Music, theater and UNI history will share the stage at the Sesquicentennial Arts Showcase on Thursday, Oct. 8. Held during Homecoming week, the concert helps bring the university’s more than yearlong sesquicentennial celebration to a close with student and alumni performers and the premiere of a work composed for the occasion.

At the heart of the concert is “Ager et Lux” (“Farm and Light”), a four-movement work for chorus and orchestra by emeritus professor Rebecca Burkhardt, who directed UNI’s orchestra for more than 30 years. When organizers commissioned a piece to mark UNI’s 150th anniversary, they sought a composer with close ties to UNI who understood the students who would perform it.

“Becky was the perfect choice for this project,” said Melinda Boyd, director of the UNI School of Music. “She has an understanding of the history, the culture, and the musical abilities of the students who would perform the piece.”

Burkhardt collaborated with Rachel Morgan, an associate professor of instruction in English at UNI, who curated poetry for the work. Moving from summer through spring, “Ager et Lux” draws on images of Iowa’s land and weather, as well as learning and the cultures that shape the state.

The first movement of “summer” sets poetry by Ray Young Bear in the original Meskwaki language. The second movement, “fall,” represents the students of UNI. Books and libraries take a central role, and if you listen closely, you’ll hear a portion of the UNI alma mater and an orchestral reference to the UNI Campanile. The third movement, “Iowa, January,” reminds us winters can be so cold that words and syllables are just frozen stammers. The final movement of “Spring” turns to planting and growth through poetry by Morgan.

The UNI Concert Chorale, directed by John Wiles, and the Northern Iowa Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Erik Rohde, will perform the premiere. A brass ensemble with UNI alumni is also planned.

TheatreUNI will have a substantial place in the program, carrying forward a campus theater tradition that dates to 1878. The program includes a scene from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and a duet from “Sweeney Todd.”

“There has never been a UNI without theater,” said William Hickman, head of the theatre department. “Even through world wars, there has always been theater here.” 

Together, the performances will celebrate the place of the arts in UNI’s history and the people creating its next chapter.

“The arts are far more than just the shiny veneer on a vibrant and thriving campus,” said Boyd. “They are essential to our identities as human beings, to our spirits and our souls as a society capable of expressing the entire range of human emotions.”

The free, general admission showcase begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Catherine Cassidy Gallagher Great Hall at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center.