs the Knox College Choir in concert.

Music

Contact Us

Joan Campbell Huguet

Chair and Associate Professor of Music

2 East South Street

Galesburg, IL 61401

309-341-7643

jchuguet@​knox.edu

Submit Your Deposit
Envelopes filled with lyrics for the choir.

Major
Ethnomusicology Minor
Jazz/Popular Studies Minor
Musicology Minor
Performance Minor
Theory/Composition Minor

How we work:

1. We come together to make great things happen. The Knox Jazz Ensemble tours internationally, records regularly, and hosts the annual Knox Rootabaga Jazz Festival and the Jerome Mirza Jazz Residency. The Knox College Choir has performed in Carnegie Hall, toured France, Italy, and Spain, and recently released a new CD.

2. We invite the world in. The department hosts world-class artists year-round. Our Jerome Mirza Jazz Residency brings renowned performers to campus, where they teach master classes and individual tutorials, participate in intensive workshops, and produce a concert with Knox student jazz musicians. 

3. We work at the frontier. The 2019 Cherry Street Combo recently released Patchwork, an album of original compositions and arrangements, recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, during spring break 2019. Every year our students and faculty premiere new works, produce new scholarship, and collaborate on inspiring, unexpected new projects. Students engage in unique collaborative programs abroad like Knox in Cuba or Ghana.

4. You don't have to major in music at Knox. At Knox, you don’t have to major in music to be recognized for music scholarships or to continue performing at an extraordinarily high level.

5. We combine music with other fields of study. Dakota Stipp ’17 wrote software to connect a Myo armband to a digital audio workstation so he could use gesture to compose and perform electronic music. Lily Gaetgaeow ’15 combined clarinet performance, sociology, and ethnomusicology to examine the history and performance practice of Klezmer clarinet. John Cusimano ’13 studied music and neuroscience for his senior capstone project. Stephanie Campbell ’14 used her knowledge in both educational studies and music to explore music as a rehabilitation tool.

6. We keep growing. And that translates into a wider and wider range of student opportunities. Knox’s music composition program provides coursework and project experience in digital and acoustic composition for film, TV, video games, podcasting, and beyond. In fall 2019, the department debuted a new state-of-the-art digital composition and keyboard classroom and lab.

7. Our grads find success. Samantha Burgess '19 is pursuing both performance and scholarship, earning degrees in both orchestral conducting and music cognition. Trey Stone ’93 is a pianist with Second City in Chicago. Jake Hawrylak ’13, Samuel Brownson ’12, and Oliver Horton ’12 released their first studio album in 2017. Josh Calef ’14 recently completed a master’s degree in jazz performance at the University of North Texas. Dy’Anna Augustus ’17 is completing a graduate degree program in audio production in York, England. 

8. We give the opportunity to explore music from a variety of perspectives. We offer five different minors of music. The music theory minor explores the structural workings of music from composition to performance. Ethnomusicology and musicology minors both investigate the diverse ways music reflects and shapes societies across time. The jazz and popular studies minor will travel through the histories, cultural traditions, and genres of music. Also, our music minors will all have the opportunity to further customize their studies with specialized music skills workshops. Finally, you will find our performance minor offers a robust variety of ensemble opportunities and individual performance.

32%

Music Alumni Working in Related Field

Knox College Music Department Events 2022-2023

All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted!

Spring 2023

Jazz Night
Every Thursday night 7:00-10:00pm March 23rd-June 1st
Galesburg Community Arts Center

Knox College Choir Home Tour Concert
Friday, March 24, 7:30pm
Kresge Recital Hall

Works for Piano and Clarinet 
Jill Marasa and Nancy Ohlbach
Saturday, March 25th, 7pm
Kresge Recital Hall


Armenian Folk Singing Workshop 
with Hasmik Harutyunyan
Wednesday, March 29th, 10:40am-11:50am
Jay Rehearsal Hall, CFA


Armenian Dance Workshop
with Hasmik Harutyunyan
Wednesday, March 29th, 8pm
Oak Room, Seymour Union

Knox Jazz Ensemble Concert with the ROWVA HS Jazz Band
Thursday, April 6th, 6pm
Galesburg Community Arts Center

David Kim Recital
Sunday, April 16, 2pm
Kresge Recital Hall

Nova Singers
Saturday, April 22nd, 7:30pm
First Lutheran Church Galesburg
Tickets available at the door or contact nova@knox.edu

The Knox College Choir, Galesburg Community Chorus, and Monmouth College
Mendelssohn’s Elijah
Saturday, May 6th, 7:30pm
Central Congregational Church

Rootabaga Jazz Festival 
Lenard Simpson and the John Tate Trio School Tour group
Tuesday, May 9, 7:00pm
Knoxville High School

Galesburg Junior High, ROWVA, Canton HS, John Tate Solo Set
and the Cherry St Combo
Wednesday, May 10, 6pm
Galesburg Community Arts Center
Admission: $3/Knox Students free with ID

Faculty and Friends Combo
Thursday, May 11, 7:00pm-10:00pm
Galesburg Community Arts Center 
Admission: $5/Knox Students free with ID

Friday, May 12th
John Tate Trio ft. Lenard Simpson
Galesburg High School Big Band
Knox Alumni Big Band
Admission: $10/Knox Students free with ID

Rootabaga Kids: John Tate Trio ft Lenard Simpson
Saturday, May 13th, 10:00am
Galesburg Public Library

The Bill Frisell Trio
and the Knox Jazz Ensemble
Saturday, May 13th, 7pm
Orpheum Theatre
Free floor & balcony seats • $20 reserved mezzanine

Piano Chamber Ensemble Spring Concert
Sunday, May 21st, 3pm
Kresge Recital Hall

General Student Recitals
Monday, May 22nd, 4pm
Kresge Recital Hall

General Student Recitals
Monday, May 23nd, 4pm
Kresge Recital Hall

Knox Rocks
Tuesday, May 23rd, 7pm
Galesburg Community Arts Center

Chamber Winds and Chamber Brass Fall Concert
Wednesday, May 24th, 7pm
Kresge Recital Hall

String Ensemble Concert
Thursday, May 25th, 5:30pm
Kresge Recital Hall

Enharmonic Fire and Tritones
Thursday, May 25th, 7:30pm
Kresge Recital Hall

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Professor Laura Lane directs a Knox College Choir concert.
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https://www.knox.edu/academics/majors-and-minors/music

Printed on Sunday, March 26, 2023