COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO PRESENTS MANIFEST: THE COLUMBIA COLLEGE CHICAGO MUSIC DEPARTMENT’S CELEBRATION OF STUDENT CREATIVE WORK

Throughout history music has always reflected cultural change and societal shifts. In response to “shelter in place”, the Columbia College Music department, using cutting edge technology, has created captivating online performances featuring our incredibly talented students. For the past two months, the faculty of the Music department has been working day and night creating over 20 videos featuring all of our ensembles which range in style from R&B, Pop Rock, Gospel to Latin, Jazz, and Hip Hop. Many of these creative and compelling videos, which also feature original student compositions, will be online from May 11- May 15 as part of Manifest, Columbia College’s year end celebration which showcases students’ creative work. There will also be a live panel discussion on “Creating an Online Performance” which will include Sebastian Huydts, chair of the Music department, and other faculty and students who were involved in the process of creating these videos.

While social distancing prevents musicians from performing together physically, technology has provided a path which has enabled the Columbia Music department to produce incredible performances via remote audio and video recording. Our faculty and students have learned a great deal about this technology and process which gives our students the tools and knowledge required to be a successful musician in the 21st century.