Chamber Concert Band

About the Chamber Concert Band

The Chamber Concert Band is the premier concert band of three at Valparaiso University. Membership is by audition and students of all majors are encouraged to participate. Each person in the band is considered an integral member. Although a principal player is named for each section, band members rotate parts so that everyone plays both melody and harmony parts during each performance. Repertoire includes the finest in concert band music, with a special focus on original band compositions.

The Chamber Concert Band is one of the university’s touring ensembles. Outreach performances have included schools, churches, and community events throughout the USA, Canada, and Malta. Chamber Concert Band’s concerts included a private performance for the President of Malta, as well as a Lenten reflection concert, attended by a representative of the Vatican, in the historic St. Lawrence Church.

In 2017, Chamber Concert Band and Windiana combined to serve as the anchor ensemble for the first Friendship Lasts Forever Concert, a gala performance held at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, the premier outdoor concert venue in Chicago. The concert was attended by 10,000 people, and was a collaboration with the Confucius Institute at Valparaiso University (CIVU). The event featured 1000 performers from throughout the USA, Canada, and China. In 2019, Chamber Concert Band served again with Windiana as the anchor ensemble for Friendship Lasts Forever, playing for a full house at Orchestra Hall in Chicago. The 2021 Friendship Lasts Forever Cloud Concert featured the combined Chamber Concert Band and Windiana as the anchor ensemble, joined by musicians from around the world, and was broadcast globally. Within the first 24 hours, it had been viewed by 1.6 million people.

In 2015, Chamber Concert Band performed the headline concert for the national conference of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers. In 2006, Chamber Concert Band played a feature concert in the Indianapolis Convention Center Sagamore Ballroom for the state convention of the Indiana Music Education Association (IMEA). Chamber Concert Band appeared again for the IMEA State Convention in 2011, performing an unprecedented two concerts (one combined with Windiana Concert Band). In these performances, they presented all 17 of the commissions of the Indiana Bandmasters Association (IBA) to date. (The ongoing commissioning project started in 1988.) These important concerts were the first time all of the commissions had ever been played on the same program.

Other recent honors have included performances—with the VU Chorale and Symphony Orchestra—in historic Severance Hall, Cleveland, and six times in Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, Chicago. Chamber Concert Band performed a feature concert for the 1999 Music Educators National Conference North Central Division Convention in the ballroom of the Cincinnati Convention Center. The 2010 Chamber Concert Band tour, a collaboration with the CIVU, went as far east as North Carolina, and included guest soloists from China, performing on traditional Chinese instruments. In November of 2018, Chamber Concert Band combined with Windiana to commission and perform the premiere of Johan de Meij’s monumental fifth symphony, Return to Middle Earth, under the baton of the composer. The concert also included a 30th anniversary performance of Mr. de Meij’s first symphony, Lord of the Rings. On November 5, 2022, Chamber Concert Band combined with Windiana to perform Johan de Meij’s second symphony. The combined bands are the first wind symphony in the world to have performed all five of Maestro de Meij’s symphonies, under the direction of the composer.

On October 17, 2021, Chamber Concert Band combined with Windiana and many guest musicians from around the USA to honor composer Michael Boo (1955-2020), premiering his Symphony No. 1, and performing eleven of his other works. The following month, Chamber Concert Band combined with the Michigan City Municipal Band and Windiana to present the premiere of award-winning composer Tom Davoren’s Euphonium Concerto. The soloist was GySgt. Hiram Diaz from the US Marine Band, “The President’s Own.” The concerto was recently selected as the final round composition in the “euphonium artist” category for the 2025 Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival.

Commitment to diversity in programming

The Valparaiso University Bands are proud to perform music representing diversity in composers, traditions, and styles. In addition to the well-known repertoire of the concert band, the Valparaiso University Bands intentionally seek and present literature by women and other under-represented groups. We gratefully accept suggestions to help us continue our modeling of this diverse musical programming.