BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The music group ONIX Ensamble will be the featured guests at Illinois Wesleyan University School of Music’s annual Symposium of Contemporary Music. The Symposium will be held from Oct. 2 to Oct. 3 and is free and open to the public.
Established in 1952, the Symposium of Contemporary Music brings prominent guest composers or performers to campus for a two-to-three day residency. The Symposium’s goal is to involve students directly in performing new compositions by contemporary composers while also participating in discussions on the aesthetics of the works. Recent guests of the Symposium include the Orchid Ensemble, Roderik and Annelie de Man, Stephen Paulus, New York New Music Ensemble, and Louis Andriessen.
ONIX is a group of musicians from Mexico that plays Latin American contemporary music. The group consists of Alejandro Escuer, Edith Ruiz Zepeda, Fernando Dominguez, Abel Romero, and Edgardo Espinosa. All members of the group have experience as soloists, have an international career, and are all professors at the National University of Mexico. Founded by Escuer in 1993, ONIX has released 50 musical works and is a non-profit organization striving to use educational and community projects to enhance and redirect the role of music in society.