For current students: Fall 2024 Ensembles Audition Information
A wide variety of performance opportunities await our students each year, with orchestras, bands, choirs and opera, jazz nonets and combos, small ensembles, and more.
A variety of programs and initiatives operate continuously or annually to enhance learning experiences and help students prepare for their future in music.
The MSU College of Music supports and challenges students, values innovation and creativity, and helps every community member achieve professional excellence.
Music is a universal language, and the College of Music values every opportunity to interact and learn from musicians around the world. Our faculty create these opportunities for our students, and over decades they have led education abroad programs that have enriched the student experience.
In all international experiences, MSU musicians have been able to explore these locations, from large city centers to the countryside. These formal excursions, most of which include for-credit courses, are in addition to international trips that sometimes present wonderful opportunities to expand musical horizons. The Jazz Studies Area, for example, took a two-week trip to Japan where they engaged with a vibrant Japanese jazz scene, and the Spartan Marching Band traveled to Austria and wowed large crowds with their expertise.
The education abroad opportunities shared here may be on hiatus or in active planning stages. Students should contact their primary professor about opportunities for international travel.
Directed by Assistant Professor Tasha Warren, MSU’s Chamber Music Study Abroad Program rotates locations every two to three years. In each location, students and faculty mentors perform and share music together with audiences in a variety of formal and informal concert experiences that form the framework of a tour exploring the country’s culture, history, and geography.
Previous MSU Chamber Music Study Abroad programs have traveled to Spain, India, and Israel, exploring such treasures as the Taj Majal, ancient and modern temples, Indian traditional music and dance, Flamenco, Klezmer, Masada, Western Wall, the Mediterranean and Dead Sea, and so many others. The next program is projected to occur in Greece in July 2025.
In Todi, Italy, faculty from the College of Music have partnered with the Centro Studi Carlo Della Giacoma to allow MSU students to participate in master classes and perform in a concert series. The host is a cultural association founded in 1998 and named for the composer, musicologist, and conductor Carlo Della Giacoma that provides our students with firsthand knowledge of Italian culture and language.
In China, a vocal collaboration between our college, the China Conservatory of Music, and the Tianjin Conservatory of Music has allowed students from both countries to sing with one another, learn about each other’s cultures, and perform together in East Lansing and China.
A faculty-directed program called “Music Performance in Ireland” involved a partnership the Royal Irish Academy of Music. The first trip, organized with the MSU Office for Education Abroad, took place in 2017 and was described by MSU flute studio students as energizing.
Havana, Cuba is yet another location that College of Music students have experience. In past years, our college has teamed up with the MSU College of Social Science in collaboration with Colegio San Geronimo, University of Havana, Oficina del Historiador to offer “Music and Sustainable Development.” Through workshops, performances, and other activities, students have enjoyed Cuba’s rich culture, studied music and national identity, and learned about music and entrepreneurship.