Instrumental ensembles are open to all Temple students who pass a departmental audition. Visit the Temple Bands page to learn about our band ensembles. For repertoire requirements and auditions, contact the Instrumental Department.
Chamber ensembles of all varieties are formed each semester. Ensembles rehearse twice per week, once with a coach and once without a coach. This approach provides an opportunity for essential skill development for each member of the ensemble. Chamber ensembles are expected to perform at least once per semester.
In addition to numerous woodwind, brass, string, and mixed chamber ensembles, the select New School String Quartet, Woodwind Quintet, and Brass Quintet are created. These select chamber ensembles receive a greater level of instruction and have more performance opportunities throughout the semester.
Dr. Matthew Brunner, conductor
Auditions are held at the end of the fall semester. Membership requires an audition and faculty approval for participation.
The Collegiate Band is comprised primarily of non-music majors and performs one formal concert in the spring semester. Repertory includes standard wind literature and pieces to broaden musical expectations of its members.
Dr. Patricia Cornett, conductor
Membership in the Concert Band requires an audition and faculty approval for participation; auditions are held at the beginning of the fall semester.
(This ensemble meets in the fall semester only.)
Concert Band is comprised of undergraduate music and non-music majors and performs one formal concerts during the fall semester. The ensemble meets two days per week, totaling four hours of rehearsal. Repertoire performed is representative of core wind literature of high artistic merit of the past and present.
Jay Krush, conductor
The Contemporary Music Ensemble is under the primary direction of Jay Krush and focuses on important music of the 20th and 21st centuries for various instrumentations. The ensemble generally performs one concert per semester.
Participation in the Diamond Basketball Band is competitive and is limited to a select number of members. All members of the Diamond Basketball Band must also register and participate in the Diamond Marching Band (fall semester). Membership within Basketball Band requires faculty approval for participation.
Dr. Matthew Brunner, director
The Temple University Diamond Marching Band (DMB) presents exciting and innovative contemporary shows during the Fall semester. The DMB performs a traditional pre-game show with varied half-time shows throughout the season. In addition to six hours of rehearsal per week, activities are arranged to be compatible with student schedules. The “Pride of The Cherry and White” Marching Band performs at all home games and also travels to select away games.
The DMB participated in the first Sugar Bowl in 1935 (Temple vs. Tulane), the Mirage Bowl held in Tokyo, Japan, the Garden State Bowl at the Giants Stadium and the “We the People 200 Parade," celebrating the bicentennial of the United States Constitution. The DMB is regularly invited to perform at high school exhibitions. In the fall of 2002, the DMB also appeared on The Plaza in New York for The Today Show.
The DMB’s large and diverse membership provides exciting opportunities for instrumentalists and color guard performers. Membership within the ensemble requires an audition and faculty approval for participation.
Watch the DMB on YouTube, including the Panic! At the Disco performance with more than two million views!
Heather Miller Lardin, conductor
The Early Music Ensemble performs vocal and instrumental repertoire from the Medieval through Baroque periods, using copies of early instruments. Students develop their understanding of and approach to the evolving musical canon through the exploration and application of historical performance practices. Temple's early instrumentarium includes recorders, viols, sackbuts, vielle, hurdy-gurdy, lutes, Baroque strings, percussion, keyboards and more.
Jan Krzywicki, director
The New Music Ensemble is a student ensemble devoted to the premiere of compositions by students and faculty, along with important works of new music by established composers and occasional guest composers. The specific instrumentation of the ensemble is announced in the preceding semester so works can be composed specifically for that instrumentation or any subgroup thereof. The New Music Ensemble present premieres by faculty, students and established American composers.
The New School Brass Quintet and New School Woodwind Quintet invite the top woodwind and brass students to participate in these premiere chamber ensembles each semester.
The Temple University Night Owls Campus Community Band, housed in the Department of Music Education, is comprised of Temple students, faculty and staff, alumni and members of the general community. Repertory performed includes standard wind literature and crowd-pleasing favorites. Membership in the Night Owls requires no audition; however, participants need to be able to read music and have use of personally owned or rented instruments. Register for TU Night Owls.
The Opera Orchestra accompanies Temple University Opera Theater each semester in a fully-staged production.
OWLchestra is a string ensemble open to students and members of the community. The ensemble performs two concerts each year on Temple campus. Register for OWLchestra.
Phillip O'Banion, artistic director
The Temple University Percussion Ensemble (TUPE) is comprised of undergraduate and graduate students from all tracks within the college. It seeks a quality chamber music experience for its members. The group presents performances of percussion literature in a variety of styles, and encourages the composition of new works for the medium.
TUPE members have worked with composers Jennifer Higdon, John Mackey, Augusta Read Thomas, Michael Daugherty, Russell Hartenberger, Michael Colgrass, Bob Becker, Adam Silverman, Gordon Stout, Michael Burritt, Ivan Trevino, Daniel Levitan and the NEXUS and MOBIUS Percussion Quartets. They are frequent collaborators with the dance and art departments at Temple, including a new choreography of John Mackey’s Mass, a piece they subsequently recorded for BCM&D Records. The ensemble has been featured on The Philadelphia Orchestra’s chamber music series at the Kimmel Cultural Campus performing Steve Reich’s Drumming and other works. In 2016 they gave the Philadelphia premiere of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians. Temple University has also been instrumental in commissioning and premiering a number of works, including Alejandro Vinao’s sextet Water, Marc Mellits' Gravity, Adam Silverman’s Sparklefrog, Volcanic Eruption by Rolando Morales-Matos, Russell Hartenberger’s Cadence and Four Faces by Gordon Stout.
Dr. Matthew Brunner, conductor
Membership in the Symphonic Band requires an audition and faculty approval for participation. Auditions are held at the end of fall semester.
The Symphonic Band is one of two select wind bands in the Boyer College. The ensemble is comprised of undergraduate music and non-music majors and performs two formal concerts during the spring semester. Repertoire performed is representative of core wind literature of high artistic merit of the past and present, including works for small and varied instrumentation.
José Luis Domínguez, music director
The Temple University Symphony Orchestra (TUSO) is comprised of undergraduate and graduate students. Performances feature a wide range of orchestral repertoire, as well as faculty, guest, and student soloists. In addition to annual performances with the combined choirs at the Kimmel Cultural Campus in Philadelphia, the TUSO has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, and other venues in the Greater Philadelphia region. Students from all degree programs within the University are welcome to audition for TUSO.
Three of TUSO’s recent recordings have been Grammy-nominated in the "Best Instrumental Composition" category. Those recordings were released on the college recording label, BCM&D Records. Those and other TUSO recordings are available on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and Google Play.
Dr. Patricia Cornett, conductor
Membership in the Wind Symphony requires an audition and faculty approval for participation; auditions are held the first week of the fall semester.
The Temple University Wind Symphony is comprised of advanced graduate and undergraduate musicians and performs approximately six formal concerts throughout the academic year. Repertoire performed is representative of the finest in wind literature, spanning musical styles from the Renaissance through today. Concert programs include pieces for varied instrumentation as few as eight players to pieces for large symphonic wind band. During the year, concerts feature internationally respected guest soloists, award-winning composers-in-residence and student wind concerto winners.
By invitation through competitive applications, the Wind Symphony has performed at the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference, College Band Directors National Association National Conference, Eastern Division of the Music Educators National Conference (now National Association for Music Education), Pennsylvania Music Educators Association Conference and the Eastern Division Conference of the College Band Directors National Association.
The Wind Symphony has released five recordings:
Concerto Grosso for Saxophone Quartet and Band by William Bolcom, featuring PRISM Quartet. Patricia Cornett, conductor. BCM&D Records.
Wind Concerti, featuring members of The Philadelphia Orchestra. Emily Threinen, conductor. BCM&D Records.
Celebrations. Professor Emeritus Arthur D. Chodorff, conductor, commemorates his tenure at Temple University. BCM&D Records.
Temple University Wind Symphony. Professor Emeritus Arthur D. Chodorff, conductor with soloists Anthony Gigliotti (clarinet), Jonathan Blumenfeld (oboe), Eric Carlson (trombone). Albany Records.
American Sounds. Professor Emeritus Arthur D. Chodorff, conductor, was the first commercial instrumental recording by a Boyer College ensemble. The Wind Symphony was selected to be one of six university concert bands in the United States to record a volume for the Masterpieces Series on the Toshiba-EMI Label.
In addition to the above listed curricular ensembles, ensembles in the Music Studies Department offer performance opportunities for Instrumental Studies students in groups such as the Latin American Music Ensemble, Middle Eastern Music Ensemble, Klezmer Ensemble, conTemplum, Temple Composers Orchestra, Boyer College Electroacoustic Ensemble Project (BEEP) and more.
