2022 Great Lakes Regional Conference (39th)

In light of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, and with the health and safety of attendees in mind, the CMS Great Lakes Board of Directors has decided to offer this conference at Millikin University as a hybrid event. Presenters will either share their presentations in-person or via Zoom. Recorded performances of CMS Composers’ works will be shared via Zoom.

In order to make the conference as safe as possible the board has decided to take the following steps for those attending in person:

1. All attendees must be masked at all times, including singers who are performing. Bell covers must be used for wind and brass instruments. We strongly encourage vaccination and boosters as well.
2. Medical grade air purifiers have been purchased for the conference rooms and the concert hall, and wide spaces between seating will be required.
3. The traditional lunch banquet and business meeting have been moved to dinner,and conference planners are exploring the feasibility of an inside but socially distant, or outdoor dining experience. Also, rather than an open banquet, all meals will be boxed.

Non-Member: $160.00
Regular Member: $65.00
Retired Member: $40.00
Student Member: $30.00

Registration Deadline for Presenters & Composers: 12 noon Mountain Time on Friday, December 17, 2021
    * All presenters, performers, panelists, collaborators, & composers whose works will be performed on the program must register before this deadline

Online Registration Closes: 12 noon Mountain Time on Thursday, March 3, 2022
    * Attendees must register on site after this (a late fee will apply)

Cancellation Deadline: 12 noon Mountain Time on Thursday, March 3, 2022 (see terms & conditions for details)

Decatur Conference Center and Hotel
4191 US 36 West
Decatur, IL 62522
* The hotel is 3 miles from Millikin music building.

CMS Rate:
$99 per night + taxes & fees
* Rate includes Wi-Fi
* Breakfast isavailable for an additional cost

How to Reserve:
To receive the conference discount, please reserve by telephone at (217) 422-8800 and mention the group code “CMS Great Lakes”

Deadline:
Reservations must be made by Thursday, March 17, 2022

Hampton Inn
1429 Hickory Point Drive
Forsyth, IL 62535
* The hotel is 13 miles from Millikin music building.

CMS Rate:
$85 per night + taxes & fees
* Rate includes breakfast and Wi-Fi

How to Reserve:
To receive the conference discount, please reserve by telephone at (217) 877-5577and mention the group code “PMC”

Deadline:
Reservations must be made by Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Hailed as a leading South African pianist of his generation, Franklin Larey is acclaimed for his performances of works by Brahms, Mozart, Scriabin and Ravel.

Larey, who holds a doctoral degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, currently serves as Director and Professor of the School of Music at Illinois Wesleyan University. Previously, he served as Director of the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town, and as Professor of Piano there until 2019. Additionally, he has also served as Acting-Director of both the School of Dance and the Opera School, at the same university. During the summer months, he serves as Director of the Adamant Music School in Vermont.

He appears as recitalist, soloist and accompanist, and has worked with the conductors Isaiah Jackson, Gabriel Chmura, Bernard Gueller, Victor Yampolsky, Teri Murai and Lesley Dunner, among others. Of his appearance with the San Jose Symphony, the San Jose Mercury News wrote, "When Franklin Larey turned to soft poetry, time stood still, and the audience held its breath for an eternity. His slow movement was sheer ecstasy - clear, measured, lyrical." His critically acclaimed recordings include works by Brahms, Scarlatti, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. Most recently he released recordings of Mozart’s Piano Quartets, and the second book of Claude Debussy’s Préludes with Gabriel Fauré’s Sixth Nocturne.

Larey, who studied with Frank Weinstock and Richard Fields, has received several honors for his work as a concert pianist and for his contribution to music in South Africa, including the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in 2003. Larey’s former students have been winners at several piano competitions, both in South Africa and abroad. As well, some are recipients of prestigious scholarships and awards, while others hold positions within the academy.

Larey has been the subject of several articles, publications, and broadcasts. In South Africa, he has served on the National Arts Council, a documentary of his career was aired on national television and he was featured in the Human Sciences Research Council’s series Living Treasures in 2003. He is featured in the Oral History Project of the Association for Diplomatic Studies, first published online by the American Library of Congress, and, in 2014, by SUNY Press as the book Outsmarting Apartheid.

He has won several awards, including first prize at the 1991 Young Chang International Piano Competition, and third prize at the 1996 New Orleans International Piano Competition. In 2003, he was awarded a prestigious Fulbright Researcher Award and spent six months in residence at the University of Cincinnati. He regularly performs in the USA, and has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

As a scholar, Larey’s main research is in the area of Brahms studies, and specifically in the theoretical principles of developing variation and motivic unity which underpin Brahms’s compositional style.