Additional Ensembles

Valparaiso University Luce Concert Band

One of three components in Valpo’s comprehensive concert band program, Luce Concert Band (LCB) is comprised primarily of students in their first two years of college. LCB includes musicians from many different majors, and all the professional colleges.

This auditioned symphonic band, focusing on the development of performance skills, complements VU’s other concert bands—Chamber Concert Band and Community/University Concert Band—in offering concert programming with wide audience appeal and performance opportunities for a broad range of VU student musicians.

On September 17, 2017, Luce Concert Band and Community/University Concert Band performed for 10,000 people as part of a massed band for the Friendship Lasts Forever gala concert at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Pritzker Pavilion is considered to be the premier outdoor concert venue in Chicago.

Valparaiso Community/University Concert Band

The Valparaiso Community/University Concert Band (CUCB) was founded in 1993 and is open to all interested musicians, regardless of age, without audition.

Rehearsals are held all year on Tuesdays, at the Valparaiso University Center for the Arts, room 1518, 7:15-9:15p. For more information, contact Jeff Doebler (219/464-5087, Jeff.Doebler@valpo.edu) or any band member. One of CUCB’s goals is to support local school band programs. In this light, collaborative concerts have been performed with students from many different schools. The band started a tradition of performing a Sousa-style concert each year in Valparaiso, where the Sousa Band performed four times. On six occasions, Sousa “came back to town,” portrayed by Sousa expert, Keith Brion, who served as guest conductor.

The CUCB appears each summer for Memorial Day at the Memorial Opera House in Valparaiso, Salute the Recruits recognition at the Old Town Banquet Center in Valparaiso, Thomas Centennial Park in Chesterton, and the Porter County Fair. On September 17, 2017, Luce Concert Band and Community/University Concert Band performed for 10,000 people as part of a massed band for the Friendship Lasts Forever gala concert at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Pritzker Pavilion is considered to be the premier outdoor concert venue in Chicago.

VUNUMU

“VUNUMU” is a creative abbreviation for Valparaiso University New Music Ensemble. All instruments and voices are welcome in this half-credit flexible-instrumentation chamber ensemble. VUNUMU focuses on the music of the 20th and 21st centuries in the classical and experimental traditions, and brand-new music by living composers (including many Valpo student composers).

Some of the styles and concepts we explore include theatricality in music, structured improvisation, graphic and text-based scores, algorithmically composed music, minimalism, electroacoustic music, and more. VUNUMU rehearses 1 to 2 hours per week and performs one concert per semester. The rehearsal schedule is determined based on members’ schedules.