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.
The percussion studio is made up of a diverse group of students from a variety of backgrounds. The studio of approximately twenty-five includes undergraduate students majoring in music performance, education and composition and graduate students in the masters, performance diploma and doctoral programs.
The percussion studio attracts and works with a diverse group of students studying music performance, education, and composition at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Students perform in state-of-the-art, prominent venues at MSU and within the College. All studio members can participate in the MSU Percussion Ensemble—a chamber group devoted to new and classic repertoire. The ensemble has performed at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and the Blue Griffin Recital Series. Esteemed guest artists regularly mentor and perform with the group.
Conducted by Octavio Más-Arocas, the MSU Symphony Orchestra closes the season with an energetic program featuring Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier Suite, Contreras’s Mariachitlán, Simon’s Hellfighters’ Blues, Ravel’s Boléro, and a student-composed Sam and Mary Austin Fanfare.
Members of MSU’s Percussion Ensemble explore the vibrant drumming traditions of the African Diaspora, performing traditional Congolese and Cuban rhythms on culturally unique instruments.
The MSU Wind Symphony joins forces with more than 200 singers from MSU’s Choral Union, State Singers, and University Chorale for a large-scale concert featuring the music of acclaimed composer and conductor Jake Runestad.
An afternoon showcasing wind ensemble versatility with Bernstein’s Slava!, Profanation, and BSO Forever, plus works by Chambers, Yagisawa, Piunno, Sousa, and Newman, conducted by Dana Sedatole and David Thornton.
Multi-GRAMMY nominated artist returns as MSU Federal Credit Union Jazz Artist in Residence.
Kevin Jones releases long-awaited album and reflects on teaching, learning from his students, and what matters most.
Music Education students lead the Spartan Marching Band as drum majors.
A life of giving leads to significant support for percussion at MSU.