Founded in 1980, the Parkland Orchestra supports the college music major, but is also a performance outlet for non-music majors and active community instrumentalists from in and around the Champaign-Urbana area. The ensemble rehearses on Mondays from 7 – 9 pm in room C148. As a symphonic orchestra, it employs woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings. The diversity of backgrounds in its individual members gives the orchestra a rich cultural and musical foundation. The passion for and joy in making music is evident in their rehearsals and performances.
Repertoire performed by the orchestra spans the baroque to contemporary periods of orchestral literature as well as scores representing popular stage and screen. The orchestra performs twice each semester in the Parkland Theatre.
Rodney Mueller, director since 2015, continues to build on the substantial musical leadership of Jack Ranney who conducted the orchestra for 25 years.
The orchestra rehearses two hours each Monday evening during the fall and spring academic calendar. Personnel openings are filled by audition at the beginning of each semester.
For more information about the Parkland Orchestra, contact Rodney Mueller at 217/373-3782 or rmueller@parkland.edu.
Fall 2021
"Home Again" A Joint Concert by the Parkland Orchestra and Wind Ensemble
Spring 2023
"Winter Soundscapes" by the Parkland Orchestra