From handbells to the Brass Band and Opera Workshop, the Department of Music’s ensembles provide a fun and excellent opportunity for you to develop as a musician by learning from expert faculty and performing on campus, in our community, and around the world.
Opportunities include:
Music Department
(859) 858-3511, x 2250
JaneMargaret.Childress@asbury.edu
Ensembles are open by audition to all students at Asbury. Students not majoring in music are encouraged to enroll in music courses and to participate in the choral and instrumental ensembles. Music majors, for whom a primary ensemble is required, must participate in that primary ensemble for the first 75% of the total ensemble semesters required for the degree.
The Asbury University Chorale is an auditioned SATB vocal ensemble. Repertoire choices for the group consist of challenging literature from various style periods. Our main objective is to glorify God through the performance of the best of choral literature.
The Chorale supplements its on-campus performance schedule with occasional off-campus events and tours, both national and international. Since 2007, the Chorale has completed five international tours, and singers have performed at venues such as St. Peter’s Basilica and the Cathedral of St. Ignatius in Rome, Italy, as well as Wells Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.
In May of 2009, the Chorale completed a week-long residency at Gloucester Cathedral in England, and presented a concert at Bath Abbey during the prestigious Bath Music Festival. A fifth tour was completed in May of 2019, when Asbury singers toured Italy and performed in Florence, Rome, and Palestrina – including this performance at Rome’s Chiesa di Sant’Ignazio di Loyola in Campo Marzio.
Director: Prof. Isaac Brooks
The Asbury University Concert Band is open to all qualified students by audition. Dr. Glen Flanigan, Coordinator of Instrumental Studies at Asbury University, conducts the Concert Band, which performs both on and off campus and occasionally undertakes a touring ministry to churches and schools in various cities throughout the United States.
Director: Dr. Glen Flanigan
The Men’s Glee Club is open to all male students without an audition. It ministers in Chapel several times during the year, and performs on and off campus concerts. The Asbury University Men’s Glee Club continues to be a wonderful ensemble for men to share in each other’s lives and spread their joy of the Lord to others through song!
Director: Dr. Mark Schell
The Asbury University Women’s Choir is open to all female students, faculty and staff by audition. The group rehearses Monday and Wednesday afternoons and performs both on and off campus.
The Asbury University Orchestra is a dynamic and vibrant part of campus life. The orchestra seeks to engage the community by playing a wide range of musical styles in a variety of venues to connect great music to as many people as possible. Since the fall of 2014, the orchestra has performed music by the likes of Beethoven, Bach, Any Beach, Holst, Florence Price, Mozart, Tchaikovsky, and Copland among other classical composers as well as music from movie soundtracks like Star Wars, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, and the video games like Zelda and Mario Brothers. You can find the orchestra performing in places like Hughes Auditorium, Wesley Village Retirement Center, as well as in the Student Center to an audience of students on couches.
On November 30, 2018, the Orchestra performed with Grammy-nominated and Dove award-winning singer Jaci Velasquez, and on March 7, 2019, the orchestra performed a concert featuring Camille Saint-Saëns’ Symphony No. 3, known as the “Organ Symphony.” In April, 2021, the orchestra will perform Ravel’s orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition.
Director: Dr. Nathan Miller
The Wesley Memorial Handbell Choir is named in honor of Charles Wesley and was founded in 1980 following the generous gift of 6 octaves of Schulmerich bells by Rev. and Mrs. Arthur Summers Clark in commemoration of their 50th class reunion. The choir primarily plays advanced literature (levels 4-6) of widely varying styles and consists of 12-15 highly gifted and energetic members.
The handbell choir loves to perform on-campus concerts, as well as off-campus concerts. The group hosts a semi-annual handbell festival on campus. Concert venues each year include retirement villages, local churches, and chapel services.
This handbell choir is open to all students by audition. Come and be a part of all the fun!
The Asbury University Jazz Ensemble performs frequently at concerts and events on campus as well as at off-campus venues, such as jazz festivals, churches and schools. The ensemble is available to qualified students via audition.
Chamber Ensembles at Asbury University are student-led, faculty coached ensembles. Many of these groups place students alongside professional musicians to practice in perform in ways that prepare students for future success! In a Chamber Ensemble, you will learn to develop leadership skills while performing in a small group that will cultivate your musical gifts. Each chamber group performs in formal and informal concert settings each semester.
Ensembles are formed based upon student interest and therefore can vary from year to year.
Recent Chamber Ensembles
For more information, please contact Dr. Nathan Miller.
The Brass Band at Asbury University is an extra-curricular ensemble that is funded in collaboration with the Salvation Army Student Fellowship (SASF). One of the oldest collegiate brass bands in the United States, the Asbury University SASF brass band has been performing on campus, and around the country since the 1950s. The brass band maintains a complete set of professional quality brass band instruments and is open to all students.
Each semester, the brass band goes on a weekend concert tour. Recent destinations have included: Chicago, Boston, Houston, Milwaukee, Washington DC, Memphis, St. Louis, Dayton, Atlanta, among others.
The Brass Band Institute at Asbury University exists for the promotion, both artistic and pedagogic, of Brass Bands in the United States, with the intention to enable and empower people throughout the country to engage in meaningful community music-making within a Brass Band. Asbury’s brass band is one of the longest-standing collegiate brass bands (founded in 1954) in the United States, and its faculty, students, and alumni have been a vital part of the American brass band movement. This history and its location in the heart of America’s brass band country make Asbury ideally suited to house the Brass Band Institute.
On February 22-24, 2024 outstanding high school band members from Kentucky, Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, etc. will come to Asbury University to to participate in the 45th Annual All-Star Band Clinic. The Asbury University Music Department invites high school band musicians to apply to participate in the clinic, and participating students will stay in campus housing, take part in rehearsals and clinics, attend concerts by university ensembles and perform in the culminating concert in Asbury’s Hughes Auditorium.
For more information, contact Dr. Glen Flanigan or call (859) 858-3511, x2308.
Apply online to participate in the All-Star Band
Download paper application to participate in the All-Star Band (send completed form via mail)
Band Clinic Schedule
Michael Golemo has been the Director of Bands and University Professor of Music at Iowa State University since 1999. From 2005 to 2017, he also served as the Chair of the Department of Music & Theatre. In addition to conducting the Wind Ensemble and the Symphonic Band, he teaches courses in conducting and oversees a program of eleven bands.
Under his direction, the Iowa State University Wind Ensemble has performed five times for the Iowa Bandmasters Association conventions. They have performed in Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis’ Orchestra Hall, and Omaha’s Holland Center for the Performing Arts. They have had eight performing tours in Europe with performances in Paris, Brussels, Vienna, Prague, Rome, London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Florence, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Munich, and Stüttgart. In 2016, the Wind Ensemble performed for the College Band Directors National Association and the National Band Association North Central Division Conference that was held at Iowa State.
A native of Chicago, he received his Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music degrees from Northwestern University where he studied conducting with John Paynter and saxophone with Frederick Hemke. He completed his doctorate in wind conducting at Michigan State University. He previously served as Assistant Director of Bands at The University of Akron (OH) and prior to that as Director of Bands at Albion College (MI).
With over 400 instrumental arrangements, transcriptions, and compositions to his credit, Dr. Golemo has had works performed by a variety of performers and ensembles – from Carnegie Hall to Russia – including Louie Bellson, Wynton Marsalis, Anita Baker, Simon Estes, William Warfield, the Akron Symphony Orchestra and the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra.
He has arranged music for high school and college marching bands and often writes for the Iowa State University “Cyclone” Marching Band. His music is published by Ludwig Music Publishers, Dorn Publications, Santa Barbara Music Publishers, Daehn Publications (C.L. Barnhouse Company), Great Works Publishing, Alliance Music Publications, and Timeworks, LLC.
Dr. Golemo stays active nationally and internationally as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator. He has conducted all-state bands in Iowa, Nebraska, Louisiana, Idaho, and New Mexico. In 2024, he will conduct all-state bands in Texas and Colorado. He has served as the guest conductor for numerous honor bands at the middle school, high school, and collegiate levels. He has contributed articles to a variety of journals and publications including The Instrumentalist, The Journal of the Association of Concert Bands, The Podium, The Journal of the North American Saxophone Alliance, and Teaching Music Through Performance in Band (volumes 9 and 10).
He holds memberships in numerous organizations, including the College Band Directors National Association, the National Band Association, Iowa Bandmasters Association, Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honorary, Phi Kappa Phi Academic Honorary, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Beta Mu Bandmasters, and is an honorary member of the Cardinal Key Honor Society at Iowa State University and both Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi.
He has received several notable awards, including the Iowa State University Alumni Association’s Superior Service to Alumni Award, the Iowa State College of Liberal Arts & Sciences’ Outstanding Achievement in Departmental Leadership Award, and Kappa Kappa Psi’s Distinguished Service to Music Medal, that organization’s highest honor. In 2022, he was awarded the distinguished title of University Professor at Iowa State University.
He is a past president of the Iowa Bandmasters Association, the Big Twelve Band Directors Association, and is a past national president and board of trustees member for Kappa Kappa Psi Honorary Band Fraternity. He serves on the Board of Directors for the John Philip Sousa Foundation and is Chair of their Sudler Trophy Selection Committee.
He is the conductor of the Ames Municipal Band and in 2007, Dr. Golemo was elected to membership in the prestigious American Bandmasters Association.
Opera and Broadway Workshops are exciting opportunities for vocalists at Asbury University. Asbury music students have the chance to perform famous plays and shows under the guidance of world-class faculty.
Select the following link to purchase tickets. Dido and Aeneas Opera Workshop on Nov. 10th and 11th
Past participants in our ensembles are invited to join together with other alumni during our annual summer Reunion weekends to rehearse and perform in a fun, low-pressure setting.
admissions@asbury.edu
(859) 858-5000