Illinois Wesleyan Symphony Orchestra

 

 

A Finalist in the American Prize in Orchestral Performance 2016-17, the IWSO was founded in 1984 and welcomes students from music and non-music disciplines who perform a variety of orchestral selections from symphonies to musical theatre medleys. 

The ensemble has performed alongside various eminent musical personalities, including virtuoso string bassist Edgar Meyer and Grammy Award-Winning soprano Dawn Upshaw, who is also an Illinois Wesleyan alumna. Other distinguished guests that the ensemble has hosted throughout its tenure include Armando Ghitalla, Roger Roloff, and Laszlo Varga. In addition, IWSO has played in concert with the Volgograd Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Mr. Edward Serov and Peter Schickele (P.D.Q. Bach).

The Henry Charles Memorial Concert showcases the school’s finest musicians who compete in our annual Concerto-Aria competition. Winners have the opportunity to perform with the IWSO on a solo work for their instrument or voice. This concert highlights the amazing talents of our student body and is sponsored by the Alpha Lambda chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. 

The Orchestra has performed on CBS’s Sunday Morning and participated in frequent tours throughout the United States. In addition to tour opportunities, one student conductor is selected in the spring semester to prepare and perform a work with their peers. IWSO hosts an annual Honor Orchestra Clinic, which will be held October 18-19, 2024. 

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Logan Campbell enjoys a robust career as a conductor,

equally at home with Symphonic repertoire for Orchestra and Wind Band, Pops, Opera, and Musical Theatre. Logan is the Director of Large Instrumental Ensembles at Illinois Wesleyan University and also teaches courses in conducting and double reeds as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music. As of August 2023, Campbell assumed the position of Music Director of the Bloomington Normal Youth Symphony. He most recently concluded his two year tenure as the Assistant Conductor of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra and Conductor of the Illinois Symphony Youth Orchestras. He was also the Music Director of the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) Orchestra and taught Applied Voice at UIS and Lincoln Land Community College.

Logan is the Founder and Artistic Director of Appalachia: A Southeastern Wind Symphony, now in its 6th season. Campbell started the wind group while in his graduate studies at the University of Tennessee, but has continued to grow and develop this unique regional ensemble. Aiming to offer networking opportunities for collegiate students and recent alumni from Southeastern universities, Appalachia has grown tremendously well and now has over 15 universities represented every concert cycle. Logan leads this group by designing diverse and compelling programs that are exciting and informative for all ages. 

Also during his graduate studies, Logan worked with the Knoxville Symphony Youth Orchestra Association. The KSYOA consists of 6 orchestras and he was appointed conductor of the Chamber Orchestra, the organization’s 2nd highest group. Campbell also worked as a guest conductor, rehearsal conductor, and cover conductor with area orchestras like the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, Scruffy City Orchestra, Morristown Community Orchestra, and Brevard Philharmonic. As a student at UT, he worked with the UT Symphony Orchestra, UT Opera Orchestra, UT Chamber Orchestra, VolOpera, and UT Opera Theatre. 

As a Bass-baritone, Logan performed with the UT Opera Theatre from 2018-2020 in productions of La Finta Giardiniera and Carmen, Knoxville Opera in 2019 in Lucia di Lammermoor, Furman Lyric Opera in Die Zauberflöte, and the Franco-American Vocal Academy in Le Nozze di Figaro and Bastien und Bastienne. More recently, Logan was the Bass soloist with the UT Chamber Singers in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, performed at the Tennessee Theatre in February 2020, and Handel’s Messiah, performed in December 2019. 

Logan has performed internationally, mostly in Germany. Selected as an ambassador for the State Department funded program, The Congress-Bundestag Youth Exchange for Young Professionals, he lived in Leipzig, Germany for a year and studied German language, politics, and music. He worked as a conducting assistant at Oper Leipzig and with the Gewandhaus Orchester. Outside of conducting, he performed as an oboist with STÜBA, the Youth Wind Symphony of Saxony, and the Leipzig Wind Ensemble. 

Logan Campbell holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Furman University and a double Masters of Music degree in Voice Performance and Orchestral Conducting from the University of Tennessee. Logan is the recipient of the Thomas Fulton Career Development Award for his outstanding work as a conducting and voice student at UT. His primary conducting teachers were James Fellenbaum, Dr. Leslie Hicken, Dr. Hugh Floyd, and Maestro Edvard Tchivzhel.