Hey! Today the Wind Ensemble went to Iowa City, IA and Voxman Music Building, which is part of the University of Iowa School of Music. Rebuilt in 2016, this 190,000 square foot space includes a 700 seat concert hall, 200 seat recital hall, organ performance hall, opera and chamber music rehearsal spaces, faculty studies, classrooms, practice rooms, electronic music and recording studios, and a student commons where people can study, compose music, or meet with a professor. The building features the latest instructional and recording technology. Inside is the Rita Benton Music Library which holds nearly 90,000 scores and many original works by famous composers. Most important to us is Doc’s bound thesis from when he was a graduate student here! He has never seen this copy until today when we took a tour of the library!
In June of 2008, the old Voxman Music Building was destroyed due to a flood. On June 12th, volunteers from the UI football time, band camp counselors, family members, and anybody that wanted to help moved the entire contents of the band, orchestra, and choral libraries upstairs, along with the extensive percussion studio, computers, filing cabinets, and paintings. The second floor was filled with instruments, papers, etc. The building was relocated and built where it is currently housed off the banks of the river than where it was previously.
Today, we also took a tour from some of the UI Ambassadors to show us around the building and it’s concert halls. Above is a picture of me standing on the stage of the main Concert Hall. We also got the opportunity to sit in on a rehearsal of the Symphony Band (the top concert band at the University of Iowa), which is preparing for their Iowa Bandmasters Association conference performance, the night before ours.
Chandler Njus ‘23
Percussionist