Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Noted conductor Andrew Megill to lead choral activities at Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Andrew Megill, considered one of the leading choral conductors of his generation, will join the University of Illinois in the fall as the director of choral activities and as a professor of conducting.

Megill leads three vocal ensembles: the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the Carmel Bach Festival Chorale and Fuma Sacra, a chamber choir specializing in early music, for which he has served as artistic director since its founding in 1989. He previously served as music director of the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra, as chorus master for the Spoleto Festival USA and as a professor at Westminster Choir College at Rider University.

Megill has frequently prepared choirs for performances with top orchestras, including the Cleveland Orchestra, Dresdner Philharmonie, the National Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic. He has been a guest conductor for the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, TENET vocal ensemble, the Julliard Opera Center and Emmanuel Music (Boston). In December, he will make his debut conducting the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.

Jeffrey Magee, the director of the School of Music, said he’s happy to have found the right person to lead the U. of I. choral program.

“Andrew Megill has all the right tools – extensive experience in professional and academic worlds, capacious knowledge of more than six centuries of choral music repertoire, impeccable rehearsal and conducting technique, and a gift for bringing out the best in the musicians with whom he works,” Magee said. “He is a perfect match for the School of Music’s choral program, which was the first in the country to offer the doctorate in choral conducting and whose alumni are in leadership positions all over the country.”

Megill said he’s looking forward to joining the U. of I. “I am thrilled to contribute to the university’s extraordinary legacy as one of the nation’s most important centers for the study of the choral art.”

Megill is pronounced muh-GILL. To reach Jeffrey Magee, call 217-333-2620; jmag@illinois.edu.

Read Next

Life sciences Portrait of the research team posing together.

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have translated nanoscale experimental and computational data into precise 3D representations of bacteria, yeast and human epithelial, breast and breast cancer cells in Minecraft, a video game that allows players to explore, build and manipulate structures in three dimensions. The innovation will allow researchers and students of all ages to navigate […]

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010