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.
All are welcome to this inclusive chamber concert tailored for individuals on the autism spectrum or with sensory sensitivities, featuring interactive music activities, audience mobility, noise-making, and a quiet room for comfort.
MSU’s Percussion Ensemble presents a dynamic program of contemporary works, showcasing a wide range of sounds and textures through varied instrumentation.
The Concert Orchestra presents a program centered on Margaret Bonds’ Montgomery Variations and Respighi’s Belkis, Regina di Saba, pairing music inspired by the civil rights movement with the legendary story of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon, alongside Philharmonic Fanfare by Gina Gillie.
The program, conducted by Arris Golden, features Tuttarana by Reena Esmail, Second Suite in F by Gustav Holst, Resting in the Peace of His Hands by John Gibson, Fallingwater at Twilight by James David, and His Honor by Henry Fillmore.
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.
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.