Student Chamber Ensembles
Chamber ensembles are an integral component of students' ensemble experience and, as such, are integral to each music degree program. Chamber ensembles are both standing organizations--the brass choir, chamber choir, percussion ensemble, etc.--and ad hoc creations which enable students to gain experience in the diverse repertoire of mixed and homogeneous instrumentations. Chamber ensembles are open to students either through competitive audition or as an adjunct experience in applied music. |
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BASSically Brass is the tuba-euphonium ensemble at UW-Eau Claire. This ensemble is an extension of the tuba-euphonium studio and offers students the opportunity to perform both original and transcribed pieces for their instruments. The ensemble has earned an outstanding reputation for its virtuosity and musicianship and has performed at a national tuba-euphonium conference at the University of Kentucky in 1994. BASSically Brass performs an on-campus concert each semester and sponsors the annual low brass concert series, OctubaFest. Cane Mutiny, UW-Eau Claire’s Bassoon Ensemble, was founded in the fall of 2000. The group's name is a play on words that refers not only to Herman Wouk's famous novel, The Caine Mutiny, but also to bassoon reed cane and the mutinous relationship a bassoonist often feels toward his reed. Cane Mutiny performs original and transcribed pieces for bassoons, and occasionally invites other instrumentalists to join them in concert. Chamber ensembles, focusing on traditional trio, quartet, and quintet repertoire, are organized each semester for students in the string and wind studios. Music utilizing both homogeneous and mixed instrumentation is studied and performed. Additionally, a flute choir, clarinet choir, and trombone choir are offered as an extension of the flute, clarinet, and trombone studios, enabling students to gain additional repertoire experience on those instruments. These ensembles are an extension of the percussion studio, offering students an opportunity to study and perform music in a wide variety of percussion instrumentations. The Percussion and Marimba Ensembles present a public on-campus concert each semester. An ensemble focusing on African drumming techniques also is offered in conjunction with Percussion Ensemble. The Chamber Choir is offered each fall semester and is open to qualified singers by audition. The approximately 16 member ensemble concentrates on the solo and small ensemble literature of the late 16th and early 17th-century English, French, and Italian traditions. Each December the Chamber Choir performs in a madrigal dinner, complete with costumes, seasonal music, and a lavish re-creation of a royal Christmas court. The piano and voice ensembles are created for advanced students seeking degrees in piano and voice performance. Each ensemble concentrates on technical and interpretive issues associated with performing small ensemble repertoire in these media. |
