The Bloomington-Normal Youth Symphony (BNYS) will have a new director this fall. Illinois Wesleyan University music professor Logan Campbell will be just the third director to ascend the podium after Deanne Bryant steps down.
Bryant became director in 1995 after 25 years in public music education. She will continue to advise the orchestra.
“Deanne has been a mentor for me and will continue to be so,” Campbell said. “She has done this for quite a while, and specifically with this ensemble. She knows from her predecessor what the beginnings of this organization were.”
But Campbell has some new ideas for the group, too, including community collaborations in and outside their genre in the coming years. He also plans to diversify the repertoire and instill a commitment to living composers and composers from underrepresented demographics.
“The music world looks very different now, especially post-COVID,” he said. “We are navigating challenges that 20 or 30 years ago didn’t look the same.”
The South Carolina native and self-proclaimed “band kid” attended Furman University and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, studying music education and conducting while continuing to practice multiple instruments (primarily oboe and voice).
After two seasons as assistant conductor for the Illinois Symphony and a short stint in the Twin Cities to our north, Campbell arrived in Bloomington-Normal in January to join the IWU faculty and quickly immersed himself in the local arts scene. As director of both large ensembles for the School of Music, he said his role is “crucial.”
“I see both the symphony orchestra and our wind ensemble,” he said. “That’s crucial to the life of a music program.”
Illinois Wesleyan’s School of Music has been under threat for several years. Two recent high-profile departures (losing their director and associate director within weeks of each other), placed associate professor Adriana Ponce in the (interim) director’s chair and Campbell — a young academic on a visiting contract — with tremendous responsibility. In addition to directing the two ensembles, he also heads the School of Music’s recruitment committee.
“I’m a huge believer in the full team,” he said, “and I believe I get to be a part of a really awesome team with the faculty at Illinois Wesleyan, be a part of the team with the students — and then of course with the community, which is where it’s really nice to now have BNYS as a part of my existence in Bloomington-Normal.”
Rehearsals move to IWU
IWU music major enrollment is headed in the right direction this fall, but Campbell’s appointment to BNYS could be viewed as strategic. Among the immediate changes is moving rehearsals to Illinois Wesleyan, where young musicians may pass music majors in the hallways and practice rooms of Presser Hall. That could lead to a boost for both programs, but Campbell’s leading from the heart, too.
“I love the teaching that goes into that youth age,” he said. “That is where I think the future music student is born. There are those types of students who fall in love with it very early on and they know.”
There’s also those who go into different careers, but maintain passion for and participation in music in different ways.
“What BNYS offers me is that chance to maybe have an impact on sustaining music within these students’ lives, even if they don’t go to Wesleyan, even if they don’t study music,” Campbell said.
Campbell's first concert as director of the Bloomington-Normal Youth Symphony is Nov. 21. He noted that youth orchestra concerts tend to be filled with parents and siblings, but he urges community members — especially teachers — to attend.
“Come out and support these students,” said Campbell. “I get it. I’m very busy, too. But you never know what that one hour of your life that you devoted to go and see that student could yield in the trajectory of their life.”
BNYS also will continue its relationship with the Illinois Symphony, joining them for the annual Holiday Pops in the Heartland on Dec. 16. That concert will be led by Taichi Fukumura, one of four finalists vying for the top spot with the professional orchestra.
